Dallas, Jul 28 (IANS): USA Cricket (USAC) on Saturday appointed Johnathan Atkeison as its new CEO effective August 1. Atkeison, who most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer of USA Rugby, joins USA Cricket with over 15 years of national governing body experience in both high-performance, grassroots development, and business administration.

This comes after the International Cricket Council (ICC) placed them "on notice" earlier this week for lacking an appropriate administrative and governance structure and framework.

With the appointment, USAC met one of the two essential conditions to remain an ICC Associate member. In order to get the National Governing Body (NGB) status - which is required for all sports that were included to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles - the other need was to meet the governance standards established by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).

Atkeison comes to USA Cricket with a wealth of experience working in the national governing body environment. After spending the first phase of his career as a coach and staff member for national team programs, he began his administrative career as a development manager overseeing community competitions. After helping USA Rugby through a financial restructuring in 2020, Atkeison then led the organization through a four-year period of rapid growth and development, highlighted by the transformation of USA Rugby’s membership system and digital properties, the establishment of a professional development team aimed at producing the next generation of national team players, and the awarding of the 2031 and 2033 Rugby World Cups to be hosted in the United States.

“I’m honoured to join the team at USA Cricket. It’s an incredible time for the sport here in the United States with the historic performance of the men’s national team in the recent T20 World Cup, the completion of the second season of Major League Cricket, and the first opportunity to showcase cricket in the Olympics here on home soil during the LA28 games. Our goal is to build a world-class organization to capitalize on that momentum, and firmly establish cricket’s position in the American sporting landscape," Atkeison said in a statement.

“The passion the cricket community has for the sport is amazing, and the enthusiasm is infectious. I can’t wait to get started," he added.

Venu Pisike, Chairman of USA Cricket, expressed: “USAC is excited to welcome Johnathan to the leadership team. We anticipate a close collaboration with him to enhance and broaden the organization’s mission and purpose in serving the cricket community nationwide. With promising growth prospects on both Men’s and Women’s Cricket horizons, there is optimism that Johnathan will make valuable contributions towards these endeavours.”