By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
USA Swimming announced Kevin Ring as its new President and CEO on Thursday, ending a more than one-year-long search for a new full-time leader.
Ring, who will officially begin at USA Swimming on September 17, currently serves as the President of Golf at Legends, a global, data-driven experiences company that provides holistic, 360-degree services for organizations across sports and entertainment.
Ring’s hiring comes 371 days after Tim Hinchey officially resigned as USA Swimming CEO last August. USA Swimming immediately named Shana Ferguson interim CEO, and then this past February, Chrissi Rawak was announced as the full-time CEO. However, she quickly resigned after a SafeSport complaint was filed against her. Ferguson reassumed her role as the interim CEO before taking a job at LA28 in late March, and USA Swimming then named Bob Vincent as its interim CEO, a role he’s held for just over five months.
Ring’s role as CEO will primarily focus on expanding membership, increasing revenue, and maximizing the sport’s momentum heading into the 2028 Olympics. He will also serve as the CEO of the USA Swimming Foundation.
“Swimming is one of the world’s most inspiring and global sports, and I am honored to join USA Swimming at such an important moment,” said Ring. “There is an extraordinary opportunity to grow participation, connect with new fans, and develop innovative partnerships that will fuel success for the entire swimming community. I look forward to working with our athletes, coaches, volunteers, and partners to expand the reach and impact of this incredible sport.”
Ring has been the President at Legends Golf since 2022, when the organization launched a dedicated golf division to provide its full-service approach within the golf industry, partnering with marquee clients such as the PGA of America and the Ryder Cup to oversee things such as sponsorships, licensing, merchandising and fan experience.
Prior to Legends, Ring served as the Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at the PGA of America, where he spearheaded efforts to grow the game of golf through new sponsorship models, media rights deals, grassroots engagement, and enhanced championship experiences.
“I’m excited to see Kevin stepping into this role with a focus on collaboration,” said Natalie Coughlin, Chair-Elect of the USA Swimming Board of Directors. “His commitment to empowering athlete leadership, strengthening coach development, and bringing all stakeholders to the table is exactly what USA Swimming needs to move forward. I’m confident his leadership will make a lasting impact on our sport.”
Clearly well-versed in the sports business world, Ring acknowledged that his familiarity with swimming isn’t the deepest, having only really started to follow the sport at the international level over the past four or five months as this opportunity came onto his radar. However, he believes his experiences in organizations centered around membership will be beneficial.
“While my specific swimming knowledge isn’t deep, my knowledge of a membership-based organization, and the respect of the coaches, and what the volunteers do, and the local swim clubs is such a parallel to my PGA of America experience,” Ring told SwimSwam on Thursday.
He noted that the USA Swimming staff and the Board of Directors are well-versed in the sport, which will allow him to expedite his deep dive into swimming, and bringing over his PGA of America experience will make a “really wonderful, complementary team.”
Chris Brearton, Chair of the USA Swimming Board of Directors, said: “Kevin’s track record in driving participation and revenue growth aligns perfectly with USA Swimming’s goals as we enter a new era.
“Just as important, Kevin understands the vital role of supporting athletes and coaches at every stage of their journey and ensuring they have the resources to succeed. His ability to bring demonstrated best practices from other sports to empower our athletes, coaches, and the broader swimming community will be instrumental as we head into LA2028 and beyond.”
BUILDING THE SPORT AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL, TOP PRIORITIES
Ring emphasized the need to continue growing the sport from the ground up, building the membership and supporting local coaches with the resources they need.
“I think one of the big things is going to be is really spending a lot of time on how we smartly grow the sport and grow the membership,” he said. “Getting more people in the pool, getting more people, to really embrace what it is that’s this lifetime activity that truly saves lives, and you can start it from, you know, young kids, babies, up till, you know, your last breath, and there’s not a lot of activities and sports you can do that.
“So I think where I can really be supportive of making sure that I’m supporting the coaches, I’m supporting the grassroots level, I know the importance of the grassroots level, just because, you know, every day, no matter what I do, it’s the tangible connection to the swimmer.
“It’s the local club, it’s the swim coach, and what I can do is make sure that we are resourcing them, supporting them, rolling out things that are innovative and change, but easily adaptable, and doing some listening.”
When asked what USA Swimming’s biggest areas of need are, Ring first spoke about the grassroots level and supporting the sport’s infrastructure at the local level, but he also mentioned the National Team and the experience of the top swimmers in the country.
“I want to make sure that, not forgetting that at the elite level and the high performance end, we’re doing everything possible to fund, support, and really work with that group to make sure that we are performing the best we can at the pool.
“To me, it’s a two-pronged approach that I want to bring here, is making sure we support the high-end, but also the recreational athlete, and make sure we support the volunteers and the coaches at the local level. To me, that’s big. I learned that lesson quickly, during my PGA experience, and I think that’s going to be a really great parallel to bring forward.”
In this “two-pronged approach,” Ring said he won’t prioritize one (membership, growing the sport) over the other (high performance, National Team), but believes the two can work hand in hand.
“I think that the two feed off each other. I think we can’t put too much of a priority over one over the other, because measurement of success, obviously, the most visible one is our medals. And that has to be… so that’s about that performance. But those medals don’t happen if we don’t support, fund, give the tools that are necessary at that grassroots coach level, to make sure that we’re supporting them the best possible way. Those two have to go together.
“I don’t think at this point, my priority will be one over the other. The two have to feed off each other for the success of USA Swimming. And listen, at different times, will there be a focus on one over the other? Probably. But I just can’t tell you exactly what it’s going to be, but I view both of those as critical, because the local coaches, local swim clubs, and the expansion of the sport needs to feed the next generation of athletes. They’ll participate in world championships and high-level competition, and in college.
“And the excitement that often comes out of that is by people watching the Olympic Games every four years, when swimming is the highest profile sport, people get behind it, and they become motivated to get in the pool. So, I think it’s got to be both.”
2028 OLYMPICS
With the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles on the horizon, the first Summer Games hosted on U.S. soil since 1996, Ring said, despite the outside noise, he believes there has been a lot of good going on behind the scenes at USA Swimming to put them in a good spot for those Olympics.
“There’s momentum there, that’s coming around the corner. We’ve got to dive in, and with heavy ambition and quickly, really start working with that. So I want to keep on building on that momentum that’s already in place. I want to make sure that I’m building on the team that is in place, the talent that’s there, and really evaluate where we are to make sure people are in the right places.
“And also, just, you know, understand, listen, change is inevitable. I’m a new CEO coming in. I don’t know what that means, but I think that to say that the status quo is where we’re gonna be, is not something we’re going to do. So I want to build on the momentum that’s already in place at the work that’s been done.
“And, you know, to be fair to everybody who’s there, you know, I’ve got a few weeks before I’m starting there, so diving in and learning a lot, there’s been a lot that’s been shared with me in a short amount of time. There’s a lot that’ll be shared with me in the next few weeks before I get my feet on the ground in Colorado Springs.”
Having being hired less than three years before the Opening Ceremonies of the 2028 Games, Ring said he’s simply looking forward when asked if any opportunities to build might have been missed with USA Swimming’s lengthy delay of hiring a CEO.
“I’m a big believer in looking forward, and I’m not trying to push that question, but I’m a big believer in pushing forward, and if I do look back, I think the hiring of Greg Meehan was obviously a wonderful start to this.
“He’s respected by the athletes, coaches, and I think that’s a lot of… a great step in the right direction. Spending a lot of time with him to make sure, again, going back to the resources, go and make sure that we have everything that’s necessary to grow.”
Meehan was USA Swimming’s first key hire following the resignation of Hinchey, as the former Stanford women’s head coach was named National Team Director in April. The former National Team Director, Lindsay Mintenko, moved on from the role last August, the same time Hinchey resigned as CEO.
“I can’t say whether anything was missed. I do know that looking forward, that’s a priority. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have a Summer Olympics in the United States. We’ve got to take advantage of that, and I mean that in the most positive way. How do we make sure that our athletes have the tools to perform? How do we make sure that we’re putting the framework and the foundation in place at the grassroots level to make sure that we can grow when all the eyes are on the sport in July of 28, and how can we make sure that coming out of that, when we have the success that I would anticipate, that we also can really build off that coming out of it? So, to me, it’s all about looking forward and building on what’s already been done.”
WORKING WITH MICHAEL PHELPS & OTHER ALUMNI
Some of the sport’s biggest names have been outspoken and critical of USA Swimming in recent months, most notably with Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Rowdy Gaines expressing their displeasure with both the direction of the organization and the team’s performance at the recent World Championships last month.
At the 2025 World Championships, the United States finished atop the medal table with nine gold and 29 total medals, outperforming their 2023 and 2024 Worlds gold medal totals. However, many still felt the team underperformed, with a lingering illness picked up at a pre-Worlds training camp in Thailand playing a role.
After the criticism about the World Championships, Phelps released a lengthy public statement putting the organization’s leadership on blast while providing a three-step action plan to get things moving in the right direction (from his perspective).
Ring understands the weight of comments from someone like Phelps holds, and he plans on having a conversation with him in the near future to get his perspective on things and start working together rather than going back and forth in the media.
“I’m a pretty transparent and open communicator,” Ring said. “The way I’m going to address that is, Michael, I’m going to reach out to as fast as possible. I’m looking forward to hearing from him, having a conversation with him. Seeing what he wants to do, and just listening, because he, obviously, has so much wonderful to contribute to the sport. He’s done so much for the sport already. I’m just looking forward to having that conversation with him as fast as possible.”
He reiterated the importance of communicating with not only Phelps, but Lochte, Gaines and other former swimmers and finding a way to move together.
“It’s important to me for all of the alumni, the influential alumni, you know, talking to Rowdy, talking to Ryan, who had some conversations, some things that he said after Michael posted. These are people who have meant a lot to the swimming community, have done a lot for USA Swimming as a whole, and so all I’m gonna do is reach out to them, hope to have conversations with them, and see how we can build a bond moving forward, and seeing what we can do together to really build USA Swimming as a whole.”
COMPENSATION
Based on industry standards, SwimSwam projects Ring’s annual salary to be $500,000 or more, in addition to the costs of two search firms over the past 12 months, CAA and Nu Advisory.
USA Swimming confirmed to SwimSwam that the CEO search includes the cost of two search firms and other transition expenses, but didn’t disclose the total, noting that it will become available on their financial documents when they’re made available.
According to ProPublica on the 2022 PGA 990, Ring made $633,776 annually (and an additional $57,092 listed as “other”) as the Chief Revenue Officer at the PGA of America.
USA Swimming’s CEO contracts have historically been four years.
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