Max Siegel ascends to CEO of USATF; supposed marketing genius

Marketing meister turns CEO

Expect USATF to sell the sizzle now that Max Siegel has been hired as CEO of USA Track & Field. Six months after being touted as a marketing guru, USATF Prez Stephanie Hightower today announced Max as its latest Moses. [He answered some of my questions last November.] But at least USATF has a leader going into the Trials and London Games, and not a pickup team of hole-pluggers. He also meets (but barely) the CEO job description, which calls for track knowledge. A sign that USATF knew a good story when it smacked them in the face was this status report on Bill Collins from a few days back.

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April 23, 2012

4 Responses

  1. Kenneth Effler - April 23, 2012

    I would have been impressed if the USATF had convinced someone like Phil Knight to take the helm. We all know how well it went the last time they hired a sports marketing genius that had no previous ties to track and field. I wish the gentleman from Indianapolis good luck in his new position, and hope he can bring meaningful leadership to our sport.

  2. Milton Girouard - April 24, 2012

    Well, six months after being hired for marketing the USATF and 90 days away from the US Olympic trials and then onto the “Super Bowl” of track and field in England, I can’t say that I’ve seen any more about USA Track and field in general, better marketing or know anymore about our potential Olympic athletes than I did a year ago. So what’s the next obvious step… hire Mr. Siegel as CEO of the USATF? Stephanie Hightower stated in a USATF press release, ” Countless members of the track & field community had suggested that we consider Max for the position…” It would be nice to know WHO recommended Mr. Siegel, not how many and WHO opposed it. So Mr. Siegel is now at the starting blocks of his career as a USATF shot caller with the biggest stage on earth coming up and all of us members calling out, ” On your marks..!”…After such accolades and promotions, theres no room for a false start or stumbling out of the blocks… It’ll be hard to successfully negotiate himself out of that situtation. Best of luck Mr. Siegel!

  3. Mary Harada - April 26, 2012

    Hopefully this will not be another false start for USATF – with the Olympics fast approaching there is no time to fire the gun yet another time and restart this race. Certainly I wish Mr. Siegel luck – he needs it as does USATF.

  4. Allen James - April 27, 2012

    Just read a few of his boastful press releases.

    http://www.maxsiegelinc.com/press/

    A larger concern is the outright violation of USATF’s Code of Ethics on multiple occasions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the conflicts of interest – board member to consultant to CEO, not to mention a board member that fired the previous CEO. Read the Code of Ethics Article II.A.6.

    Then consider the further violations of the President Hightower hiring the Columbus firm her friend owns, for a search she had already targeted for Mr. Siegel. Win Win for Ms. Hightower and company.

    Please everybody seek the facts – Google Philip Hersh’s story in the Chicago Tribune, the AP article at ESPN.com and the article below by Jesse Squires.

    http://www.womentalksports.com/items/read/986/1331398

    I was on the original Ethics Committee and this hire is just plain wrong.

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