US Sailing: Letter from the President

by Henry Brauer 7 Nov 07:41 PST

I wanted to take this opportunity to formally introduce myself to all of you and to update the membership on several priorities on which we are currently focused. I am honored to have been elected President of US Sailing and I look forward to serving the membership and all sailors during the coming four years.

I have been sailing since I was eight years old and have focused most of my sailing energy on one-design and offshore sailing. By way of example, this summer, I served as the tactician for a boyhood friend on his Atlantic Class sloop at their National Championship which we won. Earlier this month, my partner (my brother-in-law) and I, along with our team, finished third at the ORC World Championship on our Club Swan 42, Tio Loco.

I have had the pleasure of serving on the US Sailing Board for the past 5 years and I have held numerous leadership positions in our sport including being the Past Commodore of Eastern Yacht Club and Past President of the International J/70 Class Association. My wife and I live in Marblehead, Massachusetts where we brought up our family and we spend time in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

As I mentioned to the Board last week in my first meeting as President, "This is a team sport and for US Sailing to be successful we all need to be engaged." I offer the same sentiment to all our volunteers who give their time to make our sport better and I hope that many of our members will also see this as an opportunity to get engaged whether at the local, regional or national level.

I am energized and excited about the future of US Sailing. The organization has made great strides over the past 5 years and are in a strong position today to move forward on a positive path and to build on these successes. Paramount is our focus on maintaining strong relationships with our member clubs, community sailing programs, regional sailing organizations, and corporate partners that promote and support high performance sailing for our youth and Olympic aspirants. Our relationship with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has never been stronger. The Board of Directors is committed to strengthening these relationships and creating new ones to benefit our members and especially our high performance athletes.

There are several important tasks to accomplish over the first 120 days of my term as President. These are listed in no particular order as they are all important and I can assure you are receiving the full attention of the Board.

• We must identify and hire a new Chief Executive Officer to lead the Association. A Search Committee has been appointed and is already hard at work to identify an Executive Search firm to be our partner in the process.

• We must continue to provide support to our High Performance and Olympic Program. Marcus Lynch, our High Performance Director, and his team are focused on establishing the foundation for the future of the program including securing training facilities in Long Beach, working with our athletes to create their plans for LA28 and working with the next generation of athletes through the Olympic Development Program (ODP).

• The Association needs to update its current technology, specifically our member database, with new software. Our team researched the various solutions available on the market and has identified the product and provider best suited to serve our needs. We are in the process of securing the funding to implement this initiative and we are excited about the value that this will deliver for our members and the sailing community.

There are myriad other important issues on which our professional staff and volunteers are focusing their energy to continue to make the sport better for all of us. I am excited about the journey ahead and am committed to working together to advance our shared goals in sailing.

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to getting to know many of you during my tenure as your President.

Henry Brauer,
President of US Sailing