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USTA Serves Executive Director Deborah Slaner Larkin
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Deborah Slaner Larkin has been named Executive Director of USTA Serves – Foundation for Academics. Character. Excellence., the philanthropic and charitable entity of the USTA. In this role, Larkin will be dedicated to increasing the outreach of the 16-year-old foundation and continuing its mission of changing lives through tennis and education. Larkin is based in the USTA’s White Plains, N.Y., headquarters and reports to Gordon Smith, USTA Executive Director and COO.
"The USTA is very fortunate to bring in someone as capable and experienced as Deborah to run our foundation," said Smith. "USTA Serves plays such an important role in the lives of young people across the country, and Deborah has displayed time and again the ability to maximize exposure and revenues for a wide variety of philanthropic organizations. When combined with the fact that she is a devout tennis enthusiast, I have no doubt that Deborah will lead USTA Serves to new heights."
Larkin brings to the USTA more than 35 years of experience, including service in both the non-profit and private sectors. For the past 18 years, she has served as a board member for a multitude of organizations, including the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), the White House Project (WHP), PE4Life, the Westchester Fund for Women and Girls and the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS). She remains an active board member with several of these organizations. Larkin played an integral role in drastically raising the profiles and revenues of each organization; she helped increase the NWLC’s endowment by 300 percent and helped double the revenues of the WHP’s annual fund-raising event.
From 1986-92, Larkin served as Executive Director of the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF), where she successfully implemented a comprehensive marketing, public relations and business plan that raised the awareness of the WSF among national corporations and lawmakers across the country. At the WSF, Larkin increased the foundation’s assets to over $1 million, quadrupled the endowment and doubled revenues for the annual fund-raising gala. For her service with the WSF, Larkin received the Billie Jean King Contribution Award.
Larkin has been a long-time supporter of the USTA. She serves on the Adult Competition Committee for the USTA Eastern Section and was a founder of the Eastern Adult Tennis Foundation, which helps bring financial support for grassroots tennis programs for adult and senior participation. She is the recipient of the USTA Eastern Louise Cilla Award as well as receiving the USTA Eastern Regional Volunteer of the Year award. She also won a USTA League National Championship in 2005.
Larkin received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon and earned an MBA in marketing from the University of Maryland. She lives in Pelham, N.Y., with her husband John.
USTA Serves
Established in 1994, USTA Serves supports, monitors and promotes programs that enhance the lives of disadvantaged children through the integration of tennis and education. USTA Serves actively supports individual students from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds through college scholarships and player incentive awards and encourages children to pursue their goals and highest dreams by succeeding in school and becoming responsible citizens. Additionally, the foundation supports community tennis programs across the country that provide positive role models, academic assistance, life skills and tennis instruction to help prevent violence, substance abuse and school dropouts. USTA Serves is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that builds on the USTA’s social conscience of addressing important health issues, diversity issues and general well-being in the United States, using tennis as the catalyst and change agent.