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≡ USATF BOARD TURMOIL ≡
USA Track & Field is experiencing a golden age of performance by American athletes, who won a sensational 34 medals (14 gold) at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and 26 medals (16 gold) at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Off the field, the federation is navigating significant financial difficulties, ending 2024 with negative net assets of $6.125 million, with $29.730 million in assets and $35.855 million in liabilities.
Now, the USATF Board of Directors is fighting among themselves, dismissing two of its members over the last 10 days:
● Jere Summers-Hall, a shot and hammer All-American at Louisville and now an operations specialist for large digital firms, was elected as the Chair of the USATF Athletes Commission in December 2024.
● Kristie Killough-Ali, a Chicago attorney, was elected as an Independent Director to the USATF Board in 2018 and whose term will expire in 2026.
The USATF Board did not simply vote Summers-Hall and Killough-Ali off of the Board, but suspended their USATF memberships, making them ineligible for them to attend the USATF Annual Meeting taking place at Lake Buena Vista, Florida this coming Friday and Saturday (5-6 December).
This is especially noteworthy in view of the fact that Summers-Hall submitted 45 proposals and sub-proposals for consideration by the Law & Legislation Committee and then by the membership or other governance bodies as a whole, and Killough-Ali submitted eight.
What’s going on here?
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Summers-Hall has been, according to multiple close observers, a relentless inquirer about USATF’s financial affairs, budgeting, expenditures and how athletes – including Paralympic athletes, now under USATF governance – can be further supported, and also how Paralympic athletes can be more deeply incorporated into the USATF governance structure.
On 25 November, she was sent a letter – seen by The Sports Examiner – from the USATF Board which referred to an Executive Session on 24 November:
“During this discussion, the athlete representatives on the Board spoke candidly about concerns they and other athletes have raised regarding the direction of the Athlete’s Commission (‘AC’) under your leadership as Chair.
“The Board received detailed reports of several significant concerns. These include, but are not limited to, allegations that you have not fulfilled the duties of your position by failing to work with the AC to ensure all athlete appointments are made to the organization’s committees; that you have exceeded the authority of your position by making certain decisions and appointments without first obtaining the AC’s input; and that you have harassed and berated other athletes and National Office staff. The athlete representatives also reported that the AC has been unable to advance any of its initiatives over the past year due to the disruption caused by these behaviors. They expressed that, if such conduct continues, athlete engagement in the AC is likely to further decline. In light of these concerns, they requested that the Board take immediate action.
“Given the risk of substantial harm to USATF, including the AC, and after thorough deliberation, the Board moved, seconded, and voted to direct its CEO to take emergency action under USATF Regulation 21-T. Accordingly, your USATF membership is hereby temporarily suspended. Please note, pursuant to Regulation 21-T, you have the right to a hearing before the Board upon your written notice to the National Office within five (5) days of this communication.”
A message sent from the eight USATF athlete members of the Board to the USATF Athlete Commission members on 26 November included:
“The concerns raised regarding Jeré’s conduct and leadership compelled us to act in what we believe is the best interests of both athletes and the broader organization.
“Over the past year, the relationship between the Athletes’ Commission and USATF leadership has deteriorated. After much reflection, it became clear that the Chair’s approach and values no longer align with what athletes need for effective, collaborative representation in our sport.”
Summers-Hall sent a four-page reply on 27 November, which opened with:
“After reviewing the governing documents and applicable federal law, the Board’s emergency action appears to have been taken in violation of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (the ‘Ted Stevens Act’), USOPC Bylaws, and USATF’s own Bylaws and Regulations.
“The cited allegations are not safety or integrity related. They lack specificity, evidence, or any indication of immediate risk. They reflect unsupported internal allegations that should have been addressed, if at all, through regular procedures, not emergency discipline aimed at silencing an athlete’s advocacy carried out in good faith and in the best interests of both athletes and USATF.”
She noted the suspension “appears retaliatory” and requested revocation of her membership suspension and asked for future actions to comply with the Ted Stevens Act and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee requirements.
There was an “emergency meeting” online of the USATF athletes on 1 December, which Summers-Hall – now suspended – was invited to join and during which she explained her position. It eventually ended with the USATF Athletes Commission Board – a group separate from those athletes on the USATF Board of Directors – moving to a private discussion of next steps.
What appears true is that the USATF Board will not allow Summers-Hall to attend the General Meeting in Florida and she will remain suspended pending a Board hearing (where her request to be reinstated is unlikely to be reversed).
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Killough-Ali’s temporary suspension was also delivered in a 25 November letter and involve a defamation suit between former USATF staff member and former Board member Jim Estes and the federation, over his consulting role with Chattanooga, Tennessee as a bidder for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, eventually awarded to Orlando, Florida.
In short, Estes’ suit has involved former USATF Board Chair Mike Conley, the 1992 Olympic men’s triple jump gold medalist and 1993 World Champion and Killough-Ali’s apparent discussions with Conley related to this matter. The 25 November letter included:
“After further consultation with outside counsel, the Board discussed the immediacy of discovery and the likelihood that your position will be adverse to USATF. As a result, the Board holds significant legal and ethical concerns regarding your continued involvement in USATF governance committees and other membership functions while Litigation remains pending.
“Although you offered to discuss the matter further with the Board, you did not take actions to resign from the Board and other committees, nor did you volunteer to suspend your USATF membership. Therefore, the Board remains concerned that your continued participation could be detrimental to USATF both with respect to the Litigation specifically and the organization’s broader mission.
“Given the risk of substantial harm to USATF, and after careful deliberation and thoughtful discussion, the Board moved, seconded, and voted to direct its CEO to take emergency action under USATF Regulation 21-T. Accordingly, your USATF membership is hereby temporarily suspended until the Litigation has concluded. Please note, pursuant to Regulation 21-T, you have the right to a hearing before the Board upon your written notice to the National Office within five (5) days of this communication.”
USATF President Curt Clausen, also an attorney, send Killough-Ali a prior letter on 20 November, which asked for her resignation and also included:
“At a minimum, it is likely you will be a critical witness in the Litigation – both with respect to USATF’s defense of Jim Estes’ claims and with respect to USATF’s claims against Mr. Conley. We expect your positions may be adverse to USATF’s interests in the Litigation.”
Killough-Ali replied to Clausen on 24 November, a day before the Board suspension letter arrived and noted, in part:
“1. The concerns reflected in your letter suggest that providing truthful information is inconsistent with loyalty to USATF, the organization. In fact, the opposite is true: honesty, transparency, and legal compliance are essential to fulfilling our fiduciary obligations.
“2. The letter conflates and confuses loyalty for our CEO & COO with loyalty to USATF. My fiduciary duty is owed exclusively to USATF, the organization – not to individual executives. Truthful testimony upholds that duty; suppressing it violates it.
“3. If legally required to testify, I will do so truthfully and in full alignment with my fiduciary duties owed to USATF.”
She called the 20 November letter “the most serious instance of retaliation” and asked for independent legal counsel to help guide the federation through the legal minefield of the Estes case.
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Both Killough-Ali and Summers-Hall referred to a non-disclosure agreement that Killough-Ali stated in her reply was from “Attorneys representing the CEO and COO”; Estes’ action against them was dismissed, but the complaint against USATF has been allowed to proceed to the discovery phase.
The non-disclosure agreement was provided to each of the USATF Board members and asked the signees to promise to “not use, disseminate or in any way disclose or otherwise convey any portion of the Confidential Information furnished to it or such other materials described in (1) above to any person.”
The “Confidential Information” included a long list of items, such as financial data, transactions, business strategy, potential event locations and many others. Killough-Ali did not sign it and stated in her reply, “I have NOT breached my fiduciary duty,” and “I remain committed to acting in good faith and in the best interest of USATF, consistent with my fiduciary duties, and look forward to discussing this matter with the Board.”
Summers-Hall also responded on the non-disclosure agreement, noting that the restrictions appeared to limit her ability to talk to Athlete Commission members about information they should know.
She also submitted the non-disclosure agreement to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, which, according to Summers-Hill, “the USOPC sent a letter to USATF leadership, now shared with the full [USATF] Board, stating that: [t]he concerns raised about the NDA are reasonable” and should be clarified and more limited.
Meanwhile, the Estes vs. USATF suit goes on and the drama will apparently continue.
All part of being a national federation which was one of six nominees for the World Athletics Member Federations Award for 2025, and won “bronze recognition for Best NGB or Organizing Body of the Year at the 2025 Sports Business Awards.”
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