USA Surfing Board of Directors Current as of August 30, 2017
CEO – Greg Cruse
Greg Cruse (non-voting) - greg@usasurfing.org Greg is a life-long surfer who was on one of the original High School Surf Teams that was part of the genesis of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (Marina High School in Huntington Beach). When his daughter showed a passion for surfing he helped coach her Shorecliffs Middle School Surf Team to two NSSA National titles in 2005 and 2006 and volunteered as a board member and consultant for the Western Surfing Association, helping to grow them by 500% since 2005. Greg, along with fellow board member Andrea Swayne, started and ran the popular Prime Series beginning in June of 2008, gifted it to Surfing America in 2009, and have continued to run it together since. Greg has owned and run his successful publishers representative firm since 1984. He took the reins at Surfing America in June of 2011 and developed it to the point where the USA Junior Team won Gold in 2015 for the first time in history. Greg has worked closely with the International Surfing Association to reorganize Surfing America into USA Surfing. Greg looks forward to leading the USA Surf Team into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
DIRECTORS
Chairwoman – Andrea Swayne andrea@usasurfing.org Andrea Swayne began her involvement with organized surfing competition in the early 2000s when her daughter Madi began a 12-year amateur surfing career and Andrea was a partner in HB Wahine, the first all-girls surf school, team and surf shop in Orange County, CA. Swayne has been a member of the Western Surfing Association Board of Directors since 2005. In 2006 she started the WSA Menehune Surf Fest, pioneering the push-in division (allowing a parent/coach to push young surfers into waves during competition heats) now widely used by amateur surf series worldwide. In 2008 she cofounded (with Greg Cruse) the Surfing America Prime series surf tour (now USA Prime). She was elected to the Surfing America Board of Directors in 2015 and served as secretary. She is the former senior editor at Picket Fence Media (San Clemente Times, Dana Point Times and The Capistrano Dispatch). During her eight years there she also served as surf editor, providing a consistent platform for media coverage of Southern California's amateur surf tour athletes and homegrown pros. She is an entrepreneur in the event planning/production business. Her highest profile non-surfing event is the Dana Point Festival of Whales, a 47-year tradition welcoming more than 100,000 visitors each year to celebrate the migration of the ocean's largest mammals past Dana Point’s shores and learn about the vital importance of caring for the ocean environment and its inhabitants. A lifelong artist, Andrea enjoys making custom trophies for the USA Surfing Prime West Series and occasionally works as a freelance journalist and photographer.
High Performance/Medical Director – Kevyn Dean kevyn@usasurfing.org Kevyn has 25 years of hands on experience, is the current USA surf team medical director, and is a board certified orthopedic physical therapist. He believes that results are best achieved when an evidence-based approach is adapted to each individual patient.
Independent (Treasurer) – Randy Brecher Randy is an insurance industry executive with extensive experience in guiding companies from their infancy through their development as a professional corporation. His leadership in financial and operational process has created best in class strategies and services in the organizations he has been affiliated with. Randy’s expertise includes; product development, launch and implementation, underwriting, network development, business and organizational development, financial leadership and overall strategic review and evaluation of the Company’s direction. Randy current venture has seen the Company grow from $8 million to over $300 million in revenue annually. From 1977 to 1981 he attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO and graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration in Accounting. Awarded: Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Honors Fraternity; Certified Public Accountant, State of Colorado – 1985.
Independent – A. Jason Velez A. Jason Velez is the founding partner and creator of 1LAW®, a culmination of his lifelong efforts to provide compassionate, accessible legal services in a modern environment. 1LAW began as a thriving practice based in his hometown of St. George, Utah, and has since expanded to provide representation to clients in Utah and Nevada, with offices in Arizona and California on the horizon. Velez is an alumnus of the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Utah College of Law, and was admitted to the Utah State Bar in 2001. He also completed international studies at the Universidad de Chile, where he expanded his expertise in a range of international issues, ranging from environmental law to immigration matters.
Independent – Shayna Marks Shayna Marks is the founder and principal of Citrine Marketing, a boutique social media and content marketing agency serving emerging lifestyle and wellness brands. With almost a decade of digital marketing experience in media and startups, she has a wide range of knowledge and skills to help her clients tell stellar brand stories and build strong communities, both online and off. A former competitive swimmer, Shayna is passionate about aquatic sports and aiding in advancing the sport of surfing. Originally from Fullerton, CA, Shayna holds a B.A. in Literary Journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She currently lives and runs her business from Beverly Hills, CA.
Independent – Charlie Setzler Charlie Setzler is the Vice President of Consumer for DJO Global, the global leader in sports medicine technologies and leading manufacturer of bracing and supports worldwide. He is responsible for managing the bracing and supports business in the consumer division, which includes oversight of the DonJoy Performance and DonJoy Advantage brands and Amazon. In addition, he is responsible for all product functions within the division. Prior to his time at DJO Global, Mr. Setzler spent 20 years in the surf industry. Most recently as the Managing Partner and CEO for the North American licensee for Rusty, the iconic surf brand. He also served as President and Vice President at the LaJolla Group under the O’Neill and Rusty brands. After playing four years of Division I baseball at the University of San Diego, he graduated and ultimately landed in Orange County, CA in 1998, where he lives today with his wife, Janeen and daughter, Skyla (14) and two dogs - a pitbull, Baxter, and French bulldog, Thor. In addition to spending time with his family, Setzler is an avid surfer and also owns Landmark Surf Co., a surf shop in south Laguna Beach.
Athlete Representative – Courtney Conlogue Courtney is one of the successes of USA Surfing program. She has been the USA Junior Team since 2004 , when she was 11 years old. She has excelled in NSSA, Prime Series, 6 USA Teams and winning the World Championship at the ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica in 2009 helping the USA Team secure their first gold medal since 1994. Courtney made the jump to the professional ranks at the age of 18 and was No. 2 in the world on the World Surfing League Championship Tour in 2016.
Athlete Representative – Kevin Schulz Kevin is a product of the USA Surfing program coming up through the Western Surfing Association, National Scholastic Surfing Association and USA Surfing Prime Series. He was on the USA Junior Surf Team in Nicaragua in 2013 and the USA Surf Team in Costa Rica in 2016. Kevin has pioneered surfing in the cold waters of Canada and Alaska and been featured in many surfing magazines and websites. He is currently competing on the World Surfing League Qualifying Series while attending College at Northwestern University and consuming mass quantities of coffee.
Adaptive Athlete Representative – Christiaan Bailey Born in Santa Cruz, adaptive surfing athlete representative Christiaan Bailey grew up in France and was a professional free surfer and surf safari guide in West Africa for a number of years. After an injury in 2006 rendered him dependent on a wheelchair for mobility (crushed vertebrae suffered during the filming of a skateboard video) he has spent the last 11 years traveling the world on the WCT and WQS putting on expression sessions to promote the growth of adaptive surfing. He serves on the ISA Adaptive Surfing Advisory Board. He is a two-time USA national champion (2009,2017), a twotime ISA silver medalist, the current ISA world No. 2 ranked surfer and reportedly the only adaptive surfer so far to surf Mavericks and Pipeline.
Affiliated Organization Representative – Michelle Sommers Michelle Sommers has served as the executive director of the Eastern Surfing Association since 2012. Working closely with ESA's Board and overseeing the 24 East Coast districts (including the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast of Florida), she and her team have successfully brought ESA into its 50th year. As chairwoman of USA Surfing's Affiliated Member Organization Committee, Michelle represents USA Surfing's member organizations on the USA Surfing Board of Directors. Michelle’s marketing and business experience includes former positions as an award-winning territory manager for a national pharmaceutical firm, a cardiac rehab specialist for a regional hospital, and a 2011 featured athlete for the women's apparel company Athleta. Since 2009, she has operated her own business, Sommers Surf Lessons, offering surf lessons and surf camps specializing in women. She earned her BS degree in Heath & Fitness and lives with her husband and two sons in Fenwick Island, Delaware.
APPROVED BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES (PDF documents)
