ANITA DEFRANTZ L’77 was recently appointed to the 11 member Board of Directors of the United States Olympic Committee. The transition from a 125 member governing board to the new, 11 member board represents the most sweeping governance change in the history of the USOC.

DeFrantz competed with the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic rowing teams, winning a bronze medal in the 1976 games. She also won a silver medal at the 1978 World Championships, and was a National Champion six times. In 1986, DeFrantz became the first woman to represent the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the U.S., and went on to become the first woman in the IOC’s history to be elected as vice president in 1997, serving a four-year term. DeFrantz was ranked No. 19 on Sports Illustrated’s 2003 list of the 101 most influential minorities in sports, and was named one of the 100 most powerful people in sports by The Sporting News nine times.

DeFrantz currently serves as president and member of the Board of Directors of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, as well as president of Kids In Sports. Her numerous honors and awards include the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Black Woman of Achievement Award and the NAACP’s Jackie Robinson Sports Achievement Award.

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