5 BOD Members Added To USA Shooting

[USA Shooting]

http://www.usashooting.org/news/2016/10 ... nce-reform

First Five BOD Members Named as part of USA Shooting’s On-going Governance Reform

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (October 18, 2016)
The formation of USA Shooting’s new Board of Directors (BOD) is halfway complete following the election and appointment of five worthy members. The election of four independent director positions as well as the appointment of an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) representative is part of the organization’s on-going governance reform that began back in March 2016. Five more candidates are set to be elected and named before December 1.

The four new Independent Directors are as follows: Paul Boyer, Barbara Bridendolph, Jeff Price and Kristen Raskopf. Susan Abbott, as the highest ranking International Shooting Sport Federation official, gets an automatic spot on the newly constructed Board as well.

Biographical detail on each new member is provided below.

“The newest Board members represent a diverse group of individuals all having showcased strong business acumen and the experience necessary to have a tremendous impact on USA Shooting,” said Interim Chief Executive Officer Dave Johnson. “As a staff, we’re excited to get to know more about them and really tap into their expertise to help push us forward as an organization.”

Eight independent director candidates were provided to USA Shooting’s current BOD from a three-person search committee led by the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Rick Adams, Chief of Paralympic Sport and NGB Organizational Development. The committee helped solicit and vet appropriate nominees and provided recommendations to USA Shooting. The current USAS Board recently held a vote to elect four positions and to determine length of terms for each candidate. In the future, the four independent directors will be elected by the Board based on nominees proposed by the USA Shooting Nominating and Governance Committee.

Boyer and Bridendolph will each serve four-year terms while Price and Raskopf will each serve a two-year term. Abbott’s term is for four years.

At its March 12, 2016 meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Shooting’s Board of Directors unanimously and positively approved comprehensive reforms in the governance of USA Shooting.

In response to a Complaint filed with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) by athletes and other members of USA Shooting under Section 10 of the USOC Bylaws, representatives from USA Shooting and the Complainants worked with a Blue Ribbon Panel of experts appointed by the USOC to review and make recommendations on how to incorporate best practices and increased operational transparency into the governance structure of USA Shooting. This work resulted in the development of Amended and Restated USA Shooting Bylaws and Governance Implementing Provisions that were adopted by the USA Shooting Board.

As a result of the reforms, USA Shooting’s Board of Directors is now transforming from a 15-person to a 10-person Board, consisting of: (1) the athlete who is the USOC Athletes Advisory Council (AAC) representative; (2) one athlete elected by the athletes from the disciplines of rifle, pistol, shotgun and Paralympics; (3) a representative of USA Shooting coaches/officials; (4) a representative of USA Shooting member clubs; (5) the senior USA Shooting representative elected to the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF); (6) the Chair of the newly formed USA Shooting Advisory Council; and (7) four independent directors with no ties to USAS within the preceding two years. The new Bylaws thus reduce the number of constituency-based Board positions and also provide that no employee of USA Shooting may be a voting member of the Board of Directors.

The USA Shooting Athlete Advisory Council is overseeing election procedures for the USOC AAC position and the discipline athlete representative to the Board. The coach/official director and newly-created club director position are being elected by those respective constituencies. The Advisory Council will elect its chair, who will serve on the USA Shooting Board. The Advisory Council will consist of representatives from allied and community-based organizations as well as other organizations and individuals providing significant resources to USAS.

Five standing committees will exist as part of the new governance structure: (1) Nominating and Governance; (2) Finance and Compensation; (3) Audit; (4) Judicial; and (5) Ethics.

NEW USAS BOD MEMBER BIOS

Paul Boyer, Independent Director – Boyer is a hands-on, entrepreneurial finance and operations executive known for his creative leadership, entrepreneurial approach and strong business acumen. He currently is the Chief Financial Officer at Humacyte, a regenerative biotechnology company.

Boyer has been a senior executive and entrepreneur at companies such as RivalHealth, Agion Technologies, Solicore, SwitchPoint Networks and BriteSmile. He is highly skilled in start-up, turnaround, high growth and private equity ventures for public and private companies. Boyer spent the past 25 years as a CFO and/or COO of private and public companies from start-up to $700M in revenues. Prior to Humacyte, Mr. Boyer was Founder and President of FinOps Solutions, Inc., a professional services firm providing CFO/COO services, M&A Advisory and capital raising expertise in public and private markets. During this time, Mr. Boyer was named one of Carolinas’ Best in Business in Forbes Magazine in 2012, and Entrepreneur of the Year by Business Leader Magazine in 2012. Prior to FinOps Solutions, Mr. Boyer was a founder of RivalHealth, a privately held online/app based company focused on preventative healthcare.

He currently serves in a Board advisory capacity for two different private software companies including MYXX.IT and MilVil. He previously served on the Boards of RivalHealth, LLC and Anpath Group, Inc.

Barbara Bridendolph, Independent Director – Bridendolph is CEO of Crenshaw Associates, a market leader in premiere career transition and leadership development for senior level executives. She leads operations of the firm as well as the Executive Development practice, and serves as an Executive Advisor to C-level Clients.

Bridendolph has worked with more than 200 directors, CEOs, presidents and high-potential executives to promote their professional growth and business success. She draws on her personal experiences as a corporate executive, entrepreneur and board member to offer pragmatic suggestions for the complicated issues clients face.

Bridendolph is very active in higher education, having served her graduate school alma mater, Penn State, as a speaker, Advisor, and Board member for over 20 years. She currently sits on the Alumni Society Board for the Smeal School of Business, where she is a recipient of the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award. Barb is past Chair of the University Parents Council, and served on the MBA and Mont Alto Campus Advisory Boards. She has also served on advisory boards for the First National Bank of Mercersburg and The Sentry Trust Company. Bridendolph is a current member of the Advisory Board of ShoDogg, a New York-based technology start-up with patented, paradigm-shifting solutions for sharing and presenting content.

Jeff Price, Independent Director – Price provides consulting services to non-profit organizations using his many years of business experience – primarily in the tradeshow and events industry. The most notable is the National Shooting Sports Foundation and its SHOT Show, which he has assisted since 2013. Additionally, he consults with investment firms that have interests in the events, hospitality and/or travel industries.

Price was the CEO of Experient from 2010-2012, leading the organization and the 3500 events and more than 3 million hotel room nights it managed. Price was the president of Cygnus Exposition for several years, which owned and managed 40+ tradeshows in the aviation, emergency services, agriculture, building and home products, machine tool/manufacturing, construction and facilities management industries. In addition to his tradeshow experience, Price handled all mergers and acquisitions for Wyndham Travel Management from 1995-96. From there, Price acted as the President/CEO for The Cruise Line, Inc., helping it double in size to become the world’s second largest cruise-only travel agency in 1998. He sold the company in 1999 for 12 times its purchase price. Price has served on several boards, including spending 24 years on the International Association of Exhibitions and Events board.

Kristen Raskopf, Independent Director – Raskopf is an attorney and former partner in the New York office of Hunton & Williams, one of the world’s largest law firms. During her law practice, Raskopf chaired the New York office’s Intellectual Property Group, where she represented a variety of clients in professional sports, music and film entertainment, software and hardware technology and major consumer products. While representing clients including the National Hockey League and all of its member teams, Raskopf successfully secured major licensing and marketing rights for NHL teams including the New York Rangers, San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks, and Los Angeles Kings, in addition to structuring and enforcing a league-wide name and logo protection program for the East Coast Hockey League and all of its member teams.

After leading the NY office of Hunton & William’s Intellectual Property Group, Kristen left the firm to start her own business, Dirty Blond Cocktails. She successfully created and launched a line of sparkling wine cocktails in over 1200 Target stores nationwide before licensing the brand to an international wine and spirits distributor. She previously served on the Board of Directors for Bolivar Apt. Corporation.

Raskopf began her career in New York City after graduating cum laude from Brigham Young University Law School where she was an executive editor on the law review. She currently resides in Manhattan with her husband and two sons.

Susan Abbott, ISSF Representative – Abbott was elected to the ISSF Pistol Committee in 1998, and served as Acting Chairman of the ISSF Pistol Committee from 2005 through 2006, when she was elected Chairman. The Olympic Games in Rio 2016 was her seventh Games serving on or as Chairman of the Pistol Jury.

Prior to her involvement in the ISSF, Abbott served as a National Rifle Association volunteer as a National Referee at Camp Perry, a range officer and later Chief Range Officer of the 25-meter Range for the NRA International Matches and retains her credentials as an NRA Referee. Abbott continued her work with USA Shooting when it became the National Governing Body for Olympic-style shooting as Chief Range Officer for the 25-meter range, and the Pistol Jury for international competitions, including Continental Games. She has also served as Chief Range Officer of 25-meter range for many USA Shooting Nationals and is an instructor for USA Shooting and ISSF Judges Courses.

As President of the Louisiana Shooting Association (a USA Shooting state affiliate), Abbott introduced an international shooting program on a state and local level and also served on the Executive Committee of the LSA Board of Directors. As a Hunter Safety Instructor with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, she promoted the shooting sports as a rifle and pistol instructor for their Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshop series.

[jmdavis]

Do three of these people lack any competitive shooting experience at ALL? Certainly none is noted in their bios and while I respect business people, some domain knowledge is a good thing for a Director of ANYTHING.

[corning]

Do three of these people lack any competitive shooting experience at ALL? Certainly none is noted in their bios and while I respect business people, some domain knowledge is a good thing for a Director of ANYTHING.

Unless old age has taken a toll on my reading comprehension, I only see that one of these new board memebers has any shooting experience, and that was Ms Abbot, someone who is already associated with the ISSF and USAS. Mr Price has acted as a consultant for shooting sports, but is kind of light on actual involvement?

[john bickar]

Gentlemen, cease your griping. USAS has clearly improved their BOD selection process over what it was just a few short years ago.

Why, I was just reading a press release from 2012 about 5 new members of the USAS Board:

• Gary Anderson
• James Lally
• Gary Anderson
• James Lally
• Gary Anderson

As you can see: a marked improvement.

[gwsb]

If these people had ties to the shooting sports they wouldn't be independent directors. What USAS and NRA need is new blood at the top with management and business experience.I would also throw ISSF into that pot.

Like the government we need term limits for directors for these organizations. There are too many people on the NRA and other boards and officers who have been in place for 20-30 years.

[jmdavis]

Bickar does have a point.

[Marc Orvin]

Bickar does have a point.

John always has good points. They come from years of experience living within this system. Always have respected John's opinions.

[john bickar]

Bickar does have a point.

John always has good points. They come from years of experience living within this system. Always have respected John's opinions.

"Sometimes", Marc. I believe the word you are looking for is "sometimes". :P