From Chair Damien Lehfeldt: December 2024 Board Meeting Recap

I’d like to begin my remarks in thanking Amanda Nguyen and Darryl Jacobs for their service to USA Fencing as Independent Directors. Amanda is preparing to release her memoir and become an astronaut, and Darryl just became CEO of a new arena football team. Please join me in thanking them as we prepare to welcome our new independents today as our first order of business.

In this meeting, we also welcomed Jade Burroughs and Marie Donoghue, with Ms. Donoghue to serve a term until Fall of 2025, and Ms. Burroughs to serve a term until Fall of 2026. These additions will add outstanding contributions to our Board and provide industry insights and perspectives, and we are grateful they’ve agreed to serve our Board.

None of this would have been possible without our Nominating Committee of Jackie Dubrovich OLY, Molly Hill (as Board liaison), Harrison Hue, Iana Dakova, and Cody Mattern OLY. In the last few months, they’ve conducted the most thorough and comprehensive independent vetting process the Board has ever had, sifting through dozens of resumes, three rounds of interviews, and ultimately making a list of three independent candidates, two of whom the Bord appointed.

I’d like to welcome our new athlete reps Olympic Gold Medalist Jackie Dubrovich and Paralympic Bronze Medalist Dr. Scott Rodgers, and to also congratulate Kat Holmes OLY and Lauryn DeLuca PLY on their well-deserved reelections. I also offer congratulations to my friend Ari Simmons who was just appointed as the Chair of the Athletes’ Council.

Next, I’d like to congratulate our election winners from the FIE Elections held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan over Thanksgiving. I’d like to thank the entire American delegation for sacrificing your holidays to go out there, led by At Large Director Maria Panyi, and our election winners in Don Anthony, Donald Alperstein, Lorrie Marcil-Holmes, Carl Borack OLY, Felicia Zimmerman OLY, Rita Comes, Greg Massialas, Jennifer Yamin and Kelly Koehler. On behalf of the Board, thank you all and congratulations. Additionally, let’s give a congratulations to Gabi Sabharwal who was appointed to World Ability Sport (WAS) Executive Committee.

Though the time since our September meeting has been filled with wins for USA Fencing, we also suffered an irreparable loss. On November 29, Peter Westbrook, the single most important and influential figure in the history of American Fencing left this mortal coil after a long fight with cancer. Peter was given two months to live, but in typical Peter fashion, he continued living vivaciously and with zeal for an additional 24 months, even attending fundraisers and events until two weeks before his passing.

You cannot tell the history of USA Fencing without Peter’s contributions as an athlete, nor can you tell our history without discussing the Peter Westbrook Foundation. Peter wasn’t just part of our history, he was our history.

Peter’s on strip legacy was jaw dropping. Between 1974 and 1989, he won all but four national championships. He was the first Black Olympic medalist in fencing, and he participated in 6 Olympic games from 1976 to 1996. Peter could have walked away from the sport a hero with his own legacy. Instead, he established the Peter Westbrook Foundation to open doors to fencing for underprivileged athletes. And open doors he did.

The Peter Westbrook Foundation is responsible for producing 16 Olympians, World or Olympic medalists in all three weapons, multiple NCAA Champions, and multiple NCAA and National Coaches. 100% of the Foundation’s members graduated high school, and 96% have graduated college. It’s a transformational program that Peter often said would “make Black lives shine.”

USA Fencing is exploring ways to memorialize Peter in ways that are fit to honor such an outstanding individual. We will have more details soon.

The Board met on December 14, 2024 to deliberate on a number of motions submitted by myself, Ms. Maria Panyi, and Mr. Andrey Geva.

Notable decisions as follows:

Approved a New Governance Task Force (Lehfeldt): The last time the Board evaluated its governance structure was in 2020 in an effort led by Kat Holmes, OLY and former President Don Anthony. Any healthy organization periodically reviews its governance to ensure a Board is fit for purpose to deliver on the mission of an organization. Thus, the Board voted to approve a new Governance Task Force to evaluate our current Board structure, roles, and composition. Additionally, the Governance Task Force will identify how to better leverage our Leadership Academy for succession planning purposes. It will also evaluate the role of our petition process moving forward. The new Governance Task Force will be led by me. Should you have any feedback, please feel free to reach out to me.

Approved a Revised Site Selection Policy (Lehfeldt & Panyi): The Board voted to approve a revised tournament site selection policy (vetted and pre-approved by the DEIB Committee). The revised policy allows for more flexibility to select tournaments at the city, level, provided the city officials offer a letter of welfare and support for LGBTQIA+ members and the rights of women. Additionally, an amendment was offered by Ms. Panyi and adopted placing additional emphasis on profitability and member safety.

Revised the Strategic Plan to Include International Relations Objectives (Panyi): Since the September meeting, Ms. Panyi led a task force to revise our 2024-2028 Strategic Plan to include additional focus on our relationships with the International Fencing Federation (FIE) and World Ability Sport (WAS). The Board unanimously voted to approve Ms. Panyi’s recommendations. I thank her for her leadership on this effort. Ms. Panyi additionally proposed an evaluation of the financial feasibility of hosting international events during the LA2028 quad, which was passed by the Board (as amended by Dr. Scott Rodgers PLY).

Referee Working Group (Lehfeldt): In our 2024-2028 Strategic Plan, Referee Development is a huge priority for our organization. The Board felt the need to prioritize attracting, developing, and growing our referee pool. In order to get more granular and tactical around specifics to accomplish these objectives, the Board approved a motion to form a working group comprising of Board members who referee plus the Referees’ Commission.

The Board will meet in-person next in February 2025 at the Junior Olympics in Charlotte. By then, we anticipate having:

• A new Y8 Tournament Format to approve (as recommended by our Coaches’ Committee and Tournament Committee)
• A proposed list of candidates for the 2025 Hall of Fame Elections. Reminder—there are no Board elections this year, so the only election this coming spring will be for our Hall of Fame!

As always, please feel free to reach out to me (damien@thefencingcoach.com) or any of your Board representatives if we may ever be of service to you. Thank you, members!