USA Cricket appoints Johnathan Atkeison as CEO to fulfil critical requirement

USA Cricket (USAC) on Saturday appointed Johnathan Atkeison as its new CEO. The move comes after the ICC put them "on notice" earlier this week for not having a fit-for-purpose governance and administrative system and structure.

With this appointment, USAC fulfilled one of the two critical requirements to avoid disqualification as an ICC Associate member. The other requirement was to have governance norms set by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) necessary for it to earn the National Governing Body (NGB) status, which is mandatory for all sports that were last year added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

"I'm honored 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," Atkeison said in a media release.

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

Atkeison most recently served as the Chief Operating Office of USA Rugby and has over 15 years of national governing body experience. He is credited for leading USA Rugby through a financial restructuring in 2020. His tenure will start from August 1.

Ahead of its AGM, the ICC circulated a note titled "Associate Member Membership Update" to all its members, wherein it noticed that USOPC had "expressed serious concerns" over the governance of USAC. It was the second time in the year that the ICC put USAC on notice and gave them 12 months to make rectifications.

"The board agreed that a normalisation committee comprising of board and management representatives will be set up to oversee and monitor USA Cricket's compliance roadmap and the ICC board will reserve its right to suspend or expel the member for continued non-compliance," the ICC had said in a statement after the AGM earlier this week.