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USA Swimming has made numerous changes to its Board Governing Policies in the wake of the departure of CEO Tim Hinchey.
News broke that the national governing body was moving on from Hinchey after seven years on August 29, and Shana Ferguson took over as interim CEO later that same day.
The amendments went into effect on Sept. 4 and will remain in place until the Board votes to remove or modify them.
“During this interim period, it is the intention of the Board that CEO act in good faith to stabilize the organization through the transition and maintain continuity of the day-to-day management and operations of USA Swimming,” the bylaws read.
The amendments center around the interim CEO having restrictions on their ability to make certain decisions—Board approval is a requirement before any key decisions are made in several of the areas listed below.
The changes made included:
- Financial Decisions – The CEO shall obtain the approval from the Board on any Program annual expense total that has a current annual projection of $50,000 or more over the approved budget.
- Hiring and Firing – The CEO shall obtain the approval from the Board before hiring or terminating any full time, salaried employee. The CEO is prohibited from negotiating or proposing a severance package or compensation decisions, such as salary increases, with any employee without the prior approval of the Board
- Strategic Changes – The CEO shall obtain the approval from the Board before making any organizational changes or strategic initiatives.
- Communication – The CEO shall obtain the approval from the Board before issuing any formal communication (other than regularly scheduled, routine communications, such as newsletters or staff leads communicating with their committees for daily operations) or press release on behalf of USA Swimming with stakeholders, members, sponsors (excluding sponsor contract negotiations), and/or the media
- Operational Changes – With respect to appointments ordinarily made by the CEO, the CEO shall obtain the approval of the Board before CEO makes any changes in appointments to committees or non-staff positions.
- Board Interaction with Staff – A change to the policy titled “Accountability of the CEO” addressing the Board’s delegation of the authority and accountability of staff is: “specifically revised so that only the Board Chair or Vice Chair/Chair-Elect or a Board designee as appointed and approved by the Board and communicated in advance to the CEO may give instructions to the CEO and Strategy Team members without the consent, but with the knowledge, of the CEO.
- Periodic Reporting – The CEO shall report every other week to the Board on the topics and matters that materially impact the operations or direction of USA Swimming.
When a full-time CEO is in place, they have significantly more power than the current amendments made for the interim CEO.
For example, the CEO had the flexibility to establish policies and make key decisions, provided they were within “reasonable interpretation” of the organization’s policies, without needing to seek approval from the Board.
