Laura Porth, USQ’s Director of Events & Partnerships since February 2020, has decided to pursue other opportunities in the sports industry and will be transitioning to a part time role as Director of Events effective October 8. Porth has been instrumental in ensuring a smooth return to events following the pandemic related shutdown from March 2020-September 2021. Her expertise running large sporting events shined at USQ Cup 2022 last season, which saw 69 USQ teams compete on the national stage across multiple divisions for the first time in three years.
As Director of Events, Porth will focus on pre-planning for USQ Cup 2023 as well as IQA World Cup 2023, and she will serve as the on-site tournament director for World Cup next summer.
Megan Anderson has been involved with the quadball community since 2012. She began as a volunteer for USQ, serving as the executive assistant to commissioner and later CEO Alex Benepe. She also volunteered in the events department and office of the executive director. She has attended every USQ Cup since 2013.
In December 2018, she joined USQ as a part time employee, serving first as the Membership Expansion Manager and then later as the Strategic Planning Manager. As the Director of Membership & Programs, Anderson will be responsible for the planning and execution of USQ’s membership program. She will also run USQ’s year round volunteer program and lead sponsorship solicitation for the league. Anderson’s work in strategic planning has been crucial in guiding the league’s support of team retention and recruitment efforts in recent years. Her transition to full time began on October 1.
“Both Laura and Megan bring so much passion, hard work, and expertise to their roles. Whoever gets to work with Laura next will be incredibly fortunate to have such a great events professional on their staff.” said USQ Executive Director Mary Kimball.
As part of these transitions, we have updated our organizational chart. Here is a summary of the changes:
Communications
The Executive Director now serves as the director of this department, and is the sole employee supervisor
The internal communications team has been dissolved
Events
The internal events division has been renamed to championship events
The external events division has been renamed to community events
Partnerships and special events are now separate teams under the joint supervision of the Director of Events and the Executive Director.
Event sponsorships have moved from partnerships to the advancement team in the office of the ED. Event bidding partnerships are still under the partnerships team, and partnerships has been renamed to event bidding.
Special programs is now called special events
Gameplay
The snitch runner team has been renamed to flag runner team
Member Services
The athlete development and leadership development teams have joined together and are now called the member development team
Office of the ED
The US national team is now its own division and is supervised by the Executive Director
The diversity, equity, and inclusion committee has been moved to the member services department
Youth and conferences teams have been moved to the member services department
The volunteer engagement team has been dissolved
The advancement team will now include sponsorship outreach, in addition to donations and grants
For questions, please contact USQ Executive Director Mary Kimball at mary.kimball@usquadball.org.