COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – During meetings held at the U.S. Olympic Assembly this past weekend, USA Wrestling’s Executive Director Rich Bender of Colorado Springs, Colo. was unanimously elected as the chair of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s National Governing Body (NGB) Council.

The mission of the NGB Council is to “assist the National Governing Bodies and Paralympic Sports Organizations as they strive to achieve sustained competitive excellence.”

Bender was selected for this volunteer leadership position by the chief executives of the National Governing Bodies and Paralympic Sports Organizations affiliated with the U.S. Olympic movement. He will complete the term which was previously held by Skip Gilbert of USA Triathlon, which includes the current four-year Olympic quadrennial that runs through the 2012 London Olympic Games.

“USA Wrestling has flourished under Rich’s decade of leadership as Executive Director and the organization is one of the strengths within the NGB family,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “I am excited to have Rich in such an important leadership position and am confident that he will serve the NGBs and the Olympic movement with distinction. We look forward to working with him and the NGB Council as we develop programs and opportunities that benefit U.S. athletes and their Olympic and Paralympic dreams.”

The NGB Council is an organizational entity which is included in the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, and is also included in the bylaws of the U.S. Olympic Committee. 

The combined activity of the organizations included in the NGB Council includes the presentation of over 60,000 sports events each year and represents over 13,000,000 individual NGB members.

“It is very exciting to be involved with an organization which is committed to helping NGBs to improve their operations and serve as a voice within the U.S. Olympic Committee,” said Bender. “I am humbled to be chosen by a group which includes many of America’s top sports executives.”

Bender believes that the NGB Council will continue to play an increasingly important role in the growth and success of Olympic sports in the United States.

“The NGBs have the daily responsibility of managing the Olympic sports in our nation, preparing America’s athletes for success on the international level and ensuring the growth and expansion of Olympic sports programs in the United States. We are the 365-day-a-year operation of the U.S. Olympic movement,” said Bender.

In February 2001, Bender was named Executive Director of USA Wrestling and has served in that position since. Bender had served as Acting Executive Director for USA Wrestling prior to being offered the position on a permanent basis.

He has been a full-time employee with USA Wrestling for over 22 years. Prior to his current position, Bender served as the Associate Executive Director of Programs, where he oversaw USA Wrestling’s events, National Teams and developmental programs activities.

He previously served as USA Wrestling’s National Events Director, managing the organization’s regional, national and international events. Bender supervised major events including the 1995 World Freestyle Championships, age-group World Championships, the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, the U.S. Olympic Festival, the World Cup, the Goodwill Games, and numerous World Dual meets. He also directed the combined ASICS/Vaughan Junior and Cadet National Championships, the world’s largest wrestling competition.

Bender also served as the Competition Manager for wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games, working for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG). Bender organized a staff which presented one of the best Olympic wrestling competitions in history. Over 115,000 fans witnessed the wrestling competition in Atlanta.

As Executive Director, he has made a commitment to strengthen USA Wrestling’s membership and put the organization on its most solid financial footing in history. The organization has also focused on providing a safer environment for its participants. Bender has also welcomed the sport’s legends back to active involvement with USA Wrestling.

USA Wrestling set three all-time membership records in the recently completed 2009-10 season in the categories of athlete members, sanctioned events and registered clubs. USA Wrestling’s combined membership, including athletes, coaches and officials, reached 175,883 last season.

USA Wrestling’s budgeted revenue was $6.3 million dollar in fiscal year 2001-2002, Bender’s first full year as Executive Director, in comparison to $9.1 million in revenue for the current 2010-11 fiscal year.

Women’s wrestling has flourished during Bender’s tenure. The sport was added to the Olympic program at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. USA Wrestling’s women’s program has seen the addition of a U.S. Olympic Training Center Resident Athlete Program and the hiring of a National Women’s Coach, which led to a second-place finish at the 2003 World Championships.

Also during his service as Executive Director, USA Wrestling won its first World Team Title in Greco-Roman wrestling in 2007. 

Bender served as a U.S. Olympic Committee intern in the fall of 1988, working for USA Wrestling. He was hired as Events Assistant for USA Wrestling in January 1989, and became Manager of National Events in September 1989. He has served on the Board of Directors for the United States Olympic Committee, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

He received a degree in Sports Management and a minor in Business Administration from Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1988. Bender was a three-sport athlete at Boscobel High School, earning two varsity letters each in football, baseball and wrestling. He and his wife Michelle have three daughters, Madeline, Chloe and Gabriella.