DENVER—The chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee has offered to meet with a key leader in the American Olympic movement to discuss last week’s sudden resignation of chief executive officer Jim Scherr.
Skip Gilbert, who leads the council of leaders of America’s national governing bodies (NGBs), said chairman Larry Probst could not meet with NGB leaders via conference call Monday, as they had requested, but invited Gilbert for a face-to-face meeting later in the week.
Scherr’s ouster and replacement by USOC board member Stephanie Streeter has raised concerns among the NGB leaders and those involved in the effort to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago.
NGB leaders want to know how Streeter was able to move into Scherr’s job, worth around $500,000 a year, after engineering his departure. USOC board members are volunteers.
They also want more details about Probst’s statement that Streeter would be the interim CEO for the “foreseeable future” and that it hadn’t been determined whether there would be a search for a permanent replacement.
Streeter was not immediately available for an interview with The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the Chicago 2016 team was moving ahead with plans for a key presentation to International Olympic Committee members in Denver in two weeks, and the IOC’s site visit in early April.
Streeter has been a player on the Chicago 2016 team and is well-known to leaders there. Scherr was not a key member of the USOC team that accompanied the Chicago team on its international missions with IOC members.
Still, the USOC had been oft-criticized in international circles for a revolving door at the highest levels of the organization and was trying to repair that image, which made the timing of Scherr’s departure awkward.
More details of Scherr’s final board meeting emerged Sunday.
According to a number of NGB leaders familiar with the meeting, the NGB leaders, knowing Scherr’s future had been in limbo since the U.S. team returned from the Beijing Olympics, gave a presentation that largely complimented him but also discussed areas for improvement.
Among the biggest criticisms of Scherr was a sometimes hands-off style that was reflected in his reluctance to get rid of chief marketing officer Rick Burton and chief of sport performance Steve Roush. Both eventually resigned.
Scherr was credited with giving stability to a movement that sorely needed it after the Salt Lake City Olympics bid scandal and a period in which the USOC went through four CEOs in four years. Even with a rough economy that is forcing the federation to make job cuts, the USOC has more than $100 million in the bank after 2008 and didn’t have to tap into its line of credit.
The NGB presentation didn’t carry the day, however, as the board went into executive session, where Scherr’s fate was sealed.
