The Southern California Swimming LSC has announced Steve Roush, 63, as its new Executive Director. Roush’s most recent position was at the CEO of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), a position that he held for about 9 months from January 2020 to October 2020.
“I am extremely honored and excited to have been selected to lead Southern California Swimming as their Executive Director,” Roush said. “My hope is that I can bring my skills and experiences to the role that will help position SCS as the flagship LSC in USA Swimming in all aspects of our operations. It is an incredible time to be the leader of this organization and develop programs & services that will grow and strengthen SCS into the future. With LA28 approaching quickly, SCS is in great position to benefit from all the attention and interest in Southern California for the period leading into the Olympic Games. The future is very bright for our LSC and members!”
Prior to his time at ASCA, Roush spent 11 years with Burson Cohn & Wolfe, a global communications agency, and 8 years with the United States Olympic Committee. At the USOC, he spent almost 5 years as the Chief of Sports Performance and almost 4 years as the Director of Sports Partnerships.
He was also the Assistant Executive Director of USA Swimming from 1994 through 2000.
While much of his recent experience has been off-deck, he started his career as a collegiate swim coach. He was an assistant at Northwestern from 1987 through 1988 and was an assistant coach at Wisconsin from 1988 through 1994. He earned both a bachelor’s degree in physical education as well has his MBA in Finance, Investment, and Banking from Wisconsin.
“Steve’s extensive background and experience in the sports world makes him the perfect fit to guide the organization to a new level of excellence,” James Gallagher, general chair of the Board of Directors, said. “As the country emerges from the pandemic, and things start to return to a new normal, I am excited to work with him and see our LSC work towards reaching our full potential.”
USA Swimming’s Membership Demographics Report for 2020, the most recent available, shows that Southern California Swimming had 18,039 members. A big drop in membership during the pandemic (they lost 3,162 premium and outreach members), dropped them behind Illinois Swimming as the second-largest LSC by premium and outreach membership in the country.
The Southern California Swimming LSC was under an administrative spotlight in early 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic derailed a lot of conversations in the sport. A group of teams in Orange County, led by Mark Schubert and Dave Salo, tried to split and form their own LSC, though the proposal was eventually voted down.
Kim O’Shea resigned as the Executive Director of SCS in late 2020 after almost four years in the post. The position has remained vacant for 18 months since then.
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