Anita L DeFrantz

Anita L. DeFrantz, an attorney and member of the International Olympic Committee and 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic teams, is the president and member of the Board of Directors of the LA84 Foundation, which is managing Southern California's endowment from the 1984 Olympic Games. Born in Philadelphia, PA, DeFrantz grew up in Indianapolis, IN and began her formal involvement with sports at the age of 18 when she was introduced to rowing at Connecticut College. After graduating from Connecticut College with honors in 1974, she studied for her law degree at the University of Pennsylvania Law School while training at the prestigious Vesper Boat Club. She was admitted to the Pennsylvania State Bar in 1977. She competed on every national team from 1975 to 1980. During that period, DeFrantz served as a director of the Vesper Boat Club and as a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Olympic Committee and U.S. Rowing Association. She was a trustee of Connecticut College from 1974 to 1988 and from 1990 to 2000. She now serves as trustee emeritus of the College. DeFrantz was elected to the IOC on October 17, 1986. She was elected to the IOC's Executive Board on July 23, 1992 and served in that capacity until 2001. On September 4, 1997, she became the first woman in the 103-year history of the IOC to be elected vice president. DeFrantz was re-elected to the Executive Board on September 10, 2013. DeFrantz is the chair of the IOC’s Women and Sport Commission and the IOC Athletes’ Commission Election Committee. She is a member of the IOC's Juridical Commission, the Finance Commission and the Sport and Law Commission. She served as a vice president of the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron (FISA), the international rowing federation from 1993 to 2013. In April 2002, DeFrantz was appointed as arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In addition to her Olympic bronze medal performance in the 1976 Games, DeFrantz won a silver medal in the 1978 World Championships in rowing, was a finalist in the World Championships four times and won six National Championships. The IOC awarded her the Bronze Medal of the Olympic Order for her leadership role in fighting the U.S. government-led boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. As a vice president for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC), she organized and managed the Olympic Village at the University of Southern California. DeFrantz serves on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Juvenile Law Center, Kids In Sports Los Angeles, Friends of EXPO Center, Santa Monica College Foundation, Los Angeles Sports Council and the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. She is a member of the Sports Business Institute Advisory Board, the Alliance of Women Coaches Advisory Board, the U.S. Rowing Task Force on Access, Affordability and Diversity and the Honorary Chair of America Rows. She serves on the publicly listed boards of OBN Holdings and Western Asset Trust. She is a member of The Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and steward of the Women's Sports Foundation.