By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Thursday marks the 365th day since USA Swimming CEOÂ Tim Hinchey officially announced his resignation from the role with a letter on the USA Swimming website. That’s one full year without any long-term leadership or vision toward the upcoming U.S.-hosted Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Hinchey is now off working in hockey in the Vancouver Canucks organization, and USA Swimming is still without its long-term solution.
In that time, three individuals have sat in the seat on an interim basis. First it was Hinchey’s #2 Shana Ferguson, who immediately took over the interim CEO title. She briefly returned to that role after Chrissi Rawak’s short-lived, nine day stint before joining the LA28 staff.
Then there was the failed, and forced, Rawak hiring, before SafeSport notified USA Swimming what multiple tasks forces and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hiring costs had missed.
After Ferguson spent a few more weeks rearranging deck chairs before her final departure, Bob Vincent, a member of the same Board of Directors who hired Rawak, resigned that role to take over USA Swimming.
And now here we are. A day short of celebration national “no CEO day.”
While there is a growing global precedent for private organizations to operate without CEOs, those decisions are made intentionally and with a lot of thought and vision behind them.
The optics of one year are bad, but there’s really a much more glaring message: after Rawak’s resignation, USA Swimming said that the second search would be shorter. Because of the materials they had leftover and the things they learned in the first search, it wouldn’t take them as long this time.
It took them 183 days the first time. Day 365 marks a year, while day 366 marks another 183 days and another promise unfulfilled.
SwimSwam sources say that two men were brought in a few weeks ago for final interviews, and that one has emerged as a favorite. As with Rawak, it takes a few weeks to finalize contract negotiations, which implies that an announcement should be imminent.
But this all-but-proves the rumors: the most qualified candidates are losing interest in manning the listless vessel. The search firms and committees have had to get creative in looking for leaders who have retired from their primary career and have any connection or experience in the Olympic world.
It’s not as if nothing is happening. Bob Vincent has been more aggressive in big decision making than the average interim CEO, including restructuring the National Team department, some high profile promotions, and the departure of a lot of senior staff.
But that’s not the same as a full-time hire who can lay out a plan and a strategy for the next three, seven, or 11 years – which is what CEOs are meant to do.
And once again, the process is clouded with secrecy. No transparency, no timelines, no updates, no “hey swimming community, help us vet this candidate before we make another mistake.”
Just crickets and curtains.
With USA Swimming preferring to announce their biggest news on Fridays, it would be poetic if they announced it tomorrow, on the first anniversary of announcing Hinchey’s resignation.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: American Swimming Celebrates 1 Year Without a Full-Time CEO
