Renee Chube Washington joined USA Track & Field as its chief operating officer in June 2012. As COO, Washington manages the multi-million-dollar budget and 60 person staff. Alongside the CEO, she develops and implements corporate strategy and direction. Washington has broad cross enterprise oversight of all departments including: High Performance Programs, Events and Broadcast/Entertainment Properties, Merchandise, Legal, Revenue and Marketing, Communications, Grassroots Outreach and Youth, Finance and Revenue. In addition to those duties, she has a key role in contract negotiations and vendor agreements; manages oversight of travel and transportation for staff, constituents, athletes; and with the CEO, manages logistics and preparation for meetings of the 17-member board of directors and acts as the primary contact with international and regional federations.
Since Washington became COO, USATF has realized substantial operational cost savings and efficiencies while adopting new business policies and practices. Under her operational oversight, USATF has awarded six U.S. Olympic Team Trials, secured theWorld Athletics Indoor and Outdoor Championships, successfully participated in two Olympic Games and three World Champion-ships, launched the U.S. National 12K Road Race, hosted the meeting of the World Athletics (formerly IAAF) Council, and revamped the USATF Annual Meeting, which attracts more than 1,000 stakeholders in the sport each year.
From September 2018 through June 2019, Washington served on an independent commission formed by the USOPC referred to as the Athlete and NGB Engagement Commission renamed the Borders Commission. The Commission considered (i) the USOC's proper role and engagement with athletes, and (ii) the USOC's proper role with NGBs. The Commission recommended to theUSOC specific actions designed to address and resolve ecosystem failures and required changes to the Ted Stevens Olympic andAmateur Sports Act.
In furtherance of reform efforts for the USOPC and NGBs, from December 2019 through May 2020, Washington served on theUSOPC Member Certification Focus Group. That working group was charged with identifying how the United States Olympic andParalympic Committee (USOPC) should implement changes regarding:
• The standards that member organizations will be held accountable to meet as a condition of certification by the USOPC.
• The methods in which standards will be measured to ensure consistency of expectations and demonstration of best-in-class organizations.
• The process by which member organizations should be audited to evaluate whether standards are being sufficiently met.
Prior to USATF, Washington’s career spanned vast and impressive corporate and government roles. She was a contracts manager atNorthrop Grumman Systems Corporation where she managed a portfolio of contracts for local, state and commercial customers.She administered, extended, negotiated and terminated standard and nonstandard contracts. Washington conducted proposal preparation, contract administration, and customer contact activities to provide proper contract acquisition and fulfillment in accordance with company policies, legal requirements, and customer specifications.
Washington also previously held a position as contracts department director for CICOA, a private, nonprofit agency advocate for the aged, where she had oversight of the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, procedures and services as they relate to legal requirements and state or federal regulations. She prepared business contracts and coordinated contractual requirements with operating staff. Washington reviewed contract clauses and monitored compliance and acted as the focal point of contact for contracts with vendors and participated in negotiations. She also conducted legal research on varied topics. Prior to CICOA, Washington served as a Staff Attorney, in the State of Indiana office of the Attorney General where she furnished legal advice to state officers, agencies, boards and commissions with emphasis on the Indiana Open Door Law and Access to Public Records Act.
Before relocating to Indianapolis, Washington worked for the U.S. Department of Labor in several roles. As Deputy AssociateGeneral Counsel with the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., where she supervised staff attorneys who perform judicial clerkship responsibilities in workers’ compensation law. She ensured technical and legal quality of work maintained and implemented staff goals and objectives to meet organizational production requirements. Washington advised judges, general counsel and branch staff on case law, Board practice and procedure and was a liaison between staff and higher management.She performed preliminary check of cases for assignment according to complexity, novelty and number of issues.
As Acting Associate General Counsel, United States Department of Labor, Washington headed a division composed of four supervisory attorneys and seventeen staff attorneys who performed judicial clerkship responsibilities in workers’ compensation law.She reviewed all documents prepared by the division for factual accuracy and legal analysis and ensured that all final documents issued by the division were consistent with the policies of the Benefits Review Board, applicable regulations, and the laws of the appropriate United States Court of Appeals and United States Supreme Court.
A member of the Benefits Review Board, Washington was a staff attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor where her judicial clerkship responsibilities included oral presentations to Federal Administrative Appeals Judges advising appropriate disposition of cases arising under workers’ compensation statutes. She drafted final decisions and orders, reviewed case records, performed legal research and wrote memoranda. Washington managed her own caseload entailing all associated responsibilities from initial analytic stages through decision completion while she acted as legal counsel for Chief Administrative Appeal Judge.
In 2017, Washington was named a 2017 Game Changer by Sports Business Journal, as a female executive making a difference in the business of sport. She earned a Cynopsis Top Women in Sports honor in 2019 as a leader in sports operations.
A Georgetown University Law graduate and Spelman College graduate, Washington is the past president of the Junior League ofIndianapolis where she embraced the organizations commitment to develop the potential of women while improving the community with the leadership of trained volunteers. Her extensive work in social causes includes volunteering for Wishard Memorial Hospital’s Foundation Board; the Girl Scouts; American Cancer Society Guild; and numerous educational, cultural and political causes.
She currently lives in Indianapolis.
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