USTA’S BOARD MUST RESIGN By Javier Palenque

When a business is failing, shareholders and board members are immediately called to solve the problem and either replace management, board members, or the executives as a norm. Of course, it is key to understand here that board members represent shareholders who own a stake in the business, so the problems are mostly solved. But what happens when the board members represent no one as is the case in the USTA? No one at the false not-for-profit owns a single share of anything so when things go bad, there is no accountability to anyone, but the board itself which represents no one. This is a big problem.

This is a short article that has the purpose of showing you how tennis cannot continue to be governed by the same people who got us to the problem that tennis has today (no future, or youth).

Below are the five core principles that most businesses use to pursue and follow good governance. It is called the A LIST. As you read it, ask yourself how you would rate the USTA in your interactions with the board, sections, and executives. For me, they score so low that they need to resign. Let us see if you agree or disagree with me.

A - ACCOUNTABILITY – the process whereby organizations and the individuals within them take responsibility for their actions.

If there is something the leadership of the USTA hates it is accountability, they will not accept any responsibility for their actions and hide any information that embarrasses them, avoiding this way in their mind’s accountability to the tennis community.

L – LEADERSHIP – Is “setting the tone” at the top which is critical if an entire organization embraces good governance.

When the board allows the CEO to lie publicly about the growth of the sport, misguide the sections, and tell numbers of participation that are reflected nowhere in the financials you know that there is no leadership in the organization. The problem is that is all approved by the board, who represent no one.

I – INTEGRITY - acting in a way that is impartial, ethical, and not misusing information or resources, which is reflected in part through compliance with legislation, regulations, and policies as well as the instilling of high standards of professionalism at all levels.

If you just follow the sexual harassment suits that the USTA settles, the tactics they use to avoid bad press, the waste of funds daily that do not belong to them, the lack of trust, and the deliberate conflating of the health of the sport with the US Open is proof that integrity they can’t even spell.

S – STEWARDSHIPS - is the act of looking after resources on behalf of the public and is demonstrated by maintaining or improving capacity to serve the public interest over time.

When the leadership is poor, and the governance nonexistent, it is impossible to expect good stewardship, this is the state of the sport today. All you must do is look at their financials and you will conclude that they are the wrong people, doing what they want for the wrong causes. Their causes are to keep their jobs and the US Open which allows them to work three months, collect for twelve and no one can question anything. It is all wrong, but all approved by the incapable USTA board.

T – TRANSPARENCY - is achieved when decisions and actions are open, meaning stakeholders, the public, and employees have access to full, accurate, and clear information on these matters

This is another word that the Ol’d boys cannot spell, because if they learned to spell this word, we would know how many kids play per zip code, age, gender, income level, and race. These numbers are so poor that they are an embarrassment to any decent executive looking at them and keeping their jobs. The same goes with how they report the 990, all with details they deliberately hide while complying with the law.

As you can see, it is impossible to grow the game if out of the five core principles that 95% of businesses use, the board fails at every single one of them.

For this reason and the many exposed in the six years of my writing, is that I want all the board members to resign. They have contributed to the game absolutely nothing but debt, low participation, lack of integrity, and a hubris level of petty directors. You need not agree with me, simply read, and conclude whatever it is you wish.

I say NO to ineptitude and YES to growing the game.

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I can be reached at [email protected]

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?USTA Board accomplishments: $711M debt for Wall Street show, no money for 99.98% of the tennis population, no accountability, no transparency, no leadership, no integrity, no stewardship. They must all go.

If this is still not clear, then I have no other way to prove to you just how sad things are. It is noticeably clear what they have done for tennis. NOTHING!