Adams to return as USTA President

The USTA Board of Directors for the 2017-18 term will have a similar look at the top, with Katrina Adams set to serve a second consecutive term as Chairman of the Board, CEO and President, and a number of additional officers and board members returning.

Adams, who made history in 2015 by becoming the first African-American and first former touring pro to become president of the USTA, has served on the association’s board for 12 years. She has been president for the past two years, providing steady leadership during the transformation of the US Open grounds and the unveiling of the new USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., set to make its debut in early 2017.

Her appointment for 2017-18 marks the first time in the USTA’s 135-year history that an individual will serve a second consecutive two-year term as president.

Other USTA officers joining Adams (pictured above after the 2016 US Open men's final) for the coming term include two fellow former pros: Patrick Galbraith, who will rise to first vice president after serving as secretary-treasurer for the past two terms, and Tommy Ho, who will assume the role of secretary-treasurer after one term as a director at large and two as a vice president.

Filling the two vice president roles for 2017-18 will be longtime sectional and national volunteer Joan Baker, who has served two terms as a director at large, and entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark Ein, who has also served two terms as director at large.

New board members for the 2017-18 term include former USTA Northern Section President Jeffrey Baill and longtime USTA volunteer and former USTA Middle States Executive Director Laura Canfield. Returning board members include former Univision Senior Vice President Fabrizio Alcobe-Fierro, former USTA Southern President Michael McNulty and esteemed judge and author Andrew Valdez, who will be serving his fourth consecutive term as director at large.

Also returning to the board is Dr. Brian Hainline, the US Open’s former chief medical officer and current NCAA senior vice president. He served as a director at large in 2007-08.

The remaining spots on the USTA board are reserved for three elite athletes. For 2017-18, those will be Lauren Barnikow, a former Top 200 doubles player who will be serving a second consecutive term; Brian Vahaly, the former Top 100 singles player and NCAA finalist who served as an elite athlete for the 2013-14 term; and newcomer Liezel Huber, the former world No. 1 doubles player, U.S. Fed Cup standout and seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion.