WAG New Interim CEO/President of USAG

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mignonone

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I just got an email from USAG with this information.


"Dear USAG Community":

The Board of Directors of USA Gymnastics is pleased to announce the appointment of The Honorable Mary Bono (Mary Bono) as Interim President and CEO of USA Gymnastics effective immediately. Ms. Bono will serve as Interim President and CEO until the Board selects a permanent President and CEO. "

Thoughts?
 
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Can you direct me to where you learned this? Interested to learn more about her.

It was in the email sent out to USAG members.





October 12, 2018


To USA Gymnastics members:

Letter to Membership from USAG Board Chair Karen Golz

Dear USAG Community:

The Board of Directors of USA Gymnastics is pleased to announce the appointment of The Honorable Mary Bono (Mary Bono) as Interim President and CEO of USA Gymnastics effective immediately. Ms. Bono will serve as Interim President and CEO until the Board selects a permanent President and CEO.

Ms. Bono possesses strong leadership and executive skills. Most recently, she was a Principal at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting in Washington, DC, working in the area of legislative strategies and policies. Prior to that, Mary was a well-respected member of the U.S. House of Representatives from southern California for approximately fifteen years, and she’s been a small business owner. Mary possesses outstanding communication skills and the ability to effectively interact with both internal and external audiences. She is known to be an individual who can coalesce people with differing views and perspectives.

Mary is a former gymnast. During her approximately ten years in the sport, she had experience with a variety of gymnastics clubs and trained under several different coaches including one who is on the USA Gymnastics permanently ineligible list. Her experience gives her insight into the challenges facing USA Gymnastics and the broader gymnastics community.

She has championed the protection of youth from the opioid abuse epidemic and was one of the first in Congress to raise this issue to a higher profile. She has won many awards for her efforts, including the "Champion for Drug Free Kids" from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. Mary has also spoken in support of the #MeToo movement.

Mary currently resides in Alexandria, VA with her husband, former astronaut Steve Oswald. She is the mother of two children, both of whom learned gymnastics at a local Boys and Girls Club, and the grandmother of two.

As you know well, USA Gymnastics has been in the midst of a difficult and painful transition to ensure that the safety, well-being and interests of our athletes remain at the heart of our mission. While much as been accomplished over the past several months to stabilize the organization, we still face tremendous challenges as we all work to achieve fundamental changes to move gymnastics forward. Mary will be a great addition during this period as we continue our forward momentum.


As announced in early September, the Board has formed a Search Committee focused on finding the permanent President and CEO. Spencer Stuart has been retained as the executive recruitment firm handling the search.

We will continue to keep you updated as our work progresses. I assure you the Board is determined to do everything in its power to ensure that our athletes and everyone involved with our great sport and movement achieve their fullest potential.

Sincerely,

Karen Golz
Chair, Board of Directors
USA Gymnastics
 
She's interim and has at least been exposed to the gymnastics culture in the past so I agree with Tumble Time, she deserves a chance ...

I don't think many will be satisfied until the new president/CEO is a combo of Aly/Jordyn/Rachel Denhollander/Miss Val/ Nichols/Boorman etc, with a side of business acumen all rolled up into one... and that's a tall order to fill ,so Mary Bono is a start with gymnastics experience in her past, and her interim appointment. Hopefully she googled a few of the Kerry Perry disaster scenes and learns what not to repeat.
 
It was in the email sent out to USAG members.





October 12, 2018


To USA Gymnastics members:

Letter to Membership from USAG Board Chair Karen Golz

Dear USAG Community:

The Board of Directors of USA Gymnastics is pleased to announce the appointment of The Honorable Mary Bono (Mary Bono) as Interim President and CEO of USA Gymnastics effective immediately. Ms. Bono will serve as Interim President and CEO until the Board selects a permanent President and CEO.

Ms. Bono possesses strong leadership and executive skills. Most recently, she was a Principal at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting in Washington, DC, working in the area of legislative strategies and policies. Prior to that, Mary was a well-respected member of the U.S. House of Representatives from southern California for approximately fifteen years, and she’s been a small business owner. Mary possesses outstanding communication skills and the ability to effectively interact with both internal and external audiences. She is known to be an individual who can coalesce people with differing views and perspectives.

Mary is a former gymnast. During her approximately ten years in the sport, she had experience with a variety of gymnastics clubs and trained under several different coaches including one who is on the USA Gymnastics permanently ineligible list. Her experience gives her insight into the challenges facing USA Gymnastics and the broader gymnastics community.

She has championed the protection of youth from the opioid abuse epidemic and was one of the first in Congress to raise this issue to a higher profile. She has won many awards for her efforts, including the "Champion for Drug Free Kids" from the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. Mary has also spoken in support of the #MeToo movement.

Mary currently resides in Alexandria, VA with her husband, former astronaut Steve Oswald. She is the mother of two children, both of whom learned gymnastics at a local Boys and Girls Club, and the grandmother of two.

As you know well, USA Gymnastics has been in the midst of a difficult and painful transition to ensure that the safety, well-being and interests of our athletes remain at the heart of our mission. While much as been accomplished over the past several months to stabilize the organization, we still face tremendous challenges as we all work to achieve fundamental changes to move gymnastics forward. Mary will be a great addition during this period as we continue our forward momentum.


As announced in early September, the Board has formed a Search Committee focused on finding the permanent President and CEO. Spencer Stuart has been retained as the executive recruitment firm handling the search.

We will continue to keep you updated as our work progresses. I assure you the Board is determined to do everything in its power to ensure that our athletes and everyone involved with our great sport and movement achieve their fullest potential.

Sincerely,

Karen Golz
Chair, Board of Directors
USA Gymnastics
Thanks! I read the press release but somehow completely missed that sentence. I am eager to hear more about her gymnastics experience and opinions on gymnastics in general. I hope she gives some sort of in depth interview so we can hear more.
 
She's interim and has at least been exposed to the gymnastics culture in the past so I agree with Tumble Time, she deserves a chance ...

I don't think many will be satisfied until the new president/CEO is a combo of Aly/Jordyn/Rachel Denhollander/Miss Val/ Nichols/Boorman etc, with a side of business acumen all rolled up into one... and that's a tall order to fill ,so Mary Bono is a start with gymnastics experience in her past, and her interim appointment. Hopefully she googled a few of the Kerry Perry disaster scenes and learns what not to repeat.

Thank you. This is exactly what I was thinking!
 
Well I spoke too soon... evidently the firm Ms Bono works for (Faegre Baker Daniels) was the firm involved in the initial Nassar cover up story...not that it was her but seriously USAG, a simple Google search finds this and there are many other lawyers from unaffiliated firms...

....but the other issue unearthed in a Google search finds Ms Bono, on her twitter, using a sharpie black marker to obliterate the Nike logo on her sneaker in September 2018 because she disagreed with the Kapernick, an athlete who spoke out, and the company who sponsored WAG and MAG in Rio and also signed Simone....

So the brouhaha will be sure to hit the fan shortly on all this because if the casual fan can find these with a Google search, I would think your recruiting firm should be able to root this out as well..

I'm not saying she couldn't do a good job but it just makes you wonder what USAG is thinking or doing when they are looking for people to hire for the high profile positions.
 
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Simone has just spoken out against her....given that Simone is a Nike athlete it doesn't bode too well that the interim CEO has spoken out against them. Not to mention the fact that USAG is in desperate need of sponsors, Nike would be a good one to have!!

Twitter? I would like to read what she’s said.

Nevermind, found it, and I agree with her.
 
but here's the thing. this is interim, and there are probably very few people out there who want the job and are qualified for the job. And it sounds like no one is going to be good enough. Everyone has skeletons. I do not know this lady, and yes, she has made some questionable choices. But when people condemn before they even start, they never have a chance.

I am not speaking in favor of or against this new interim.. Just in general. It is going to be a tough job to fill and as @bookworm said...unless it is a "Aly/Jordyn/Rachel Denhollander/Miss Val/ Nichols/Boorman etc, with a side of business acumen all rolled up into one." someone is going to be against them.
 

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