USATF Board Elects New Officers, Welcomes New Board Members

INDIANAPOLIS – USATF is pleased to announce its officers of the Board of Directors, three new independent board members, as well as new representatives for the long-distance running and the athlete advisory committee.

Michael Conley was elected as Chair through the quad ending in 2024. Conley, an Olympic champion and silver medalist, also serves as the chair of USATF’s High Performance Division. A 2004 USATF Hall of Fame inductee, Conley is widely considered one of the best combination jumpers in history. Conley was a three-time World champion, 12-time USATF champion and nine-time NCAA champion during his track & field career. Conley is currently the CEO of MMG Sports Management Group.

Also serving as board officers are USATF’s President Vin Lananna as Vice Chair, Ken Taylor and Tim Weaver as Treasurer and Secretary, respectively.

Jerry Canning, Mori Taheripour and Rick Wade join as independent members. Canning has spent the last 20 years as a digital thought-leader, including long management stints at Google and Facebook. Taheripour is a globally recognized executive and an award-winning educator, while Wade is senior vice president of Strategic Alliances and Outreach at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Running industry veteran Jim Estes is the LDR representative while long-time youth coach Norine Richardson was elected as the Youth Representative.

Athletes increased their representation on the board to seven athletes and an alternate. Athletes returning to the board include two-time Olympian Wallace Spearmon, 2013 World Athletics 100mH silver medalist Ryan Wilson, NACAC U23 long jump silver medalist Kendall Spencer and Rio Olympic gold medalist Michelle Carter. Joining them in service on the board is Nicole Leach, a former 400m hurdler and 2014 USATF Indoor Champion in the mile and 3,000m, Will Leer as the AAC Alternate. In line with recent changes to USATF’s governance, Amy Begley, 2008 Beijing Olympian, and Allen Johnson, four-time Olympian and gold medalist in the 110m hurdles, join the board as 10 year + athlete representatives.

Brief bios of all new members are below. Their terms began January 1, 2021.

Amy Begley

AAC Representative

Begley is a 2008 Olympian in the 10,000 meters that graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in exercise science and biomechanics. At Arkansas she was an NCAA Outdoor, 16-time SEC Champion and a 15-time All American. Begley has served as assistant distance coach for Team USATF at the 2018 U20 World Championships in Tampere, Finland and at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. She currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia where she is a coach for the Atlanta Track Club.

Jerry Canning

Independent

Canning has spent the last 20 years as a digital thought-leader, including long management stints at Google and Facebook. He currently works at National CineMedia as VP of Digital.

Having been involved in track & field for the past 40 years as a sponsor, event organizer, participant, parent and fan, Jerry brings a multifaceted perspective to the sport. He headed up the Foot Locker Athletic Club (1990-97), a club of world class competitors created to promote international retail expansion. Additionally, he had the pleasure of shining the spotlight on high school cross country when he provided leadership at eleven Foot Locker Cross Country Championships. Jerry also headed up corporate partnerships with the NBA, MLB, NFL and a wide range of grassroots events and road races. In his spare time, he aims to maintain a fitness lifestyle and has completed eight marathons.

Jim Estes

Long Distance Running Representative

Estes has worked in various capacities in the running industry, including 12 years in the national office, initially as USATF Associate Director of Marketing/LDR Programs, then as Director of Events where he oversaw numerous national championships and Olympic Trials events.

Estes ran collegiately at the University of Louisville, where he was the 1988 Metro Conference 10,000 meter champion.

Since leaving USATF, Estes has worked as an athlete recruiter for Twin Cities in Motion, is an Account executive at Torre Consulting Services and formed Troop, Estes Athlete Management.

Nicole Leach

AAC Representative

Leach competed professionally for Nike in the 400-meter hurdles, won silver at the 2010 USATF Outdoor Championships and was a member of the 2010 World Cup team. She now serves as Associate General Counsel with the Dallas Mavericks and has held that position since January 2019.

Leach was a captain of UCLA Track and Field Team and a two-time NCAA Champion in the 400m hurdles. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government and studied Law at UCLA before earning her Juris Doctor (J.D.) at Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law.

Allen Johnson

AAC Representative

Johnson, a native of Washington, D.C., is one of the most decorated 110-meter hurdlers of all time. His illustrious career includes four World Championships, three World Indoor titles (60mH), seven national outdoor titles (four of them in consecutive years from 2000-2003), four national indoor titles, a 14-year streak of global top-10 rankings, and an Olympic gold medal from the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He was inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame in 2015.

Johnson in 1997 won USATF’s Jesse Owens Award, which annually recognizes the top male athlete of the year, and he received the USATF/Visa Humanitarian Award in 1999 after leading a successful fundraiser for a new track surface at his former high school.

Following his retirement, Johnson coached at both the Air Force, the University of South Carolina and was an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky where he specialized in sprints, hurdles, horizontal jumps and relays. He is now entering his third year with N.C. State University as a sprints and hurdles assistant coach.

William Leer

AAC Representative (alternate)

In 2013, Leer captured two USATF Indoor Championships, with wins coming in the mile (3:58.79) and the 3000m (8:07.84). Leer followed that up with a 1500m runner-up finish at the 2014 USATF Indoor Championships, earning a trip to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland. He was a member of the silver medal 4x1500m relay winning team at the 2014 World Relay Championships. Leer attended Pomona College, a small Division III school in Claremont, Calif. Leer excelled as a mid-distance runner during his four years there, winning four Division III titles overall and becoming the only male Division III runner ever to win both the 1500m and 5000m title in the same meet.

Mori Taheripour

Independent

Mori Taheripour is a globally recognized executive and an award-winning educator. She leverages her expertise in negotiation, diversity and inclusion (D&I), and sports industry for a client list that includes major sports leagues, Fortune 100 corporations, universities, foundations, and professional associations.

Taheripour teaches Negotiation and Dispute Resolution at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she has served on the faculty of the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department for over fifteen years and is a seven-time recipient of awards for excellence in teaching. She is also a co-founder of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative (WSBI), a resource that generates industry insight through research, educational programs and global forums.

With extensive experience leading initiatives at the intersection of sport and social change in both the public and private sectors, Taheripour was appointed the first-ever Senior Advisor for Sport for Development at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2010. For four years she served as the senior U.S. Government Representative tasked with promoting sport as a unique and powerful tool in the advancement of the international development goals of the United States.

Taheripour earned her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Barnard College of Columbia University. Her book, Bring Yourself: How to Harness the Power of Connection to Negotiate Fearlessly was published in March 2020.

Rick C. Wade

Independent

Wade is senior vice president of Strategic Alliances and Outreach at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he develops and implements programs and initiatives to help the Chamber create new business relationships and partnerships across diverse audiences. He also provides counsel on policy issues and leads special projects.

Before joining the Chamber, Wade was principal of The Wade Group, a strategic communications and global business development firm, and was a partner at Harves Investment Group, a consultancy that facilitated foreign direct investment into the U.S.

He was an executive at Hoffman-La Roche and Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. Wade also had experience at the South Carolina House of Representatives, the Cabinet of the Governor, and the Office of the President at the University of South Carolina.

Wade received his B.S. from the University of South Carolina and an M.P.A. from Harvard University. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Benedict College and South Carolina State University and has received numerous awards for exemplary leadership and public service.

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