Kerry Perry quits as president of scandal-hit USA Gymnastics
USA Gymnastics turned to an outsider when it tasked Kerry Perry to steer the embattled organization through the fallout of the Larry Nassar scandal.
Perry, who had no background in the sport when she was hired as president and CEO last November, stressed her focus would be “on creating an environment of empowerment where all have a strong voice and we are dedicated every single day to athlete safety.”
Yet too often during her nine months on the job — a brief tenure that ended Tuesday when Perry resigned amid pressure from the United States Olympic Committee — it was Perry’s voice that was missing.
While the former marketing and communications executive spoke frequently in buzzwords — the use of “empowerment” during her introductory press conference was a sign of things to come during the rare occurrence when Perry did make a public appearance — she struggled to get a handle on the scope of the damage inflicted by Nassar.
As athletes spoke out about being sexually abused by Nassar — a former team doctor for both the women’s program at USA Gymnastics as well as Michigan State University athletics — Perry couldn’t seem to effectively articulate empathy for the survivors or offer a clear way forward for one of the U.S. Olympic movement’s crown jewels. Her tenure would follow a familiar pattern: a high-profile gymnast would come forward to outline her abuse at the hands of Nassar, now serving an effective life sentence after being convicted of federal child pornography and state sexual abuse charges, and USA Gymnastics would release an empty statement, usually without Perry’s name on it.