Bruce Burton has been elected President of US Sailing ©US Sailing

Bruce Burton has been elected as the new President of US Sailing after previous head Thomas Hubbell completed his three-year term in charge of the governing body.

Burton, who has extensive experience in the sport having served as a member of the US Olympic Yachting Committee as well as President of the US Etchells Class, was put forward for the position by the Nominating Committee.

He will be tasked with leading the organisation in the build-up to next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where the American sailing team will bid to improve on their performance at London 2012, during which they failed to win a medal of any colour.

Cory Sertl has been elected as vice-president.

"As the governing body, we must reconnect with those people who were our 'middle class' of sailing, those who participated in all of the regattas that are now busy with other priorities," Burton said.

"US Sailing must provide high impact visibility of our sport to people who may want to become a part of our great sport.

"We must promote to others and include our friends in the fun."

Sally Barkow has been elected as a Board member of US Sailing and she will serve a one-year term in the role
Sally Barkow has been elected as a Board member of US Sailing and she will serve a one-year term in the role ©Getty Images

As well as his appointment as US Sailing’s President, several other new members were also elected to the US Sailing Board of Directors, including Martine Zurinskas as secretary and Steve Freitas, a race management team member at a wide variety of local and international events, as treasurer.

Gary Gilbert will serve as select director and each of the three new officials were nominated by Burton before being elected to their position by the Board of Directors.

Richard Jepsen, a member of the US Sailing Board of Directors and Executive Committee for three years between 1997 and 2000, has been elected as a new Board member along with Jim Walsh, previous chair of the US Sailing competition division, JJ Fetter, a two-time women’s 470 Olympic medallist, and Ron White. 

Fetter, part of the Olympic Sailing Committee since 2012, and the other three new members will all undertake three-year terms, while 2004 and 2005 women’s match race world champion Sally Barkow will serve a one-year term.

The appointments of new directors were made at the organisation’s recent annual meeting in Dallas.



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