USA Climbing supports the well-being, development, and competitive excellence of our athletes as we advance the accessibility and growth of the climbing community nationwide.
USA Climbing is the national governing body of the sport of competition climbing in the United States. As a 501(c)3 non-profit, we promote the disciplines of Bouldering, Lead and Speed climbing as well as the Collegiate and Para Climbing series.
USA Climbing receives sanctioning and is recognized by:
The International Federation for Sport Climbing (IFSC) The International Olympic Committee (IOC) The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC)
Athlete First. Support the well-being and development of climbers at all levels, abilities and ages – from beginner to elite, including youth, collegiate, adult, and para climbing.
Diversity & Inclusiveness. Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion as critical to our success, continuously champion these principles throughout the climbing community, and do not tolerate discrimination in any form.
Integrity & Teamwork. Promote climbing’s culture and ethos of camaraderie and sportsmanship to enrich lives and maximize the full potential of all participants.
Environmental Stewardship. Encourage responsible use, and the protection and preservation of, the natural environment.
Inspiration & Excellence. Be the very best at what we do as an organization, continually challenge our model, identify and adjust if we fall short, and finally celebrate our successes.
Kate Felsen Di Pietro is President of Up Up Communications LLC, with clients focused on transforming education and supporting healthy youth development. In March 2020,Kate, her husband, and their two children, co-founded Feed the Frontlines NYC, which nourishes frontline workers and people experiencing food insecurity while keeping local restaurants alive and their hardworking staff on the job. Kate had a distinguished career at ABC News. As Foreign Editor for the flagship evening news broadcast, she covered breaking and feature stories around the globe, winning 11 Emmy Awards. Kate earned an M.A. in American foreign policy and international economics from Johns Hopkins and a B.A., magna cum laude in history and literature from Harvard. She garnered first-team All-American and Ivy League “Player of the Year” honors in lacrosse, captained the field hockey team and enjoys coaching a club lacrosse team for middle school girls in New York City.
Voting Director Current term ends: December 31, 2026
Meagan Martin is a professional rock climber, ESPN commentator, Host of HBO Max’s The Climb, star of American Ninja Warrior, and a former Division I Pole Vaulter at Vanderbilt University who currently lives in Sacramento, California. It was by chance that Meagan found climbing growing up in Lake Mary, Florida back in 2001. Meagan started out in the JCCA, which later would become what USA Climbing is today.
Meagan competed for four years nationally and internationally before taking a seven-year hiatus from climbing to focus on pole vaulting. Upon her return to climbing, she jumped right back into the competition scene and traveled all around the world from 2012-2018 competing at USA Climbing and IFSC competitions. In the last two years, Meagan began to shift her focus into the broadcasting realm and is the color commentator for all ESPN and USA Climbing events.
As an elite athlete and a former USA Climbing certified coach, Meagan has made it a priority to be a good role model for youth. She believes that athletics has played a considerable role in shaping her into the person she is today and wants to share her knowledge with everyone she can. Climbing has forever changed her life, and she hopes that so many other people get the chance to experience what it is that is so special about this sport. Meagan is a member of the USA Climbing Board, DEI Committee, and Athlete Safety Committee. She is excited to bring her unique experiences within USA Climbing as an athlete, coach, and commentator to the USA Climbing Board of Directors and to the USA Climbing Foundation as an Athlete Trustee.
Voting Athlete Director Current term ends: December 31, 2028
Trace Harris joined the Board of USA Climbing in 2021. She is a finance and strategy executive with experience in media, education and technology. She is an experienced board member across public, private and non-profit organizations, including board service for the digital media company Ziff Davis and the technology company Altair and, through summer 2022, for the video game developer Bungie, creator of Halo and Destiny. Trace was previously the senior finance and strategy executive in the US for the media company Vivendi, where she worked with its US businesses, including NBC Universal and Universal Music Group. Trace is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale School of Management. She lives in New York with her husband and enthusiastic dog, Thor. She enjoys running and biking, and she climbs casually with her college-age son.
Voting Director Current term ends: December 31, 2028
Maureen (“Mo”) Beck was born without her left hand but that didn’t stop her from picking up the sport of climbing at the age of 12. Now based in Colorado’s Front Range, Mo spends her nights training at the gym and her days climbing all over the American southwest. She works closely with the adaptive climbing community as an instructor with Paradox Sports and is the Chair of the USA Climbing Paraclimbing Committee.
As a competitive climber, she has won nine national titles and two world titles. In 2018, she went on her first alpine expedition to the Northwest Territories in Canada’s Nahanni National Park where she and fellow adaptive climber Jim Ewing attempted the legendary Lotus Flower Tower. Following the expedition, she was named National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year. She now tours with Nat Geo Live, telling her story across the nation. Alongside her busy speaking career, she continues to dominate in the competitive climbing space and is planning her next big outdoor ascent.
In addition to climbing, Mo loves gardening, her chickens and dogs, sleeping in cars, and Tincup whiskey.
Kyra discovered the sport of climbing at a birthday party in 2009 at her local climbing gym in Minnesota. A natural climber since the day she climbed out of her crib (at one year old!), Kyra was instantly hooked and joined the gym’s youth team.
Kyra made Youth Bouldering Nationals her first year competing. But the next year back pain became a major distraction at practice. She consulted a doctor, only to find that she had a 53-degree curve in her spine—idiopathic, adolescent scoliosis. Not willing to let this dampen her climbing dreams, her family sought out a surgeon who supported Kyra’s climbing. To allow some amount of mobility in her back, Kyra and her surgeon decided on fusing 10 vertebrae together, T2-T12, correcting most of her curvature. Kyra believes the surgery was a blessing in disguise and reignited her desire to train and compete. It was only 2 years later that she became Youth National champion and went on to win 4 more youth national titles.
The Olympics were always a dream of Kyra’s, who grew up watching every Olympics with her mom. In 2016 when climbing was officially included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, suddenly her dream turned into a potential reality. Kyra switched her training and focused on qualifying for the 2020 Games. In 2019, Kyra came in 7th place at the IFSC Combined Qualifier in Toulouse, France, officially earning her invitation to the Tokyo Olympics. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Kyra eventually plans to go to vet school after she retires from professional climbing. She’s currently a member of the USA Climbing Board of Directors, the USA Climbing Athlete Advisory Committee, the IFSC Athlete commission, the IFSC Pan-American Athlete Commission, the USA Climbing DEI Task Force, and the Team USA Community Ambassadors.
She’s passionate about using her social media platform and position as an Olympic athlete to advocate for athletes and the inclusivity of sport. As public figures and role models she believes that athletes share a unique position that makes their voices incredibly important in the fight for social justice and the progression of sport as a whole.
Voting Athlete Director Current term ends: December 31, 2026
Sophia Curcio started climbing when she was just 10-years-old and has competed in the Speed discipline at 15 IFSC World Cups. In 2024, she won Gold at USA Climbing’s National Team Trials and Silver at the North American Cup Series Salt Lake City. Curcio is currently pursuing a major in Economics and a minor in Chinese at the University of Utah.
Curcio serves as USA Climbing’s Team USA Athletes’ Commission Representative, as well as a member of USA Climbing’s Athletes’ Commission and the USA Climbing Board of Directors.
When Jesse was six, his sister started taking recreational climbing lessons at their local gym. He was dragged along with her and couldn’t contain his excitement sitting on a couch. He started climbing on a weekly basis, but his coaches still had trouble containing Jesse’s boundless energy. He eventually moved up to the Senior team (at age nine) and started competing in climbing events fairly regularly on the local, national and international stage.
Jesse says USA Climbing is how he’s met and maintained many of his closest friends. It’s helped build his character as a dedicated, passionate, and community-oriented person. He is so excited to be an athlete on The Board of Directors and help give back to a community that has really helped shape who he is today.
Bret Johnston has a long history alongside USA Climbing, having been a youth competitor, a Level 5 National Chief Routesetter, an IFSC Level 2 Routesetter, and finally a member and chair of the Routesetting Committee. He also serves as the Vice President of Vertical World, which operates two commercial climbing gym facilities in Washington, giving him a unique understanding of the organization’s key partnerships with such gym operators.
Deana Labriola is an experienced corporate and transactional attorney who routinely advises on mergers, acquisitions, and debt and equity financing deals. Through this work, she serves as outside general counsel and a trusted advisor to businesses and their owners and/or executives, helping them navigate the wide range of matters where legal and operational considerations intersect, to include board alignment, employee incentives, partnerships and service offerings, and business succession.
Alongside her professional acumen and with a daughter deeply engrained in the competitive climbing community, Labriola also carries the knowledge of a parent within the sport of climbing. Being able to merge the practicality of her profession with the needs of athletes and their supporters undoubtedly makes her an exceptional addition to the USA Climbing Board of Directors.
Connie Lightner is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship at Fayetteville State University (FSU). She has received numerous teaching awards (university and statewide) and published her research in many reputable journals during her time at FSU. She earned her B.S. from Norfolk State University in Applied Mathematics (1994), and her MSc (1997) and Ph.D. (2000) from North Carolina State University in Operations Research-Industrial Engineering.
As the mother of an elite climber, Kai Lightner, Connie Lightner played an instrumental role in guiding her son’s success domestically and internationally; she possesses a unique understanding of the opportunities and challenges presented to climbing families. Prior to joining the Board, Lightner served on the USA Climbing Strategic Planning Working Group, which developed the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan, and is a member of the USA Climbing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force.
While new to climbing, McAndrews has a longstanding passion for sports. He competed as a varsity track and field athlete in college, enjoys playing tennis in his free time, and he and his wife are minority owners of the Seattle Sounders FC.
McAndrews’ distinguished career includes serving as Chairman and CEO of Pandora Media and as a Managing Director with Madrona Venture Group. He was CEO of aQuantive, a leading digital marketing services and technology company acquired by Microsoft, where he became Senior Vice President of the Advertising business. Prior to aQuantive, McAndrews worked with Disney/ABC, holding executive positions at ABC Sports, ABC Entertainment, and ABC Television Network.
McAndrews currently serves on the boards of Xero and The Wine Group, as Lead Director of FrontDoor and The New York Times, and as a Senior Advisor to Spectrum Equity. He has also demonstrated a deep commitment to service in the community, serving for ten years on the board of United Way of King County, including as chairman, and currently volunteering as a CASA.
McAndrews holds an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Joey Molko brings a wealth of experience in media, sports, and technology. He began his career as an attorney, eventually moving to business executive roles at Viacom, Amazon, Spotify, and Google – where he currently serves as Director and Head of Search Partnerships. He also brings experience in the non-profit sector, having served on the Board of Directors of the T. Howard Foundation and various alumni leadership roles at his alma mater, The Johns Hopkins University. Within the climbing community, Molko is a parent to two competitive climbers and has served as a Regional Coordinator for the USA Climbing Youth Series.
Marc Norman became CEO of USA Climbing in August 2018 and since that time has guided the organization through many significant milestones including: growing revenue by nearly 100 precent; creation of a five-year strategic plan; development and implementation of USA Climbing’s first high-performance plan and subsequent high performance department; the establishment of DEI and Medical Committees; and the creation of the USA Climbing Foundation. He also worked closely with the international and other national federations to significantly improve international relations and advance USA Climbing’s influence in the future of the sport. Prior to USA Climbing, Norman worked at the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, serving as the vice president of sport of venues for 11 years. There he worked closely with many winter NGBs in support of their needs at the UOLF’s venues while also serving as the liaison to the USOPC as an Olympic Training Site.
Ex Officio Non-Voting Director
Jason Pill is a longtime climber and a partner with the law firm of Phelps Dunbar, LLP. He practices in the area of employment law and helps employers deal with a spectrum of workplace issues, including employment counseling, policy development, and risk assessment, and he also represents employer clients in state and federal court when litigation becomes unavoidable. Pill is a frequent speaker and author on numerous employment law issues. He earned his B.A. from the University of Florida (Economics) and his J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Before embarking on a legal career, Pill managed a climbing gym in Central Florida. He and his wife live in Tampa, Florida, along with their very rambunctious golden retriever.
Introduced to climbing at the age of 9, Nekaia Sanders has since represented the U.S. at three IFSC Youth World Championships; two IFSC World Cups; and, most recently, at the IFSC Pan American Championships Santiago 2024, where she placed 4th in the Women’s Boulder discipline, her best international performance to date. Sanders received an Associate of the Arts from Portland Community College and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Psychology at Oregon State University.
Sanders is a level 2 USA Climbing Coach and served as a member of the USA Climbing Judicial Committee from 2022-2024. She now serves as USA Climbing’s Team USA Athletes’ Commission Alternate, as a member of USA Climbing’s Athletes’ Commission and on the USA Climbing Board of Directors.
Ex Officio Non-Voting Athlete Director Current term ends: December 31, 2028
As a USA Climbing Board Member, Struthers continues more than 10 years of service with USA Climbing in a number of volunteer capacities, most recently as one of two National Coordinators acting as liaisons between USA Climbing staff and the 18 sets of volunteer Regional Coordinators across the country. He is the father of two athletes who competed in youth and adult climbing events at the national and international levels. Struthers has also spent 25 years of his professional career serving as a strategic consultant to leaders of public and non-profit organizations, advising on ways to select, communicate and measure their intended goals through consultation with stakeholders.
Our site uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies.