USOPC Hires Holly Shick as First Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer

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The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee Tuesday announced the hiring of Holly Shick to the new position of chief ethics and compliance officer. The hiring accompanies more comprehensive standards for auditing national sports governing bodies (NGBs).

Shick will report to USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland. She will oversee a new certification program for national governing bodies starting in January 2021. The certification will include recurring audits and a new set of 58 standards. Shick will also oversee compliance aimed at “identifying and preventing deficiencies, and upholding the organization’s commitment to respond more quickly and decisively when issues occur.”

“I am excited to welcome Holly to our organization in a pivotal role, and at a time when we are confirming our efforts to apply greater accountability for everyone in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements,” Hirshland said in a press release. “Her addition to our leadership team will elevate and further the progress we have made to strengthen NGB oversight, governance and operational support, as evident by today’s launch of our new audit standards. These requirements are the result of a thorough collaboration by our community leaders to ensure a comprehensive set of standards and tools are in place for all who serve Team USA athletes.”

The greater push for oversight has been driven by scandals within NGBs like USA Gymnastics, USA Taekwondo and issues within USA Swimming. The USOPC faces greater external scrutiny to make sure its NGBs are following rules, especially with regard to athlete safety and prevention of athlete sexual abuse, as has been the crux of many scandals.

Holly Shick was a federal prosecutor and assistant U.S. Attorney. She spent the last four years as the global head of global head of the Consumer Financial Crime Compliance Know Your Customer program at Goldman Sachs.

“I am excited and humbled to join the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee,” Shick said. “I have followed Team USA for as long as I can remember, so to have the opportunity to contribute to American athletes and the Olympic and Paralympic movements is truly an honor. I look forward to building on the great work that has been done and building a compliance model that provides transparency and support to the USPOC’s stakeholders and to Team USA.”

The new standards the USOPC is working by were developed in collaboration with athletic stakeholders like the NGB Council, the Athletes Advisory Committee and the U.S. Olympians & Paralympians Association through the Borders Commission. They include five key areas:

  • Athlete protection and rights – clarity to ensure fulfillment of policies and standards set by the U.S. Center for SafeSport and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency
  • Governance and compliance – elevating athletes’ voices and representation with emphasis on board composition and conflicts of interest
  • Financial standards and reporting – enhanced financial stability, board approval and oversight
  • Sport performance – successful implementation and adoption of team selection procedures and Paralympic classification standards
  • Operational performance – additional measures to promote managerial capability, grievance procedures, whistleblower and anti-retaliation policies, gender equity and equal opportunity, strategic planning, and transparency around existing diversity and inclusion scorecard reporting requirements
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