USA Gymnastics CEO Li Li Leung will leave her role at the end of the year after a six-year run in which she led the NGB out of crisis and rebuilt the organization. Her departure comes after a drastic turnaround for the national governing body, which she has led since March 2019 and took over following one of the worst sexual abuse crises in sport. Under Leung’s leadership, USA Gymnastics instituted governance reforms and cultural changes to better protect and support athletes and has allowed the organization to return to competitive and commercial success.
Leung, a 2024 SBJ Game Changer honoree, will stay on at USA Gymnastics as it looks for her successor. USA Gymnastics has retained CAA to lead that search and aims to have a replacement before the end of the year.
“It has been an absolute honor and privilege of a lifetime to have been given this opportunity to be able to turn around the sport that has meant so much to me, both personally and obviously now professionally as well. This has been a passion project from day one. It was not just a job,” said Leung, who was a collegiate gymnast at Michigan. “I don’t know if I will ever be given another opportunity quite like this. It’s been an absolute honor to do what we’ve been able to collectively do here.”
Leung left the NBA to take over at USA Gymnastics, which was mired in the fallout of a sexual abuse crisis. Hundreds of girls and women had come forward to say longtime team doctor Larry Nassar had abused them, USA Gymnastics had filed for bankruptcy in the face of lawsuits from those victims and the USOPC had initiated a process to decertify the NGB.
Leung focused on rebuilding, using the results of investigations by an outside law firm, the USOPC and Congressional inquiries to change USA Gymnastics policies and increase protections for athletes.
USA Gymnastics settled with victims of Nassar’s abuse for $380M in 2021, allowing it to emerge from bankruptcy, and the USOPC ended its decertification efforts after the reforms.
The rebuilt organization also earned the trust of sponsors, with 11 signing in the two years leading into the Paris Games. That included a five-year Nike deal, which is the largest in the NGB’s history, as well as a range of brands from Comcast to Samsonite and several other non-endemics that spoke to the strength of the changes in the organization.
Once in Paris, USA Gymnastics had historic success, with women’s team gold and men’s team bronze -- the latter the first U.S. medal in that event in 16 years -- among the 11 it claimed in those Games.
“The organization is in a really great place in terms of we’ve accomplished so many things over the past several years, earning back the trust of our athletes, our community and other stakeholders and broad firm financial footing as well,” Leung said. “I’ve been lucky enough to be able to build an incredible team at USAG that can continue on building on the success that we’ve all achieved so far.”
With just more than three years to go until LA28, USA Gymnastics has a strategic roadmap through those Games in place that it can rely on in the transition.
Leung does not currently have another position lined up.
“I hope to be able to take some time off and figure out what is next, but that hasn’t been what’s the focus for me,” she said. “It’s basically making sure that this organization is in place to be able to hand off in a great situation.”
