Following the untimely passing of our friend and colleague Bruce Littrell, the USTA challenged itself to reimagine its approach to officiating, and the structure of the officiating department.

We came to the conclusion that the best way to drive the growth and support of tennis officiating in the United States was to recast the traditional position of head of officiating and broaden the scope of the job to focus on strategic leadership and business development.

Following this decision, the USTA engaged the Nolan Group, a search firm with extensive experience in recruiting sport management executives, to conduct a worldwide search for this strategic position.

Our goal was to identify a leader with a proven leadership track record, who had excellent strategic planning and financial experience, and a deep knowledge of global community and professional sport and the challenges of building a community officiating system in a decentralized national sport governing body. Not an easy task.

I am very happy to report, that following the unanimous recommendation of the entire search committee, we have offered this new position to Sean Cary, and he has accepted. Sean’s title is Senior Director Pro Tennis Strategy, Officiating and Pro Circuit. Sean, who will start on June 19 and be based at the USTA National Campus, will report directly to me. Sean’s background syncs up perfectly with our search. Sean skills will allow him to serve as a change agent with the ability to both envision and then implement the transformation of community officiating programs, and to collaborate with me on strategic plans for the Pro Circuit.

Sean has served as the Head of Cricket Operations for Cricket Australia since 2012. Prior to being named Head of Operations, Sean was Cricket Australia’s Umpire Manager where he led and managed all aspects of cricket umpiring. He holds an MBA in Sports Management from Australia’s Southern Cross University and a BA in Recreation Studies from Edith Cowan University. He brings experience as an elite professional athlete, a high-performing sales and hospitality professional, and Executive Director of a sports industry trade organization, a high-level referee and umpire manager, and a business leader for one of the most popular sports in the world. Of his many accomplishments at Cricket Australia, one that was especially appealing, was Sean’s ability to implement a strategic plan to elevate community officiating for cricket in Australia, an approach that we believe we can build on here in the U.S. to grow our officiating base and strengths.

The USTA has identified tennis officiating as a critical area for 2017 and beyond. The hiring of a world-class leader like Sean Cary is only the first step. We continue our search for the US Open’s Chief Umpire and we are committed to investing in recruitment, education and development to ensure we see more support and growth for American officials.

Thank you,
Stacey Allaster
Chief Executive Professional Tennis