By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Three seats on the USA Swimming Board of Directors are up for grabs on September 2026 during the House of Delegates meeting, and USA Swimming has released its official election document.
Two At Large Nominee spots are up for grabs, as is an Athlete Representative spot. Running for the former positions are U.S. Olympian Tom Dolan, former South African international Byron Jeffers, Masters Swimmer and businesswoman Ann Senn, NCAP Owner Tom Ugast, and coach/club owner Joe Zemaitis. Dolan, Jeffers, Senn, and Ugast were chosen to be on the ballot by the USA Swimming nominating committee, while Zemaitis was self-nominated.
Running for the Athlete spot are Taylor Abbott and Gunnar Bentz, both of whom were nominated by the Nominating Committee.
None of the three outgoing board members are up for reelection: Katy Arris-Wilson, Kenneth Chung, and Olympian Maya DiRado. Arris-Wilson came to the board with both business and coaching experience, Chung became the board’s finance guru, and DiRado was a 10-year athlete representative.
Below are very brief bios of each nominee. To see full bios of all nominees, including a Nominating Committee statement on the six of seven candidates that they chose for the ballot, see the full Election Guide here. Bios are presented in alphabetical order. At-Large Brief BiosTom Dolan
In swimming circles, Dolan is best known as a two-time U.S. Olympian who won back-to-back gold medals in the 400 IM at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games, plus a silver medal in the 200 IM at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
A Michigan graduate, he was a six-time individual NCAA Champion and three-time NCAA Champion on the 800 free relay. He swam in high school for the Curl-Burke Swim Club, which is now NCAP and is owned by another nominee, Tom Ugast.
After retiring, he launched the Tom Dolan Swim School and ultimately became President of Corporate Pools for Big Blue Swim School, a national learn to swim corporation.
The sport has come full circle for Dolan: his four kids are now playing youth sports, including some swimming,
He was previously an athlete member of the USA Swimming Board of Directors.
The Nominating Committee said, in part: “The Nominating Committee valued his ability to connect the elite athlete experience with the everyday family and club side of the sport, along with his thoughtful interest in helping USA Swimming grow and support the full swimming pathway from lessons through transitions to a club team and beyond.”
Byron Jeffers
Jeffers grew up in Durban, South Africa, and was on the South African Junior National Team. He competed at the Commonwealth Youth Games and World Youth Games before eventually matriculating to the University of Arizona as part of a wave of South African swimmers migrating to Tucson.
He has lived in the United States ever since.
Professionally, he spent seven years at PwC, worked as the Chief Accounting Officer and now Vice President, Treasurer and Head of Investor Relations for First Solar, which reported $5.37 billion in revenue in 2025.
“I came to the United States with a swimming scholarship and not much else. This sport made my education, career, and family’s life possible. I don’t take that for granted. It is the reason I want to serve—not as a line on a résumé, but as a way to help ensure the next generation of swimmers has access to the same opportunities this sport gave me.
His resume would fill the elevated financial expertise that the board loses with Chung’s departure.
Ann Senn
Senn ran for the Board of Directors last year. Because of requirements for two of the three seats to be coaches, both her and Board of Directors president Brent Lang could not be chosen – so we don’t know exactly where she finished in the running.
Senn swam as a child in Madison, Wisconsin and for the University of Wisconsin. She is now an active Masters swimmer in Minnesota.
Outside of the pool, she was a partner at Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting firms and an organization with $70 billion in revenue annually. There are several thousand Deloitte partners in the US, and many more internationally as well.
Senn’s personal statement talked about the challenges facing youth sports and Olympic sports across the country and the world. She added “With Los Angeles 2028 on the horizon, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to inspire a new generation of swimmers and elevate the sport across the US.”
This gets at a key concern across many stakeholders, that the BOD-led process that took over a year to find new USA Swimming CEO Kevin Ring has left American swimming behind the eight ball in capturing momentum from the LA28 Olympic Games.
Tom Ugast
Tom Ugast is the CEO and President of NCAP, one of the country’s largest and most storied USA Swimming clubs. That makes him a powerful voice in any room, whether he is on the Board of Directors or not.
Ugast’s personal statement focuses on the competitive side of the sport.
In part:
I have always felt we have these 2 goals we must focus on.
Win Medals for Team USA Develop young swimmers at the local level to achieve their goalsNot every swimmer that is a member of USA Swimming will make a National or Junior team, but we must give our Clubs the resources they need to achieve the highest level every swimmer can make.
He also expressed concern on the impact of NIL on non-revenue sports like swimming and “what role USA Swimming can play in making sure college swimming is still important to the university system.”
Joe Zemaitis
The lone self-nominated candidate this year, Zemaitis is one half of the Swim Brothers, a duo of prolific open water swimmers who raise money for charity.
In the more structured halls of USA Swimming, he is the head coach and owner of Swim Neptune in Arizona, which he founded in 2002.
He was an NCAA D3 swimmer himself, and holds the World Record for the longest multi-segment lake swim covering 70 miles continuously in 47 hours.
He also has deep organizational experience in USA Swimming. He has served as the Age Group Chair, Open Water Chair, Administrative Vice Chair, and General Chair of Arizona Swimming, and is currently the Western Zone Open Water Chair and sits on USA Swimming’s LSC Development Committee.
His personal statement reads, in part:
I am seeking the opportunity to serve on the USA Swimming Board of Directors because I believe our organization is strongest when governance is thoughtful, collaborative, financially responsible, and always athlete-centered. I would bring practical leadership experience, a commitment to listening, and a deep appreciation for every part of our sport as we work together to strengthen USA Swimming for future generations.
Athlete Brief BiosTaylor Abbott
Abbott has a deep level of experience in open water swimming. He was a Junior World Champion in the open water 5k competing for Team USA before going to the University of Tennessee.
As an adult, he represented the US at the 2018 Pan Pac Championships and 2019 Pan American Games.
After retiring from elite competition, he began working for Frito-Lay, where he worked as a Customer Development Manager.
He has since returned to the sport and currently serves as Team Operations Manager for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, another of the United States’ most storied club teams. He also serves on a number of LSC committees and is currently an athlete roster on the USA Swimming Open Water Committee.
Gunnar Bentz
Gunnar Bentz won an Olympic gold medal in 2016 as a member of the American 800 free relay, where he swam a finals leg. He also won a relay silver and individual bronze in the 200 IM at the 2015 Pan American Games, and was the 2013 World Junior Champion in both the 200 IM and 400 IM.
A former team captain at the University of Georgia, he now works in project management and operations for Powertron Global. Powertron Global works in the burgeoning industry of data centers.
Bentz is currently a member of the USA Swimming Athlete Advisory Council and the National Team Steering Committee.
Bentz ended his competitive career at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, where he finished 7th in the 200 fly.
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