The Chicago Pink Stars have employed former U.S. Soccer chief authorized officer Karen Leetzow as membership president, the franchise introduced on Wednesday. It is the primary sports activities government rent introduced by the Pink Stars since their new possession group, led by Laura Ricketts, took over the membership in September. Her position with the membership will start on Dec. 4.
“Karen is a dedicated advocate for ladies in sports activities and her work with the U.S. Soccer Federation management staff to create a brand new tradition is past examine,” stated Ricketts, the Pink Stars principal proprietor.
“In her distinguished profession she has gone past boundaries and blazed a path for ladies to have a seat on the desk of the C-suite of main sports activities enterprises and he or she has assured our athletes are protected and have a stage enjoying subject.”
Throughout her time with U.S. Soccer, Leetzow oversaw the impartial investigation into abuse and sexual misconduct in girls’s skilled soccer. She helped federation management choose former U.S. Justice Division official Sally Q. Yates to conduct the groundbreaking investigation. She additionally took a number one position in profitable negotiations for an settlement to make sure equal pay for the U.S. Ladies’s Nationwide Soccer Workforce.
“I’m grateful for the chance to hitch Laura Ricketts and her group of achieved girls enterprise and civic leaders in altering the tradition on the Chicago Pink Stars and to construct a championship group on and off the pitch,” stated Leetzow.
“It’s an honor to work with Laura and the league to have a chance to make a distinction within the lives of our athletes, staff associates, and followers. I stay up for working with each staff member within the enterprise and technical employees of the Pink Stars to realize Laura’s aim of making a championship tradition of excellence and accountability.”
Leetzow beforehand served as NASCAR’s common counsel for twenty years earlier than becoming a member of U.S. Soccer as chief authorized officer. Her position throughout the collective bargaining negotiations achieved parity in agreements for the lads’s and girls’s groups, not solely in pay fairness however provisions that assist participant’s households.
She joins the membership at a vital time because the commerce window is open and the free company interval is in full swing. The membership dismissed former head coach Chris Petrucelli again in October and has but to call a alternative whereas a number of Pink Stars gamers are at present free brokers. There are additionally a number of NWSL golf equipment which have head teaching vacancies, and the NWSL’s growth draft is scheduled for Dec. 16. Followers can watch the occasion on CBS Sports Network.
