USA Fencing named Greg Dilworth’s their Executive Director and removed “interim” from his title, calling off their search for a new ED until the conclusion of the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London, England.
The organization also announced the hiring of Jim Page as the High Performance Director (HPD) of US Fencing through the London Games.
Jim Page was employed at the USOC for 18 years, a tenure which culminated in his time as Managing Director of Sports Performance. In this position, he developed both the Athlete Support Programs and the Podium 2002 Program that led to a 250% increase in the medals earned by the US in Salt Lake City.
The statement of Page’s hiring also stated “We know that his past success in building programs and his passion for sport and fencing in particular will provide us with the High Performance leadership needed to enable success in London.”
In reporting on their decision to call off the executive search (which was initiated at the July 2010 Board of Directors meeting), USA Fencing offered this statement:
Since the Board approved the appointment of Greg Dilworth as Interim Executive Director the magnitude of the tasks confronting the organization and the state of the potential applicant pool have become more apparent. Because of these factors the wisdom of conducting a search for a new ED has been called into question. Specifically, the Executive Committee recognizes the need for consistent leadership to manage our run-up to the Olympic Games, to address our financial difficulties and to ensure that our domestic activities are moving in a positive direction. Also, because we are in the middle of the quad, the pool of potential applicants is likely to be smaller than it will be two years from now.Therefore, we have asked Mr. Dilworth to say on as ED for the next two years and he has agreed to do so. The current search will be suspended until 2012, by which time we expect that we will have set our association house in order, and serving as the Executive Director of USA Fencing will be an attractive opportunity.The Executive Committee resolved that Greg Dilworth’s status has been changed from interim to indefinite and that the terms of his employment will be submitted to the Board of Directors for ratification in accordance with the resolution adopted by the Board in February 2010.