DC SCORES Board of Directors announces new Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer

To all of the supporters, families, partners, and extended members of the DC SCORES team:

First, as you just read from Bethany, she will be stepping down as our CEO at the end of August.

On behalf of DC SCORES’ Board of Directors, I extend the deepest gratitude to Bethany. She has been the right leader for DC SCORES at the right time. Bethany has poured her time, talent, and treasure into advancing DC SCORES’ mission over the past nearly 7 years. She has more deeply embedded our programs in the communities that we serve, while materially increasing the quality and level of programming and the number of poet-athletes served each year. She has materially grown DC SCORES’ budget and built a tremendous and diverse team. She has set DC SCORES on a path to grow significantly while centering racial equity and balancing financial sustainability and organizational resiliency. Personally, Bethany has been a one-of-a-kind partner to me in guiding our team and ensuring that DC SCORES continues to operate with the highest quality, integrity, and focus on equity that our poet-athletes and coaches deserve. The entire Board is grateful to Bethany for her service to our community and wishes her well in her future endeavors.

As we look ahead to the next chapter for DC SCORES, I am excited to announce that — after thoughtful and extensive deliberation — the Board has selected Katrina Owens as the next Executive Director of DC SCORES. Katrina’s passion for DC SCORES, commitment to advancing racial equity, and strong relationships with staff, Board, coaches, poet-athletes, and the community make her the absolute best person to lead DC SCORES as we grow to sustainably provide brave spaces and supportive teams for 5,000 kids/year by 2025. She will build upon our community partnerships, notably with D.C. United, Washington Spirit, Busboys and Poets, Bethesda Soccer Club, and the US Soccer Foundation, to further collaboration with like-minded partners in pushing forward the desire to serve our communities.

The depth of Katrina’s commitment to and knowledge of DC SCORES cannot be understated. She first learned about DC SCORES in 2002 as a DCPS teacher and joined DC SCORES as a coach at her school a year later. Four years after her introduction to SCORES, she came on staff to launch our middle school program, and then served as Senior Director of Programs from 2011 to 2015. For the last 5½ years, Katrina has been Chief of Staff. In that role, she has been instrumental in deepening and broadening DC SCORES’ partnerships with all levels of local government, led HR and internal operations, and managed organizational finances. A key voice in setting our strategic goal to reach 5,000 kids in 5 years, Katrina is perfectly-positioned to help DC SCORES execute on that vision. In many ways, Katrina has been preparing to lead DC SCORES since the first day she stepped onto the “SCORES field”. I personally have spent countless hours with Katrina, and am confident she is the right person to lead DC SCORES through its next phase.

I am also delighted to announce that Chief Program Officer Sean Hinkle will be moving into the role of Chief Operating Officer. Sean brings over a decade of experience with DC SCORES’ programs and operations to this role, and his attention to detail, passion for creating strong systems, and in-depth understanding of grant management makes him a fantastic fit for this position.

Finally, I am pleased to share that DC SCORES will be hiring a new Chief Program Officer to guide programmatic growth. The job description for that position is HERE. I hope you will share it far and wide to help DC SCORES find our next great team member.

I will share plans at a later date for honoring and bidding farewell to Bethany. In the meantime, please join me in congratulating Katrina and Sean.

In gratitude for your support of DC SCORES,

Bruce Schulman
Board Chair, DC SCORES