DENVER—Faced with a group of concerned Olympic leaders, the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee vowed Monday to conduct a national search to replace CEO Jim Scherr, whose sudden resignation created ripples of unrest through the movement.
Meeting with the leaders of America’s national governing bodies (NGBs), Larry Probst said Stephanie Streeter would serve as acting CEO and that a full search would take place, “although the timing and the process for that search is still to be determined.”
Probst also said the USOC ethics committee would resolve any potential conflicts of interest stemming from Streeter holding a position on the board of directors while also serving as acting CEO.
Probst changed the word “interim” to “acting” in front of Streeter’s title—an indication that there was no timeline attached to her tenure as the fill-in CEO. Skip Gilbert, leader of the NGB Council, said there was no hint as to whether Streeter would seek the job permanently.
“We were encouraged by everything we discussed,” Gilbert said. “Realistically, we were glad just to be able to move this forward and say, “Yes, we’ll do whatever we can to support” Streeter.
That was hardly his stance after Scherr’s unexpected departure was announced March 5. Gilbert and more than three dozen NGB executives drafted a letter—never sent—saying they were troubled by “the perceived motivation for these actions which appears to be self-serving and political.”
The leaders demanded a meeting with Probst and sought explanations for the leadership change that essentially came without input from the NGBs, one of the USOC’s largest constituent groups.
Streeter, largely considered Scherr’s biggest critic on the board, went from a volunteer position with the USOC to a job that paid Scherr more than $500,000 a year.
After 10 days of silence from Probst, he issued a statement Monday, calling the meeting with Gilbert, USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny and board members Mike Plant and Bob Bowlsby “very productive.”
In addition to reconciling Streeter’s role in the organization, Probst said the USOC board would seek greater input in the future from NGBs and other interested parties. He also encouraged everyone in the U.S. Olympic movement to keep pushing forward in support of the bid to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago.
Many observers think the Chicago bid took a hit with Scherr’s departure, because the move undercut the USOC’s long-running effort to establish more stability at the top of the organization. The revolving door at the USOC at key positions has been a long-standing complaint of international Olympic officials.
Meanwhile, the bid process is going into overdrive. Next week, Chicago and the three other bid cities—Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo—present to international leaders at a conference in Denver. In early April, the International Olympic Committee makes its site visit to Chicago.
“We could play armchair quarterback and come up with a half-dozen reasons why the timing may not have worked, this didn’t work, that didn’t work,” Gilbert said. “We touched on it, but I don’t think it was germane to where we’re trying to get to.”
Nor did Gilbert and Penny press for exact reasons behind Scherr’s ouster, saying that would’ve been counterproductive to the goal of moving forward.
Probst and Streeter have described the change as a way to bring a new set of skills into the CEO position as the USOC goes into new territory, dealing with a bad economy that has made it tougher to woo sponsors and find other revenue sources.
“Larry has a very clear vision in his mind on where he sees this organization going and where he feels it needs to improve,” Penny said.
Penny and Gilbert also tried to get clarification on the role of former Olympic water polo player Chris Duplanty at the USOC.
Duplanty is a liaison between the board and the various Olympic constituencies in a position that was originally designed to be volunteer but now pays about $200,000 a year. There was a sense that the NGBs weren’t getting all the information they needed from the liaison, which led to them feeling out of the loop at board meetings.
“There was no specific discussion about what the next steps are, other than to make sure they evaluate the liaison position,” Penny said.
