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Geer, Cropper assume new roles at USATF
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INDIANAPOLIS
– Longtime USA Track & Field staff members Jill Geer (Franklin, MA) and Ivan
Cropper have taken on new titles and new duties as the National Office
continues to undergo reorganization under CEO Doug Logan.
Geer
has been named Chief Public Affairs Officer, while Cropper becomes
Senior Director of Marketing and Communications. The shift combines
USATF’s previously distinct communications and marketing departments
under Cropper, while establishing Geer as the chief communications
strategist for the organization.
Geer joined the USATF staff
in 2000 as Director of Communications after a career as a sports
writer, columnist and editor. During her tenure, the USATF
communications department nearly tripled in size and broadened its
reach from a small number of print reporters to thousands of media
worldwide, while being at the forefront of employing electronic
communications in the lead-up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. She
has been profiled in PR Week and is among the most recognizable
spokespeople in the Olympic Family.
She will overseeUSTAF
corporate communications, direct USATF crisis communications, continue
to serve as official spokesperson, and serve as liaison to USATF’s
partners in the Olympic and international athletics movements. She is
now part of the USATF Executive Staff, reporting to CEO Doug Logan,
which also includes Chief Operating Officer Mike McNees, Chief of Sport
Performance Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, General Counsel Lamont Jones,
Managing Director of Business Affairs Jim Elias, and Chief Financial
Officer Gina Miller.
“Jill’s strategic abilities and her
forceful vision for USATF’s message were immediately obvious to me when
I began working with USATF last summer,” Logan said. “Her new position
will enable her to focus on advancing USATF in the broader media
landscape, domestically and internationally.”
Cropper came to
USATF as Director of Marketing in 2001, having previously worked for
General Motors Eventworks. In his eight years with USATF, he has
developed a consistent brand identity for the organization while
cultivating corporate partnerships with Nike, Visa, The Hershey
Company, AT&T and Gill Athletics. His work has resulted in a brand
redesign for the organization, a vibrant merchandise business, the
entitlement of USATF’s professional track & field series by Visa
and the development of a fantasy track & field game. He was named
Senior Director of Marketing in March 2008.
Reporting to COO
Mike McNees, Cropper now oversees the combined staffs of USATF’s
marketing and communications departments, including USATF’s
publications, Web site, community outreach and media operations.
“As
we looked at the best way to streamline the National Office, the
affinities between marketing and communications were clear,” Logan
said. “Ivan’s creativity, managerial skills and dedication to
organizational excellence make him a great fit for this new role. This
new department will flourish, and take big strides forward, under his
leadership.”
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About USA Track & Field
USA
Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and
field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States.
USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, some of the
most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and
junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult
runners in the United States.
For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org
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