News

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., November 16, 2020 – The USTA announced its new slate of Board of Directors, including the election of Michael J. McNulty III as USTA Chairman of the Board and President. The new Board has been elected to a two-year term that begins on January 1, 2021.

The 2021-2022 USTA Board of Directors:

Michael J. McNulty III of the USTA Southern Section is nominated to serve as President on the USTA Board of Directors. McNulty is currently completing his first two-year term as First Vice President, and third consecutive two-year term on the USTA Board of Directors. He is also serving his second consecutive term on the Strategic and Creative Planning Committee where he currently serves as Chair. McNulty serves as Board Liaison to the Adult Tennis Leadership Council, and is also a member of the Budget Committee, International Tennis Committee, and the ITF Constitution Committee. He served two consecutive terms on the Nominating Committee and the Constitution and Rules Committee where he served as Vice Chair.

McNulty has a long history of volunteerism at the Section and District levels. He served as President, First Vice President, Vice President and member of the Board of Directors of the USTA Southern Section and as Section Delegate to the USTA. He served three consecutive terms as Chair of the Constitution and Rules Committee, Chair of the Nominating Committee and Board Liaison to multiple Committees. McNulty is the former Tournament Director of the BB&T Atlanta Open, a US Open Series tournament. He is a recipient of the USTA Southern Jacobs Bowl, the highest volunteer service award given by the Section. McNulty was a long-time USTA Louisiana volunteer where he served as President. He is a member of the Louisiana Tennis Hall of Fame and recipient of the President’s Award.

McNulty was a partner with the law firm of Plauche Smith & Nieset, LLC. He has recently taken Of Counsel status and is considered one of America’s top attorneys in insurance defense with specialties in construction and products liability.

Dr. Brian Hainline of the USTA Midwest Section is nominated to serve his fourth term on the USTA Board of Directors; his first as First Vice President. Dr. Hainline previously served on the USTA Board of Directors as a Director at Large in 2007-08, where he was Board Liaison to the Community Tennis Council. He also served as a Director at Large in 2017-18, where he was Board Liaison to the Player Development Council and a member of the Budget Committee, and as vice president in 2019-20, where he was vice chair of the Budget Committee and Board Liaison to the Sections. Hainline was a founding member of the USTA’s Sport Science Committee and has been a member of the ITF Sport Science and Medicine Commission since 1993—serving as chair since 2003. He played No. 1 singles and doubles in his senior year at the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa before going on to earn his M.D. at the University of Chicago. He was the Chief Medical Officer of the US Open Tennis Championships for 16 years and of the USTA for four years. Currently Hainline is the NCAA Senior Vice President, Sport Science Institute and Chief Medical Officer – the first person to hold this title at the NCAA. Hainline is an accomplished author, having authored/edited nine books plus numerous chapters and peer-reviewed articles. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Academy of Neurology, and is a Clinical Professor of Neurology at Indiana University School of Medicine and New York University School of Medicine.

Laura F. Canfield of the USTA Middle States Section is nominated to serve her third term on the USTA Board of Directors; her second as Vice President. Canfield is the Board Liaison to the Delivery System Council and vice chair of the Audit Committee. Canfield has been active in the tennis industry for more than 30 years in a wide range of areas, including serving as Executive Director of the USTA Middle States Section; special liaison to the USTA President; special projects coordinator for the USTA; interim Executive Director with the USTA Eastern, USTA Mid-Atlantic and USTA Intermountain sections.Her volunteer service includes two terms on the USTA Nominating Committee, which Canfield chaired from 2013 to 2014, and eight years on the Board of Directors of USTA Middle States. She was inducted into the USTA Middle States Hall of Fame in 2012.

Canfield is co-founder and current program director of the Bucks County Tennis Association, which provides affordable quality tennis programs to approximately two dozen parks and recreation agencies and schools throughout Bucks County, Pa., servicing more than 2,000 participants annually. Canfield is a past President of the Princeton Tennis Program, was a long-term board member of the Eastern Section Junior Tennis Foundation and served over six years on the Northampton Township (Pa.) Parks and Recreation Board (chair 2016-2017).

Violet Clark of the USTA Midwest Section is nominated to serve as Vice President on the USTA Board of Directors. Clark graduated with a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from Cornell Law School. She currently is a partner at Laner Muchin, Ltd., representing management in employment law and labor relations matters before the EEOC, the Illinois Human Rights Commission, state and federal courts; wage and hour matters before the Illinois and United States Departments of Labor; affirmative action matters; as well as collective bargaining negotiations, contract drafting and interpretation, grievance handling, unfair labor practice matters and problem-solving in most, if not all, facets of the employer/employee relationship. Clark has volunteered with USTA National on several committees including, the Collegiate Committee, Junior Competition Committee, 10 and Under Tennis Committee, Community Tennis Association Committee, and Strategic and Creative Planning Committee. She served with the USTA/Midwest Section from 2007 until the present, including as Section President. In addition, during that time, she served on many Section committees. Since 2007, Clark has served on the Board of the USTA/Midwest Tennis and Education Foundation, including as Vice President. Clark served on the Chicago District Tennis Association Board from 1997 until 2001, and was its first African-American President. Clark also served on the Chicago Tennis Patron’s Board, including as its President from 2002 until 2012. She was inducted into the CDTA Hall of Fame in 2018.

Brian Vahaly of the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section is nominated to serve as Secretary-Treasurer on the USTA Board of Directors. Vahaly has served three non-consecutive terms on the USTA Board and is currently Chair of the Audit Committee, having been on both the Investment and Budget committees. He also served as the Board Liaison on both the Player Development and Youth Tennis Council. Vahaly played professionally for seven years, achieving a career-best ranking of No. 64 in the world in 2003. He was the only male college graduate in the Top 100 rankings during that time, and the only LGBTQ male athlete to come out having played on the ATP Tour. Vahaly graduated an Academic All-American from the University of Virginia with a double major in finance and business management, and was a three-time All-American, having reached the NCAA singles final in 2001. As a junior player, he won the Easter Bowl as a member of the U.S. national team. After retiring from professional tennis, Vahaly went on to a career in private equity and venture capital, serving as the Chief Operating Officer at Venturehouse Group and NextGen Venture Partners as well as the CFO of Solidcore. Vahaly is currently the Managing Director at Axle.

Jeffrey M. Baill of the USTA Northern Section is nominated to serve his third term as Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors.. Last term, he served as the Board Liaison to the Adult Tennis Leadership Council, a member of the Audit Committee, and chaired an NTRP Task Force. He was previously a member of the Strategic and Creative Planning Committee. Baill has served in many roles as a USTA national volunteer, including two terms on the Learning and Leadership Development Committee, where he led subcommittees in developing best practices for volunteers and board orientation procedures for the USTA sections. He has been a member of several governance-related task forces and served a term on the USTA Nominating Committee. He also was chair of the President’s Committee, a member of the Delegates Committee and vice chair of the Grievance Committee. He was the inaugural recipient of the USTA Volunteer Exceptional Service Award in 2016. In the USTA Northern Section, Baill has served as board member, Vice President, President and Delegate. He also served as the first general counsel for the section. He has been an active USTA League member. Baill is a partner at the Yost & Baill law firm in Minneapolis, where he has practiced for the last 40 years. He is currently the Past President of the Hennepin County Bar Association Board of Directors. He has been named a “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters publications, and is known as one of the leading authorities on insurance subrogation, having given more than 100 presentations on the subject to national audiences. He was designated lead subrogation counsel on the I-35W Bridge Collapse case by the District Court in Minnesota and has been involved in several other well-known national lawsuits involving disasters. He also is certified as a trained mediator and arbitrator. Baill has a long history of involvement on not-for-profit boards. He has served as president of four separate boards of directors and was the founder of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals, an international trade association with more than 3,000 members. Baill and his wife, Heidi, reside in Plymouth, Minn.

Kathleen Francis of the USTA Eastern Section is nominated to serve as a Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors. Francis has over 30 years’ experience leading the development and implementation of high-impact marketing programs. Her professional career spans corporate, professional sports league, venue and not-for-profit sectors. Francis has created and executed unique, multi-faceted sports marketing and inclusion strategies for organizations including Major League Baseball, the Meadowlands Sports Complex and the USTA., where she served as Managing Director, Community Tennis Marketing and Development. Currently, she is President of Oasis Sports Ventures, a consulting and grassroots development agency. She is also Chair and President of Women in Sports and Events, an international organization for women in the business of sports. She served two terms on the USTA Nominating Committee. Francis holds a BA from Xavier University of Louisiana and a MBA from Rutgers University, Graduate School of Management.

J. Christopher Lewis of the USTA Southern California Section (SCTA) is nominated to serve as a Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors. Lewis is currently serving his second term as the SCTA’s President and is a member of the USTA Budget Committee. At the University of Southern California, he earned both an undergraduate degree in Finance and Accounting and a master’s degree in Business Administration. As an undergraduate at USC he was a three-time tennis All American, was a member of the 1976 team which won the NCAA Team Championship and won the NCAA Doubles title in 1977. At USC he also received an NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship which recognizes student-athletes who excel in both athletics and academics. In 1982 Lewis joined Riordan, Lewis & Haden Equity Partners which is a private investment firm which partners with high growth middle-market service firms. He is the firm’s Managing Partner.

Alan Ostfield of the USTA Eastern Section is nominated to serve his first two-year term as a Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors. Ostfield is an accomplished sports and entertainment industry leader with experiences in all of the major professional sports leagues and leading live entertainment organizations. Ostfield was most recently the President, North Atlantic | New York & Philadelphia for Live Nation, responsible for Live Nation’s concert business in the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Previously, Ostfield was President & Chief Executive Officer of the Detroit Pistons and Palace Sports & Entertainment (which owned and operated the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, The Palace of Auburn Hills, St. Pete Times Forum and DTE Energy Music Theatre). He also was Senior Vice President & General Counsel of the San Diego Padres and an attorney with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (whose clients included the Dallas Cowboys). Ostfield has combined his experiences in professional sports with higher education, including developing and teaching “Professional Sports Leagues and Franchises” in Columbia University’s Sports Management Masters Program, developing and teaching “Managing a Professional Sports Franchise” in the University of Michigan’s Sports Management Masters Program, teaching “Sports Economics” in New York University’s Sports Business Masters Program and teaching “Sports and the Law” at the University of San Diego School of Law. Ostfield has been involved in many other community activities, including serving on the Boards of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, the National Sports Law Institute, the University of Michigan Sport Management Program, the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego. Ostfield earned a Juris Doctor from Boston University’s School of Law, a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University’s Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Ostfield plays tennis as often as possible and has been an active USTA member for many years.

Emily S. Schaefer of the USTA Texas Section is nominated to serve as a Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors. Schaefer has served as the Director of Tennis for the City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department since 1999 where she oversees the management of three municipal tennis centers and manages a large, diverse National Junior Tennis and Learning chapter. Prior to assuming her current position, Schaefer played and coached tennis at every level—junior, collegiate, professional, adult and senior. A nationally-ranked junior, she played four years at Princeton University where she earned a bachelor’s degree. After college, Schaefer began her career as a teaching professional at private tennis clubs and coaching at Rice University before moving to public parks ten years later. Schaefer is an active USTA volunteer most recently completing terms as USTA Texas President then Delegate. She has served at the local, section and national level in various capacities for nearly 20 years. An Eve Kraft USTA Community Service Award winner, Schaefer also earned the Gold Slam Award when she teamed with her mother Bambi Schuette to capture all four surface nationals in Super Senior Mother Daughter Doubles in 2008. Other honors include the USPTA Industry Excellence Award, USTA Texas W.T. Caswell Service Award, the establishment of the Emily Schaefer Sportsmanship Award given annually to an outstanding Girls’ 12 player in Texas and recognition in the USTA Foundation NJTL 50 for 50 anniversary book. Schaefer is a current member of the USTA Texas Management Committee and Houston Tennis Association Advisory Board.

Kurt Zumwalt of the USTA Pacific Northwest Section is nominated to serve his second two-year term as Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors. Zumwalt has served on the USTA’s Investment Committee since 2013. He currently serves as a Director on the USTA Foundation Incorporated’s Board of Directors, and is a member of its Audit Committee. Zumwalt is currently a member of the board of directors for Ranpak Holdings Corp. (PACK) and Omeros Corporation (OMER). He was Treasurer at Amazon.com from 2014 through August 2019, providing leadership for the company’s global cash and portfolio management, debt financing, foreign exchange, insurance and treasury-related technology infrastructure. He joined Amazon.com as Assistant Treasurer in 2004 and successfully scaled the treasury department as Amazon grew from $8B in revenue to an annual run rate of more than $250B.. Prior to working at Amazon, Zumwalt was Treasurer at ProBusiness Services from 2001 to 2003, and served in various financial roles, including Treasurer, at Wind River Systems during his tenure from 1997 to 2001. He also held positions in finance at PACCAR, Intel, Microsoft and Bank of America. Zumwalt has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania, with a double major in Economics and Political Science, and an MBA in Finance and Accounting from the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. Zumwalt lives in Seattle, Washington.

ELITE ATHLETES

Liezel H. Huber of the USTA Eastern Section is nominated to serve her third two-year term as a Director at Large on the USTA Board of Directors as an Elite Athlete. She is the board liaison to the Pro Tennis Council. During her 24-year career in professional tennis, Huber was the No. 1-ranked WTA doubles player for 199 weeks and the year-end No. 1 women’s doubles player three times. She won 53 WTA doubles titles, including three WTA Finals year-end championships; seven Grand Slam women’s doubles titles (three at the US Open, two at Wimbledon and one each at the Australian Open and Roland Garros); and two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles (one at the US Open and one at Roland Garros). She competed for the South African Fed Cup team between 1998 and 2003 and later played for the U.S. Fed Cup team for six consecutive years after becoming a U.S. citizen in 2007. She was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 2008 and 2012. Huber announces her retirement from professional tennis and played her last match at the 2017 US Open. Huber served as a member of the WTA Player Council from 2006 to 2014. She is a USPTR certified tennis professional (P rating) and is the owner of Huber Tennis Ranch in the Houston area as well as a health and nutrition business. She was the tennis director at the Clubs of Houston Oaks prior to moving to New York, where she currently is the Executive Tennis Director at Cary Leeds Tennis Center for the NYJTL. She also is the proud mother of two sons, Joshua and Benjamin.

Vania King of the USTA Southern California Section is nominated to serve as an Elite Athlete on the USTA Board of Directors. She works as the Community Development Ambassador for WTA Charities, which is the philanthropic arm of the WTA whose mission involves helping to develop and manage community outreach programs and campaigns, facilitate partner relationships, increase player engagement, and educate members. King reached career highs of No. 3 in doubles and No. 50 in singles. She is a two time Grand Slam doubles champion, wnning both the US Open and Wimbledon in 2010,, and won one WTA singles title, was a three- time singles finalist, and won 15 WTA doubles titles. King is an eight time member of the US Fed Cup Team. She served as a representative on the WTA Player Council from 2010-2012, representing the 21+ ranking group. She is a WTBA Pension Committee Representative, from 2010 to present, which oversees the pension plans of all former and current WTA players

Megan Moulton-Levy of the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section is nominated to serve as an Elite Athlete on the USTA Board of Directors. She has served one term on the National Junior Competition Committee. After graduating from the College of William & Mary where she holds the record for the most combined wins in singles and doubles, Moulton-Levy competed on the WTA Tour from 2008-2016. She captured the WTA Monterrey doubles championship in 2014 in addition to winning 10 ITF doubles titles. She also attained a career-high world singles ranking of No. 237 and earned one ITF singles title. Prior to turning professional, Moulton-Levy earned a B.A. in Sociology from William & Mary in 2007 and completed a stellar collegiate career, rising to the No. 1 NCAA ranking in doubles and No. 7 in singles. The six-time All-American reached the semifinals of the 2006 NCAA Singles Championship and the final of the 2007 NCAA Doubles Championship. Moulton-Levy also was a two-time recipient of the National ITA/Arthur Ashe, Jr. Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship. Moulton-Levy has been the General Manager of Player Development at Junior Tennis Champion Center in College Park, Maryland since September 2019. She joined JTCC in January 2016 as a Senior Coach, assumed the Director of Mentoring role in January 2018 before being promoted to her current role.

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Patrick J. Galbraith of the USTA Pacific Northwest Section will serve as Immediate Past President on the USTA Board of Directors. Galbraith has 14 years of service on the USTA Board of Directors, including three terms as an Elite Athlete Director at Large, two terms as Secretary Treasurer, and most recently as USTA President. He has served as Chair of the Budget Committee and as Vice Chair of the Investment Committee. He also served as treasurer of the strategic transformation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as well as for the construction of the USTA National Campus in the Lake Nona neighborhood of Orlando, FL.

A professional tennis player from 1989 until 2000, Galbraith is a two-time winner of the US Open Mixed Doubles Championship. He ended 1993 as part of the No.1-ranked men’s doubles team with partner Grant Connell, and won the World Doubles Championship in 1995. Galbraith, a member of the 1996 U.S. Davis Cup team, finished his career with 36 doubles titles. He is a Certified Financial planner (CFP) and is currently Vice President-Wealth Management for UBS Financial Service, Inc.