21 March 2017

On 19 March, the USRowing Board of Directors elected Marcia Hooper as the new Chair of the Board. In a statement, Marcia Hooper, who joined the USRowing Board of Directors earlier this month, said in an interview published on USRowing’s website:

‘I am honored to assume the role of Chair of the USRowing Board of Directors. I am excited to be working alongside such a dedicated board. Their commitment to the sport of rowing and to providing opportunities for excellence, at every level for every athlete, is commendable. I am also looking forward to working with and learning from the USRowing staff, all our volunteers and our many stakeholders.’ Hooper continued: ‘We will strive over this quadrennial to broaden and enrich our domestic rowing programs as well as provide the resources needed for our national teams to succeed.’

In the mid-1970s, Hooper co-founded the women’s rowing programme at Brown University, and since 2012 she has served as co-chair of the National Rowing Foundation (NRF), a support organisation to USRowing. Hooper also serves as a managing director and board member of the Head of the Charles Regatta, the largest two-day regatta in the world.

In civilian life, Hooper is President of HooperLewis, LLC, an entrepreneurial consulting and angel investing firm and serves as senior advisor to Bowside Capital, a private equity firm. She is a member of Cambridge Boat Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In a comment to the election of Marcia Hooper as Chair of the USRowing Board of Directors, Meghan O’Leary, who had acted as Interim Board Chair, said:

‘I couldn’t be more excited about the future of USRowing with Marcia as our new chair and I look forward to continuing in my role as the Female Athlete Representative on the Board and focusing on my training for the 2017 World Championships.’

A list of USRowing’s Board of Directors is here.