By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, November 18, 2024

Brian Vahaly was a pioneering player on the ATP Tour.

The 45-year-old Vahaly will continue a trailblazing career as the newly elected USTA Chairman of the Board and President. 

Tennis Now Q&A: USTA's Brian Vahaly

The USTA today announced its new Board of Directors, including elected officers and Directors at Large. The new Board has been elected to a two-year term that begins on January 1, 2025.

Former world No. 64 Vahaly, the only ATP pro in history to ever come out as gay, will succeed outgoing Chairman Dr. Brian Hainline, who served from 2023-2024. Vahaly will become the youngest Chairman of any Grand Slam and first public member of the LGBTQ+ community to serve in the post.

“It’s an honor to be working alongside such a talented and passionate group of individuals," Chairman and President-elect Vahaly said. "Each Board member brings a unique perspective, and together we’re a team driven by a deep commitment to the game we all love.”

A three-time All American at the University of Virginia where he played for Dick Stockton and earned a BS degree in Finance and Business Management, Vahaly faced several Grand Slam champions, including Andre Agassi, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Lleyton Hewitt.

During his playing days, Vahaly was the only male college graduate in the ATP Top 100 at the time and remains the only current or former ATP player to publicly come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Since retiring from professional tennis, Vahaly has built a thriving business career as a respected chief executive with a track record of success in operational turnarounds, driving growth and improving profitability for private equity-backed, early-stage companies in the health and wellness sector.

President-elect Vahaly said building on the USTA's growth of player participation is a primary goal of his administration. 

“My focus as Chairman and President will be on applying a business-minded, data-driven approach to build on the incredible growth we’ve seen in the last five years to reach our goal of 35 million players by 2035," Vahaly said. "We will enhance digital and recreational play opportunities, expand court access, grow our network of outstanding coaches, and support American stars to inspire the next generation of players.

"Each one of us has the opportunity to make sure the benefits of tennis as the world’s healthiest sport are accessible to all. Together, we can create an inclusive space where everyone feels welcome and inspired to play."

In his role on the USTA board of directors, Vahaly helped launch the first US Open Pride Day on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 in Flushing Meadows.

In a past interview with Tennis Now, Vahaly spoke about efforts to create an inclusive environment in pro tennis.

"How can we be thoughtful about the words players are using and about the environment that’s being created so we can have a data-driven decision on what be helpful," Vahaly told Tennis Now. "I’m not measuring success here by having a Top 25 player who comes out as gay.

"I think for me it’s just have we continued to provide the atmosphere so that maybe similar to what we’ve seen in other sports where somebody comes out and maybe it’s not as big of a deal. I am hopeful that things about the pride event that we did at the US Open, which I’m incredibly proud of, will set the table.

"You just want kids to see it. You want kids to know that they’re accepted. You want players to see other players wearing a rainbow wristband and it’s not that big of a deal. Or you’ll hear Djokovic or Federer or Zverev talk about it and say “Yeah, I’d be fine with it.” Just hearing those things and the language shift and not using the F-word so publicly. They may say they don’t have motive behind it, but it sends a message." 



Other elected officers for the new term and their official USTA bios are here:

J. Christopher Lewis will serve as the First Vice President on the Board. Lewis is currently serving his second consecutive term and his first term as the Secretary Treasurer of the USTA. He previously served two terms as President of the USTA Southern California section. At the University of Southern California, he was a three-time tennis All-American. Lewis was a member of the 1976 team which won the NCAA Team Championship and won the NCAA doubles title in 1977. Lewis is chairman of RLH Equity Partners.

Maggie Chan Jones will serve as Vice President on the Board–her second consecutive term. Jones is a recognized executive in business transformation, marketing, inclusion, and sustainability. Long an influential business advocate of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), Jones founded Tenshey, Inc., in 2018 and served as its CEO until 2024. Today, she serves on the boards of publicly-listed and privately-held global technology companies.

Megan Moulton-Levy will serve as Vice President and as an Elite Athlete on the Board. This will be Moulton-Levy’s third consecutive term. 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, attaining a career-high singles ranking of No. 237. Moulton-Levy has been the Vice President at Junior Tennis Champion Center in College Park, Maryland since July of 2024.

​William (Bill) McGugin will serve as Secretary-Treasurer on the Board–his second consecutive term. McGugin is President and CEO of Iroquois Capital Group, Inc. (‘ICG’) and Chairman/President/CEO of REIT Investment Group, LLC, a portfolio company of ICG, which McGugin founded in 2006. McGugin currently serves as Chair of the USTA Investment Committee and Chair of USTA Ventures. He graduated from Vanderbilt University where he played four years on the varsity tennis team.

Directors at Large for the new term include:

Catherine (CiCi) Bellis will serve her first term and as an Elite Athlete on the Board. Bellis played professional tennis on the WTA Tour, reaching No. 35 in the world at age 17. She founded Cartan Capital—a venture capital firm centered around sports and health. Bellis also works as a broadcaster for Tennis Channel.

Laura F. Canfield will serve her fifth consecutive term on the Board. She has over 40 years of professional and volunteer experience at the USTA local, section and national levels and in the tennis/recreation industry. She is co-founder and current program director of the nonprofit Bucks County Tennis Association.

Chris Capossela will serve his first term on the Board. Capossela is a marketing leader in the technology industry who worked across both consumer and commercial marketing. He spent over 30 years at Microsoft as a marketing professional. He currently serves as a member of corporate and non-profit boards with a focus on innovation and community growth.

Violet Clark will serve her fourth consecutive term on the Board. Among her other tennis related Board roles, Clark served as the first African-American President of the Chicago District Tennis Association Board. She is currently Of Counsel at Laner Muchin, Ltd., focused on employment law and labor relations matters.

Amanda Fink-Moore will serve her first term on the Board. Fink-Moore is a long-standing member of the coaching community, a USTA National cardio tennis trainer, and an industry speaker. Prior to coaching, Fink-Moore was an All-American tennis player at the University of Southern California (USC) before competing on the pro tour for three years, achieving a Top 300 WTA ranking in both singles and doubles.

Kathleen Francis will serve her third consecutive term on the Board. Francis has more than 30 years of experience leading the development and implementation of high-impact marketing and youth development programs for professional sports leagues and venues, as well as for the USTA. Currently, she is President of Oasis Sports Ventures and serves as Chair and President of Women in Sports and Events. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Women’s Sports Network and NFL Players Inc.

Jon Rydberg will serve his first term and as an Elite Athlete on the Board. Rydberg reached a career-high world ranking of No. 11 in singles, and No. 13 in doubles on the ITF Wheelchair Tour. After retiring from the tour in 2016, he became a USTA High Performance National Coach. He is the U.S. men’s captain for World Team Cup (2018-present), a youth and high school coach (2009-present), and a Courage Kenny Rehab Institute volunteer coach.

Hon. Derek J. White will serve his first term on the Board. White was the first African American to serve as the CEO and President of the USTA Southern section, the largest section which serves 23 percent of USTA members. He opened and managed The White Law Group from 2000-2021 and was elected to the State Court of Chatham County, where he currently serves the citizens of Chatham County, Georgia.

Perren Wong will serve his first term on the Board. Wong serves as a board member of the Junior Tennis Foundation and is a founding board member of the Asian American Pacific Islander Tennis Association. He is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley where he currently serves as the Head of Private Banking Operations.

Brian Hainline will serve his sixth term on the Board as Immediate Past President. Hainline played No. 1 singles and doubles in his senior year at the University of Notre Dame. He was a founding member of the USTA Sport Science Committee and has been a member of the International Tennis Federation Sport Science and Medicine Commission since 1993, serving as chair since 2003. Hainline is a member of the WTA Tour Player Development Advisory Panel, is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Academy of Neurology, and is Clinical Professor of Neurology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.