BERKELEY – Cal Director of Athletic Jim Knowlton has been named to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee College Sports Sustainability Think Tank, as announced today by the USOPC. The think tank, which will commence later this month, will identify innovative solutions to help sustain Olympic and Paralympic varsity programming opportunities within college athletics.
 
The USOPC think tank will initiate three working groups focused on the areas of partnerships, sport economics and regulations. The partnerships working group will explore options to drive national alignment around Olympic and Paralympic sport structures and examine innovative collaboration opportunities across a variety of stakeholder groups, while the sport economics working group will review sport-specific and nationwide sport economic management models to promote sustainable behaviors for lasting sport sponsorship. The regulations working group will explore regulatory adjustments to allow schools more flexibility to manage their sport profiles in a meaningful and sustainable way.
 
Knowlton will serve on the Regulations Working Group. Each working group will explore both short- and long-term initiatives that encourage and support broad-based sport sponsorship of Olympic and Paralympic sport opportunities. The working groups will spend time in November and December ideating on the stated charge.
 
Feedback from the think tank working groups will be formalized into recommendations that will be shared with the USOPC in early 2021. Final recommendations will be brought forward to the college leaders and USOPC board of directors as appropriate. Recommendations may involve specific action items and/or best practices and may organically evolve as work begins.
 
Regulations Working Group

• Chris Plonsky (chair), University of Texas chief of staff and executive senior associate athletics director
• Jim Knowlton, Cal director of athletics
• Bubba Cunningham, University of North Carolina director of athletics
• Stan Wilcox, NCAA executive vice president of regulatory affairs
• Rick Adams, USOPC chief of sport performance & NGB services
• Pat Kelleher, USA Hockey executive director
• Kendall Spencer, national team member (track and field) and University of New Mexico student-athlete
• Sierra Schmidt, national team member (swimming) and University of Michigan student-athlete
• Adam Krikorian, USA Water Polo women's senior national team head coach
• Robin Harris, Ivy League executive director
• Ray Anderson, Arizona State vice president for university athletics

 
Partnerships Working Group

• Greg Byrne (chair), University of Alabama athletics director
• Gene Smith, Ohio State senior vice president and athletic director
• Jennifer Frasier, NCAA director of division I governance
• Katie Bynum, USOPC chief strategy & growth officer
• Max Siegel, USA Track & Field CEO
• Cayla Barnes, Olympian (ice hockey) and Boston College student-athlete
• Jessica Heims, Paralympian (track and field) and University of Northern Iowa student-athlete
• Brett Gorman, USRowing director of coaching education and USRowing national team coach
• Martin Jarmond, UCLA director of athletics
• Greg Brown, former Learfield IMG College president and CEO
• Caroline Rebello, Evolution Media Capital managing director

Sport Economics Working Group

• Rob Mullens (chair), University of Oregon athletic director
• Sandy Barbour, Penn State vice president for intercollegiate athletics
• Kathleen McNeelly, NCAA senior vice president of administration and chief financial officer
• Sarah Hirshland, USOPC CEO
• Rich Bender, USA Wrestling executive director and USOPC board member
• Sho Nakamori, former national team member (gymnastics) and Stanford University student-athlete
• Maddie Musselman, Olympian (water polo) and UCLA student-athlete
• Jeremy Fischer, USA Track & Field national team coach
• Val Ackerman, Big East Conference commissioner
• Jamie Pollard, Iowa State director of athletics
• Don Bruce, University of Tennessee professor in the Haslam College of Business