USA Water Polo Announces New Board of Directors

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. April 25. USA Water Polo, Inc. has announced the newly constituted Board of Directors that will assume leadership of the corporation, effective May 1, 2006. The new Board was presented by the Nominations and Governance Committee and ratified by the existing Zone Chairs in a conference call Monday evening, April 24, the final step necessary to install the new Board.

At the January 2006 Annual Convention, a new set of corporate By-Laws and governance structure was voted on and passed effectively transitioning the corporation from a ‘volunteer-driven model’ to a ‘staff-driven model’. As a part of the new corporate by-laws, the staff position of Executive Director will be eliminated and a Chief Executive Officer will be installed to assume total operating control of USA Water Polo, Inc. Also eliminated in the transition was the standing Executive Council, including all standing officer positions, which is being replaced by the eight newly named Board of Directors. The intentions of the new governance structure is to streamline the operational decision making process within the sport and establish a new governance Board that reviews and sets the overall strategic direction of the corporation.

Appointed to the eight-person Board of Directors are two athlete representatives that comprise 20% of the Board and the existing President of USA Water Polo. Richard Foster, current sitting President of the corporation, and Bradley Schumacher and Rachel Ruano, the appointed athlete representatives, are automatically added to the new Board. Also elected are two Independent Directors who are required to not possess any known affiliations within the corporation. Elected as Independent Directors are Michael Graff and Brad Bowlus. Filling out the remaining three Director positions are William Smith, Lynn Kachmarik and Ed Reynolds, all who must also not hold any relevant or elected positions within the corporation but may be active in other related aspects of the sport.

The Nominating and Governance Committee, comprised of five members of USA Water Polo, Inc., completed its search and recruitment of the new Board over the past 90 days. The Committee spoke with over 47 individuals throughout the country and accepted ‘Statements of Interest’ from over 28 candidates. The final five elected Directors were interviewed and selected to serve varying terms of three and five years. The three appointed Directors also serve varying terms of three to five years. The new Board of Directors will be formally installed on May 1, 2006 and at sometime in the near future a Chair and Secretary in the newly revamped corporation will be elected by the new members of the Board.

If any member of the corporation wishes to submit any recommendations, suggestions, thoughts, opinions or best wishes directly to the new Board, please submit your comments in writing to the Nominations and Governance Committee who will be preparing the initial Board packet of information for the new Board. Your comments will be added to the packet under the heading of ‘Member Feedback’ and will be delivered in their entirety. Please direct your comments in confidence to the dedicated mail box of the Nominating and Governance Committee at nominations.usawaterpolo@gmail.com .

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS – USA WATER POLO, INC.

Brad Bowlus
Director – Independent

Brad Bowlus was appointed president and CEO of PacifiCare Health Systems' Health Plan division in September 1999. PacifiCare Health Systems serves more than 3 million health plan members and approximately 10 million specialty plan members nationwide with annual revenues of more than $12 billion. In his role he oversees all aspects of health plan performance in 37 states including Health Services, Network Contracting, Sales & Marketing and Underwriting for both Commercial and Senior Business. Prior to this appointment, he served as president and CEO of PacifiCare of California from 1997 to 1999. He also served as president and CEO of PacifiCare of Washington from 1996 to 1997. In addition, he served as president and CEO of PacifiCare Dental & Vision, and California Dental Health Plan, from 1995 to 1996. He also served as vice president of PacifiCare's Southern California region from April 1994 to August 1995. He is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) and maintains organizational affiliations including: board member, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Orange County; member, California State University Northridge Business Advisory Council; and member, West Coast Healthcare Executive Roundtable. Brad has long been associated with water polo, raising three children in the sport through their involvement in college at UCLA. Brad received his bachelor's degree in business from California State University, Northridge and his Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.

Michael Graff
Director – Independent

Michael Graff currently serves as Partner in the Industrial Group for Warburg Pincus, one of the leading global private equity firms. He also currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Polypore, Inc. a $450 million specialty membrane manufacturer, Board Director of Camp Systems, Transdigm, Inc. a publicly traded $400 million aerospace component supplier, and Builder’s First Source, a publicly traded $2 billion lumber and building materials distributor. Mike’s most recent operational positions included President and Chief Operating Officer of Bombardier Aerospace Group, a $10 billion sector of Bombardier, Inc, with global operations and 35,000 employees and President of Business Aircraft, a $3 billion business successfully achieving $500 million profit during his tenure. Prior, Mike was with the global management consulting firm of McKinsey and Company for 16 years where he was Partner. Mike has served as Chairman of Learjet and has served as Board Director for over seven non-profit organizations ranging from Montreal Children’s Hospital, Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and currently serves as Director for the Flea Theater in New York City. Mike received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard College and his Masters in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has been a player, coach and referee of water polo and is a long-term active member of Friends of Harvard Water Polo.

Richard Foster
Director – Former President of USA Water Polo

Richard Foster is a principal partner in the law firm of Cameron, Pearlson & Foster, a litigation and transactional practice he founded in 2000. Prior to opening his own firm, Rich served over 10 years as Litigation Partner for two law firms specializing in business and real estate, Paone, Callahan et al. and Case, Knowlson, et al. and five years as Senior Associate for the law firm of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. Rich has served as President of United States Water Polo, Inc. from 1990 to 1996, and 2000 to present. He is the current President and Member of Board of Directors of the Long Beach Sports Council. He was a Board Member of United States Olympic Committee from1992 to 1996 and currently holds the positions of National Governing Body Representative to the USOC, Vice President of United State Aquatic Sports (USAS), Vice President and Executive Council member of Amateur Swimming Union of the Americas (ASUA), and is a Board Member for FINA World League Council. Rich received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Long Beach State University, a Masters in Public Administration from USC and his JD from Loyola Law School. He is also a member of the California Bar Association and a member of the United States Water Polo Hall of Fame.

Rachel Ruano
Director – Athlete Representative

Rachel Ruano currently coaches and directs the women’s age-group teams for the American River Water Polo Club in Sacramento, California, where she oversees other club coaches and prepares most club practice and tactical plans. Rachel serves as the Assistant Coach of Women’s Water Polo at the American River Community College and is a Project Manager for GPS Specialty Construction. Prior, Rachel was the Assistant Coach for the USA Women’s Senior National Team whose successes included the 2003 FINA World Cup Silver Medal, the 2004 FINA World Championship Gold Medal and the 2004 Athens Olympics Bronze Medal. Rachel was a three-time collegiate All- American and member of the USA Women’s Junior National and Senior National Teams, was a member of the 1998 FINA World Championship team an alternate athlete to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Rachel received her Bachelors of Arts in History and Social Work form San Diego State University and serves on the USA Water Polo Board of Directors as the appointed female Athlete Representative.

Bradley Schumacher
Director – Athlete Representative

Bradley Schumacher has established himself as one of the all-time greats in aquatic sports. He is the only aquatics athlete worldwide to become a world champion in both swimming and water polo. Brad joins an elite group of aquatics stars who competed in both sports on the world-class level. This group includes Duke Kahanamoku, Johnny Weissmuller, Bob Hughes, Tim Shaw and Matt Biondi. He is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and 1998 World Champion in swimming and competed for the USA Men’s Water Polo team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Brad is Co-Founder of Kap7, Inc., a commercial pool equipment and supply company, and is currently the Head Coach of SET Water Polo Club, a youth water polo club for boys and girls in Southern California. Brad received his Bachelors of Science and MBA from University of the Pacific, where he also served on the coaching staff of the men’s swimming and water polo teams. Brad serves on the USA Water Polo Board of Directors as the appointed male Athlete Representative and is also the USOC Athletic Advisory Council representative.

Edward Reynolds
Director

Ed Reynolds has been a licensed general contractor in the area of underground storage tank work for more than 12 years. Ed has been a practicing Registered Civil Engineer since 1984 and was co-Founder of The Reynolds Group in 1989, specializing in conducting studies into the nature and extent of contamination in soils and groundwater. As CEO of The Reynolds Group, he has overseen the performance of over 1,500 projects ranging in individual size upwards in excess of $1 million. Prior, Ed was General Manager of Applied GeoSciences, Inc., a national environmental consulting firm and has held leading positions in construction financing in a variety of engineering companies, most notably world-renowned The Bechtel Group and Brown and Root. Ed sits on the University of Southern California's School of Engineering Board of Councilors and also teaches at USC where his class titled "Construction Accounting and Finance" is the highest rated class in the School of Engineering. Mr. Reynolds also serves on the Construction Board of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange at the pleasure of the Roman Catholic Bishop. Ed has been involved in aquatics in the United States for more than 38 years and more intimately with USA Water Polo for nearly 12 years as coach and volunteer with the SOCAL Water Polo Club. Ed received his Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering from USC, a Masters in Civil Engineering from the University of Houston and his MBA from Harvard University.

William Smith
Director

William Smith is the President and CEO of Renaissance Capital LLC, an IPO research firm to numerous major financial institutions (e.g. Fidelity, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan) and to over 15 million individual investors. Renaissance Capital is also the manager of the IPO Plus Fund, the only publicly traded mutual fund that focuses on the IPO market. Bill is a frequent guest speaker on CNBC and quoted in numerous financial publications such as Barron’s, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. In 2000 he was featured on the cover of Worth Magazine in an article entitled the “Secrets of the IPO King”. Bill also spent many years on Wall Street as a senior investment banker at Kidder Peabody and Bear Stearns. In addition, for over a decade he was a management consultant at Booz Allen and Touche Ross focusing on long range strategic planning, operational restructurings and turnarounds for companies in over 20 different industries. He is the author of two books, “IPOs for Everyone” and “Strategic Growth Through Mergers & Acquisitions.” Currently, he is Founder and Co-President of Greenwich Water Polo, a Connecticut-based club with over 225 athletes and was the former water polo coach at Villanova University, Indiana University, University of Pennsylvania and many Zone and Youth development programs. Bill has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Villanova University.

Lynn Comer Kachmarik
Director

Lynn Comer Kachmarik currently serves as the Director of Athletics and Recreation at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana where over the past 6 years she has had responsibility for the planning, implementation and coordination of all aspects of a NCAA Division III athletic program. Prior, for 17 years Lynn held multiple aquatic coaching responsibilities for Bucknell University, including Head Coach for the Men’s and Women’s Water Polo teams, Head Coach for the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving teams and Director of Aquatics for four years. Lynn was an early pioneer of women’s water polo. She was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Water Polo Team for 12 years and Team Captain for 6 years. She competed in 1980, 1984 and 1988 World Aquatic Championships and many FINA World Cup competitions. Lynn was the first women to play on the Women’s National Team from outside of California. She was named to the All-World Team during her playing tenure on the National Team and served for two years as the Assistant Women’s National Team Coach. Lynn was among the first group of women to be inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame and the first woman inducted into the Collegiate Water Polo Hall of Fame. Lynn received both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Education at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.

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