Who Is Running for the USA Swimming Board of Directors in 2026?

Three seats on the USA Swimming Board of Directors are up for grabs on September 2026 throughout the House of Delegates assembly, and USA Swimming has launched its official election doc.

Two At Large Nominee spots are up for grabs, as is an Athlete Representative spot. Running for the previous positions are U.S. Olympian Tom Dolan, former South African worldwide Byron Jeffers, Masters Swimmer and businesswoman Ann Senn, NCAP Owner Tom Ugast, and coach/membership proprietor Joe Zemaitis. Dolan, Jeffers, Senn, and Ugast had been chosen to be on the poll by the USA Swimming nominating committee, whereas Zemaitis was self-nominated.

Running for the Athlete spot are Taylor Abbott and Gunnar Bentz, each of whom had been nominated by the Nominating Committee.

None of the three outgoing board members are up for reelection: Katy Arris-Wilson, Kenneth Chung, and Olympian Maya DiRado. Arris-Wilson got here to the board with each enterprise and training expertise, Chung turned the board’s finance guru, and DiRado was a 10-year athlete consultant.

• Below are very transient bios of every nominee. To see full bios of all nominees, together with a Nominating Committee assertion on the six of seven candidates that they selected for the poll, see the complete Election Guide right here.
• Bios are introduced in alphabetical order.

In swimming circles, Dolan is finest referred to as a two-time U.S. Olympian who gained back-to-back gold medals within the 400 IM on the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, plus a silver medal within the 200 IM on the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

A Michigan graduate, he was a six-time particular person NCAA Champion and three-time NCAA Champion on the 800 free relay. He swam in highschool for the Curl-Burke Swim Club, which is now NCAP and is owned by one other nominee, Tom Ugast.

After retiring, he launched the Tom Dolan Swim School and finally turned President of Corporate Pools for Big Blue Swim School, a nationwide be taught to swim company.

The sport has come full circle for Dolan: his 4 children are actually enjoying youth sports activities, together with some swimming,

He was beforehand an athlete member of the USA Swimming Board of Directors.

The Nominating Committee stated, partially: “The Nominating Committee valued his ability to connect the elite athlete experience with the everyday family and club side of the sport, along with his thoughtful interest in helping USA Swimming grow and support the full swimming pathway from lessons through transitions to a club team and beyond.”

Byron Jeffers

Jeffers grew up in Durban, South Africa, and was on the South African Junior National Team. He competed on the Commonwealth Youth Games and World Youth Games earlier than finally matriculating to the University of Arizona as a part of a wave of South African swimmers migrating to Tucson.

He has lived within the United States ever since.

Professionally, he spent seven years at PwC, labored because the Chief Accounting Officer and now Vice President, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations for First Solar, which reported $5.37 billion in income in 2025.

“I got here to the United States with a swimming scholarship and never a lot else. This sport made my training, profession, and household’s life doable. I don’t take that with no consideration. It is the rationale I need to serve—not as a line on a résumé, however as a method to assist guarantee the following technology of swimmers has entry to the identical alternatives this sport gave me.

His resume would fill the elevated monetary experience that the board loses with Chung’s departure.

Ann Senn

Senn ran for the Board of Directors final 12 months. Because of necessities for 2 of the three seats to be coaches, each her and Board of Directors president Brent Lang couldn’t be chosen – so we don’t know precisely the place she completed within the operating.

Senn swam as a toddler in Madison, Wisconsin and for the University of Wisconsin. She is now an energetic Masters swimmer in Minnesota.

Outside of the pool, she was a accomplice at Deloitte, one of many Big Four accounting companies and a corporation with $70 billion in income yearly. There are a number of thousand Deloitte companions within the US, and plenty of extra internationally as effectively.

Senn’s private assertion talked concerning the challenges dealing with youth sports activities and Olympic sports activities throughout the nation and the world. She added “With Los Angeles 2028 on the horizon, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to inspire a new generation of swimmers and elevate the sport across the US.”

This will get at a key concern throughout many stakeholders, that the BOD-led course of that took over a 12 months to seek out new USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring has left American swimming behind the eight ball in capturing momentum from the LA28 Olympic Games.

Tom Ugast is the CEO and President of NCAP, one of many nation’s largest and most storied USA Swimming golf equipment. That makes him a robust voice in any room, whether or not he’s on the Board of Directors or not.

Ugast’s private assertion focuses on the aggressive facet of the game.

In half:

I’ve all the time felt we’ve got these 2 targets we should concentrate on.

1. Win Medals for Team USA
2. Develop younger swimmers on the native degree to attain their targets

Not each swimmer that may be a member of USA Swimming will make a National or Junior crew, however we should give our Clubs the assets they should obtain the very best degree each swimmer could make.

He additionally expressed concern on the affect of NIL on non-revenue sports activities like swimming and “what role USA Swimming can play in making sure college swimming is still important to the university system.”

The lone self-nominated candidate this 12 months, Zemaitis is one half of the Swim Brothers, a duo of prolific open water swimmers who raise money for charity.

In the extra structured halls of USA Swimming, he’s the top coach and proprietor of Swim Neptune in Arizona, which he based in 2002.

He was an NCAA D3 swimmer himself, and holds the World Record for the longest multi-segment lake swim protecting 70 miles constantly in 47 hours.

He additionally has deep organizational expertise in USA Swimming. He has served because the Age Group Chair, Open Water Chair, Administrative Vice Chair, and General Chair of Arizona Swimming, and is at present the Western Zone Open Water Chair and sits on USA Swimming’s LSC Development Committee.

His private assertion reads, partially:

I’m searching for the chance to serve on the USA Swimming Board of Directors as a result of I imagine our group is strongest when governance is considerate, collaborative, financially accountable, and all the time athlete-centered. I’d convey sensible management expertise, a dedication to listening, and a deep appreciation for each a part of our sport as we work collectively to strengthen USA Swimming for future generations.

Abbott has a deep degree of expertise in open water swimming. He was a Junior World Champion within the open water 5k competing for Team USA earlier than going to the University of Tennessee.

As an grownup, he represented the US on the 2018 Pan Pac Championships and 2019 Pan American Games.

After retiring from elite competitors, he started working for Frito-Lay, the place he labored as a Customer Development Manager.

He has since returned to the game and at present serves as Team Operations Manager for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, one other of the United States’ most storied membership groups. He additionally serves on plenty of LSC committees and is at present an athlete roster on the USA Swimming Open Water Committee.

Gunnar Bentz gained an Olympic gold medal in 2016 as a member of the American 800 free relay, the place he swam a finals leg. He additionally gained a relay silver and particular person bronze within the 200 IM on the 2015 Pan American Games, and was the 2013 World Junior Champion in each the 200 IM and 400 IM.

A former crew captain on the University of Georgia, he now works in venture administration and operations for Powertron Global. Powertron Global works within the burgeoning business of knowledge facilities.

Bentz is at present a member of the USA Swimming Athlete Advisory Council and the National Team Steering Committee.

Bentz ended his aggressive profession on the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the place he completed seventh within the 200 fly.