Olympic Gold Medalist Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Named SafeSport CEO
Olympic gold medalist Benita Fitzgerald Mosley was named the CEO of the U.S Center for SafeSport on Monday.
She will formally take the role Feb. 1. She takes over for interim CEO and board chair emerita April Holmes.
Fitzgerald Mosley was most recently the CEO of Multiplying Good, a New York-based organization. Her past roles include a Chief Operating Officer of the United States Olympic Committee from 2013-16 and roles withing USA Track & Field.
“It is an honor to be selected as the Center’s CEO, and it is my goal to shepherd this organization forward with a focus on service to athletes, operational excellence, and culture change in sport,” Fitzgerald Mosley said in a press release. “As an athlete, I felt safe, supported, and strengthened in my career, and I am committed to helping all athletes within the Olympic and Paralympic movement feel that same sense of support. While the Center has moved the needle on athlete safety nationally, my vision is to ensure we are building an organization that athletes can believe in, the staff can be proud of, and the public can trust and respect.”
As an athlete, Fitzgerald Mosley was the first American woman to win Olympic gold in the 100-meter hurdles when she did it at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She also won gold at the 1983 Pan American Games. She was a member of the Olympic team for the boycotted 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
“On behalf of the entire Board and the search committee, we are pleased to welcome Benita Fitzgerald Mosley as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Center for SafeSport,” Vice Chair of the Board and head of the CEO search committee Chicka Elloy said. “Benita brings a wealth of experience as both an athlete and a leader in nonprofit, sports, and business sectors. She is well-positioned to advance the Center’s mission as the organization completes its first nine years of operation and prepares for the next era.”
Fitzgerald Mosley was the CEO of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA from 2016-20. She was the COO of the USOC from 2013-16, overseeing the Olympic Training Centers as well as athlete relations, human resources and strategic planning.
Fitzgerald Mosley was USA Track & Field’s Chief of Sport Performance from 2009-13, leading Team USA to 29 medals at the 2012 Olympics in London.
She served on the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics from 2021-24 while holding jobs in private industry, including as President of FundPlay Foundation and the Vice President of Community & Impact for youth sports technology company LeagueApps.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is the nation’s only independent organization dedicated to ending sexual, physical, and emotional abuse in U.S. Olympic and Paralympic sport. The Center emerged in response to high profile cases of sexual abuse of minor athletes within Olympic and Paralympic sport in the mid-2010s. With the mission of making athlete well-being the centerpiece of the nation’s sport culture, the Center has since been setting safety policies, and receiving, investigating, and resolving complaints of abuse and misconduct. The Center also serves as an educational resource for sports organizations at all levels, from recreational sports organizations to professional leagues.
