President's Letter to Membership - April 19, 2018
Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters of U.S. Soccer,
When you gave me the opportunity to serve as President of U.S. Soccer two months ago, I promised to be your partner—to listen, to be inclusive and to be transparent as we work together to deliver the change that U.S. Soccer needs. In this spirit, I plan to keep you updated on our Federation’s activities. It’s been a busy two months.
While in Chicago, I also appreciated the chance to meet with some of our dedicated youth and adult soccer leaders from Illinois and to hear their concerns firsthand. I hope to make discussions like this a regular part of my travels because we’re only going to be able to grow the game by working together, especially at the grassroots.
Our bid—including our 23 candidate host cities—was formally submitted on March 16, and FIFA conducted its technical inspection of our stadiums and facilities last week. We’re pleased at the growing support for bringing the World Cup to North America. But we’re in a competitive race, and we’ll continue to make the case for our bid to football federations around the world—right up to the vote on June 13.
- A Technical Development Committee co-chaired by Carlos Bocanegra and Angela Hucles, to provide Board-level oversight of soccer operations; and,
- A Commercial Committee to oversee all Federation commercial activities, which will be chaired by a new independent director to replace outgoing Donna Shalala, who we thank for her outstanding service.
To better align the Board and day-to-day Federation operations and to more effectively serve all our members, the Board also approved changes at the staff level. Among them:
- We are expanding and formalizing our Membership Department—which will be headed by Brian Remedi, who will serve as Chief Stakeholders Officer, working with Caitlin Carducci, who is well-known to our members—so that we’re truly listening to and working with all members to grow the game;
- Nico Romejin will serve as Chief Sport Development Officer, responsible for all technical areas, including Player Development and Coaching Education, and Ryan Mooney, as Chief Soccer Officer, will coordinate our administrative needs on the technical side;
- Jay Berhalter will serve as Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer, responsible for corporate, broadcast and retail partnerships, event operations and revenue; and,
- Tonya Wallach will serve as our new Chief Talent and Inclusion Officer to promote equality and diversity across all programs at all levels.
Meanwhile, our search committee continues to make progress toward filling our new General Manager positions for our Men’s and Women’s National Teams. Given the head coach vacancy on the men’s side, we hope to have an announcement on the MNT position in the coming weeks.
Good luck to all our teams, including our U-17 women as they head into the Concacaf Championship in Nicaragua and our Beach Soccer National Team as they prepare for the Bahamas Beach Soccer Cup. And be sure to tune in next month to the 105th Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup!
I’m excited about the journey ahead, and I look forward to working with you every step of the way...
Carlos