USRowing Hits Reset

At a USRowing board meeting, directors thought they had gone into executive session and proceeded to express criticisms of then-CEO Amanda Kraus. But the technology recording the meetings was still running, and the recorded minutes reached Kraus, who resigned in March.

Some of the language used was “totally unacceptable,” according to a person familiar with the situation. In early May, the USRowing Foundation, which is the official fundraising arm of USRowing and was established by Kraus and her staff in 2022, met in California to discuss how to proceed.

Within a week, USRowing board of directors chair Kirsten Feldman and vice chair Andy Merrill resigned. Don Reynolds, chair of the governance, ethics, and nomination committee, will serve as the interim chair of USRowing’s board.

Under Kraus, who was hired in 2019, USRowing achieved record annual revenues of nearly $20 million through increased fees and donations, including a $6.5-million donation pledged in October by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who raced in the grand final of the men’s pair at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and founded cryptocurrency giant Gemini.com.

“Rowing has taught us some of the most valuable life lessons, so we’re passionate about increasing access to the sport and cementing its future in the United States. With this donation, we’re supporting the U.S. National Team’s success ahead of one of its highest-visibility moments—the 2028 Olympic Games,” said Cameron Winklevoss.

USRowing announced that the senior, Para, and Beach Sprint national teams would be renamed the “Gemini.com U.S. National Team,” and U.S. rowers wore unisuits with the Gemini logo at world championships before the announcement, but recent communications from USRowing have not included the Gemini.com name.

USRowing Foundation members have said that the full $6.5 million has neither been received nor is expected in the wake of Kraus’s quitting, but support will continue for the expansion of the Caspersen Boat House, USRowing’s training center on Lake Mercer in West Windsor, N.J., and which USRowing previously announced would be named the Winklevoss Training Center.

The USRowing board had criticized Kraus and how she ran the national governing body but the same board rewarded the CEO with regular raises over her tenure. Kraus was hired in November 2020. Her total compensation, according to tax filings, rose from $243,333 in 2021 to $326,515 in 2024.

USRowing staff members contacted for this story declined to speak on the record but expressed admiration for Kraus, enjoyment working with her, and disappointment about her quitting.

A specific board criticism of Kraus was that she had too many people—nine—reporting directly to her and needed to hire a chief operating officer. A person familiar with the situation said the former CEO did not take the criticism well.

Under Kraus, USRowing failed to win a single medal at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021 due to Covid, and the women’s squad came home from the 2024 Paris Games empty-handed again.

Before those Games, from 2006 to 2016, the U.S. women’s eight was undefeated, winning every gold medal at the World Rowing Championships and Olympic Games, as well as every World Rowing Cup they entered, during a period when they were coached by Tom Terhaar and Laurel Korholz.

Kraus let Terhaar and, a year later, Korholz leave for Columbia University in her first two years on the job. The U.S. women’s four won the 2025 World Rowing Championships, the first gold in a women’s event since 2019.

The U.S. men’s four won gold at the 2024 Olympics, and the men’s eight won bronze at both the Olympics and last year’s worlds, but a USRowing men’s crew has not won a gold medal at a senior World Rowing Championship since 2009 (in the coxed pair).

Membership in USRowing is essentially flat since recovering successfully from Covid. USRowing’s efforts in 2024 and 2025 to force college and scholastic rowers to become members did not go well and led to major student-athlete rowing associations dropping out.

At the beginning of April, USRowing’s directors appointed Peter Roby interim CEO while they seek a permanent CEO. Roby, the former director of athletics and recreation at Northeastern University, was vice president of U.S. marketing at Reebok and head coach of men’s basketball at Harvard for six seasons.

Widely respected in the world of athletic administration, Roby served his alma mater, Dartmouth, from February 2021 through June 2022 as interim athletic director following the college’s disastrous attempt to cancel five sports, which was reversed by a lawsuit claiming it violated Title IX.

“I am honored and excited to take on this important interim role,” Roby said. “USRowing has established incredible momentum under Amanda Kraus’s leadership. As the organization heads toward the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, my focus will be on maintaining this momentum while the board identifies an experienced and proven permanent leader for the organization.”

In April, USRowing hired executive search firm Elevate Talent to help find the next CEO. Elevate’s 12-page job description lists such responsibilities as “rebuild and deepen relationships with collegiate leaders, coaches, referees, and other communities that have felt under-engaged or unclear on USRowing’s role and value.” Among 10 desired personal qualities: “low ego leader” and “open to feedback.”

No timeline has been made public for the hiring of a new CEO or replacements for the board members who stepped down. USRowing’s May 19 statement read: “The USRowing board of directors is working diligently to fill each of the board seats and to name a long-term board chair and vice chair.”