Donna de Varona, a double Olympic gold medalist in swimming is currently a Member of the IOC Women and Sport Commission. She is a recipient of the IOC Silver Olympic Order and serves on the U. S. Department of State’s Council on "Empowering Women through Sports."
An Emmy award winning pioneer journalist in sports she has covered some 18 Olympic Games. She has been awarded 5 honorary doctorates for her ground breaking and continuing work in education and Olympic sports related federal legislation.( Title 1X of the 1972 Equal Education Amendments Act and the 1978 Olympic and Amateur Sport Act ) Her contributions have earned her an induction into the prestigious Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She is also the recipient of the NCAA’s highest honor the Theodore Roosevelt Award as well as the USOC’s Olympia award. She has been awarded 5 honorary doctorates.
A member of the Olympic Hall of fame, in the late 1970’s Ms de Varona helped establish the Women’s Sports Foundation serving as its first and founding President and Chairman. She is a former member of the board of directors of the USOC and the US Olympic Foundation. She was Chairman of the ground-breaking 1999 FIFA Women’s world Cup. Currently she is Chairman of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, a Member of the executive board of Special Olympics International and special advisor to Jordan’s Prince Feisal Generations for Peace Foundation. As President of her own marketing and sports events company she is the lead advisor to EY’s Women Athletes Business Network.
