Clash with board led USA Triathlon boss to resign

The former executive director of USA Triathlon resigned after a clash with the Colorado Springs-based national governing body’s board of directors, forced to leave the same way Jim Scherr was ushered out as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s chief executive officer.

Skip Gilbert said Tuesday his abrupt departure Monday was the result of a dispute with a 13-person board led by Brian Harrington, whose unpaid, volunteer group turned him into the scapegoat on “some issues that had come up that we didn’t see eye to eye on.”

Gilbert, 50, wouldn’t disclose specifics of his resignation since his separation agreement with USA Triathlon is still being finalized, but he said he “wasn’t planning on leaving. I mean, I wasn’t looking” after 5 ½ years with the NGB. He added, “It’s funny how things have parallel paths,” a reference to Scherr, the victim of a USOC board uprising last year.

“There were some managerial philosophies that clearly were different between where I wanted to go and potentially where the board wanted to go,” said Gilbert, who is married with three children and owns a house in the Springs. “I’m the hired hand. I’m not elected. So therefore, it’s in the best interest of the organization for me to move on.”

Chances are Gilbert, who has been replaced on an acting basis by USA Triathlon senior vice president for sport development Tim Yount, will continue serving as chairman of the Association of Chief Executives for Sport until a Sept. 22 election in the Springs. Gilbert will remain head of the NGB council until the group meets Sept. 24 in the Springs.

Harrington declined to discuss details of Gilbert’s resignation. USA Triathlon hasn’t set a timetable for a search that will involve a search committee and an executive search firm.

“We’re going to take the amount of time necessary to find the most qualified person, and we’ll continue to run very smoothly on all cylinders in the interim,” Harrington said.

Gilbert maintains he leaves USA Triathlon without any regrets, his tenure highlighted by a bottom line that soared from $2.7 million to $6.8 million, memberships that grew from 58,073 to 134,942 and a stable of corporate partners including Bank of America, Garmin and Gatorade. The 47-person staff will move into new offices in the Springs on Sept. 15.

The biggest problem for Gilbert, he said, was that “board members have a very focused attention on certain very targeted elements, where the national governing body has to be all things to its entire constituency and support everyone equally. Sometimes those points of focus don’t necessarily align. That’s unfortunately where you get into trouble.”

USA Triathlon’s bylaws state that Gilbert could “be removed at any time with or without cause by majority vote of the board of directors.” Gilbert said he worked “at the pleasure of the board. And if the pleasure goes away, so does the executive director.”

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