None of USA Swimming’s top four earners from 2024 remain with the organization. Leading the way is former USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey, who earned $1,051,489 in 2024 before resigning from the position at the end of August.
Despite departing before the year’s end, Hinchey’s 2024 compensation marked a career high. His previous totals were $962,555 in 2023, $973,463 in 2022, and $1,037,208 in 2021. More than half of his 2024 compensation came from his $575,241 base salary.
Former Chief Commercial Officer Shana Ferguson, who stepped in as Interim CEO following Hinchey’s departure, was the organization’s second-highest-paid employee in 2024 with total compensation of $477,650, including a $298,947 base salary. Ferguson departed USA Swimming at the end of March 2025 to join the staff for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympics.
The 3rd highest compensated employee in 2024 was Lindsay Mintenko as she served as National Team Managing Director until September when she resigned from her position. She made $432,699 in 2024, with $368,473 coming from her base salary. This was an increase from her $360,749 total in 2023 ($252,750 base).
Former USA Swimming CFO Eric Skufca earned $401,204 in total compensation in 2024, with a base salary of $257,741. Skufca left USA Swimming at the start of September 2025 to become CFO of Solari, Inc.
The highest-paid employee from 2024 that remains at the organization is Joel Shinofield who serves as Managing Director of Sport Development. He earned $398,263 in 2024, an increase from his total of $354,374 in 2024.
| Name | Position | Reportable Compensation | Other Compensation | Total Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timothy Hinchey | President & CEO (To 08/2024) | 981,472 | 70,017 | 1,051,489 |
| Shana Ferguson | CCO (To 07/2024) / Interim CEO & COO (From 08/2024) | 406,947 | 70,703 | 477,650 |
| Lindsay Mintenko | National Team (To 09/2024) | 368,473 | 64,226 | 432,699 |
| Eric Skufca | Chief Financial Officer | 323,991 | 77,213 | 401,204 |
| Joel Shinofield | Sport Development | 302,531 | 95,732 | 398,263 |
| Michelle Steinfeld | Secretary & General Counsel | 306,198 | 60,211 | 366,409 |
| Jacob Grosser | Marketing & Communications | 210,049 | 53,532 | 263,581 |
| Elaine Calip | Executive Director, Foundation | 198,045 | 43,659 | 241,704 |
| Matthew Lupton | Creative & Productions | 164,959 | 50,677 | 215,636 |
| Nicolas Fink | Director (From 09/2024) | 56,700 | 0 | 56,700 |
| Bruce Gemmell | Director | 21,214 | 0 | 21,214 |
| Ashley Twichell Wall | Director (To 09/2024) | 9,200 | 0 | 9,200 |
| Catherine Meili | Director (To 09/2024) | 1,000 | 0 | 1,000 |
Data comes from USA Swimming’s Form 990 that is now available on their website.
Hinchey did not resign. They forced his ass out under the guise of resignation.
Senior management (i.e., above Director level) earns far too much relative to USA Swimming’s revenue. Time to seriously reconsider contributions unless something’s done to correct this imbalance. Salaries need to be lowered with any incentives tied more closely to financial performance. This needs to be a top priority of the board and new CEO. More house cleaning is needed, stat.
What should the CEO base salary be? And what’s an appropriate bonus structure based on USAs financials? Please note, USAs rev will dip 2025-27. 2024, was, of course, an Olympic year, meaning more rev (what I call Olympic trickledown).
Nobody’s base should be more than 200-300k. Then establish rev and “profit” based incentives tied to improvements over prior year and past four-year average. Of course profit would be adjusted for the fact that we’re dealing with a nonprofit. But as we all know, even nonprofits can make and lose money. And the best way to avoid real profit that the IRS could tax is to pay high comp to staff.
Another factor is the administrative cost ratio or its inverse. In other words, what percent of revenue actually goes to serving the org’s principle purpose — i.e., the promotion and development of swimmers and swimming (ex. Marketing comp). The higher that number, the higher the incentives.
I am onboard…as a big believer in incentives. And exec admin comp should be pinned to an appropriate percentage of overall rev….
Grifters. Prove me wrong.
Just to pay the athletes peanuts
https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_0002_9700_FA852810D0062_9700
https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_0002_9700_FA852810D0062_9700
Seems like a very tenuous definition of the word “earn”…
Money well spent!