First Elected: 2024

Current Term: 2024-2028

Kimberly Kohut has been involved in the sport of artistic swimming for more than 30 years beginning in introductory classes and as a member of the Fairview High School Synchronettes in Fairview Park, Ohio. As a Miami University student, Kim competed with the Miami Marlins. After graduating with a B.S. in Elementary Education, she began her coaching and judging career with the Cincinnati Synchrogators. In 2002, she returned to the Cleveland, Ohio, area and continued coaching and judging with the Brecksville Blue Dolphins. Kim pursued her post-graduate studies at Kent State University and earned her M. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction in 2008 and an Educational Specialist degree in K-12 Administration in 2011.

Due to the demands of her career, she focused on judging and became a national figure judge in 2008, a national judge in 2011 and a FINA/UANA judge in 2015. Kim has served in many leadership roles at the association, zone, and national level. She is the current Administrative Chair, Technical Chair, and Officials Chair for Lake Erie Association and the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) chair for the East Zone.

Previously, Kim served as the East Zone Officials Chair and was the recipient of the East Zone Contributor of the Year Award. During the 2013-15 international seasons, she served the 13-15 national team as team manager. As a K-12 educator, Kim is entering her 20th year as a teacher and an administrator, and is currently an assistant principal in a middle school. Kim enjoys traveling and the lifelong friendships she has made as a life member of USA Artistic Swimming. She resides in Middleburg Heights, Ohio.

Former USAAS President, Denise Shively, is a national judge and a past vice president of competitive operations for USA Artistic Swimming. Her involvement in artistic swimming began as a master’s athlete with the former Columbus Synch-or-Swim team. Throughout the years, her daughters participated in the sport and Denise coached for the Columbus Coralinas. A recipient of the Lillian MacKellar Distinguished Service Award and named to the Synchronized Swimming Hall of Fame, Contributor Category, she held several different positions in the Ohio Association and North Zone.

In 2003 she was invited to join the national team staff as team manager and continued that role with the junior and senior national teams for more than 15 years. She attended many international competitions including World Championships, World Cups, Pan American Games and the 2008 Olympic Games. She said she was honored to return to the role of national team manager in 2019 in support of the current team working towards Olympic qualification.

Denise is a faculty member and past chair of the Department of Communication, Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio, where she teaches primarily public relations classes. Prior to teaching, she worked in public relations for several nonprofit organizations including the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce where she was executive director. She and her husband, Jim, live in Westerville and have three married daughters and three grandsons.

First Elected: 2023

Current Term: 2023 - 2025
Rebecca started her involvement with artistic swimming when her two young daughters decided to join the Orlando Loreleis artistic swimming club. The rest is history, and she has now been involved with the sport for over ten years. Rebecca has served many roles during her time including judging at local meets, coaching all levels of the sport and serving as the scoring chair for the south zone. Outside of artistic swimming, Rebecca owns a bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a masters degree in Biology from the University of Central Florida.  When Rebecca is not poolside, she leads a team of professionals caring for large African mammals. Rebecca currently resides in central Florida and continues to coach for the Orlando Loreleis.  She hopes to bring her passion for leadership development into her new role on the USA Artistic Swimming Board of Directors.

First Elected: 2024

Current Term: 2024-2028

Cheryl Russell has been involved in Artistic Swimming for over 50 years and is a Life Member of USAAS. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Southern California and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Reading Practices. She was an Elementary School Educator for over thirty-five years, thirty-four of which were for the Riverside Unified School District. Cheryl was a Team Leader for over twenty years, received the Teacher of the Year award in 2014, and retired in May 2023.

Cheryl started as an athlete in the Age Group program in Buffalo, New York. After moving to California, she joined the Anaheim Aqualinas and later was a Junior National finalist with the Huntington Beach Aquabelles.

As a World Aquatics A Judge, Cheryl judged at the 2024 Olympics, two World Masters Championships, both Senior and Junior World Championships, the 2021 Olympic Qualifier, the Pan American Champions, the World University Games and numerous other International Competitions.

Cheryl coached for over twenty-five years before stepping away to focus on teaching and judging. As a coach, she was the recipient of the 2003 West Zone Coach of the Year Award and was inducted into the Riverside Sports Hall of Fame. She is a former Head Coach of the Long Beach Synchronettes and was an Assistant Coach for the Huntington Beach Aquabelles, Long Beach Synchronettes, and Riverside Aquettes. She has worked with athletes of all levels from Novice to National Team members, and as an Assistant Coach for the Riverside Aquettes, she coached many Age Group National Champions. After retiring from her education career, Cheryl returned to coaching with the Meraquas of Irvine.

She has served as the Southern California Association Officials and Technical Chair, the West Zone Secretary, and at the National level as Membership Chair.

Cheryl is an avid USC football fan and lives in Riverside, California with her husband Gregg and dog Murphy.

First Elected: 2021

Current Term: 2023 - 2025

Sayler hails from Kirkland, Wash. where she coaches for Seattle Synchro. She studied at the University of Washington – Seattle and received her B.A. in Sociology. She continued her education after her undergraduate degree and attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. to earn a Masters in Sports Industry Management.

Jocilyn swam for ten years before transitioning to coaching. With 11 years of coaching under her belt in addition to ten years of judging, she is well prepared to represent the perspectives of many within our community and continue to move the sport forward. She’s coached her swimmers to notable accomplishments including2015 13-15 AG High Point Award, 2017 18-19 duet championship, 2018 18-19 solo champion and second place 13-15 figures. Sayler has also helped eight athletes earn places in the U.S. national team program and three international athletes to their own country’s junior and senior national teams.

Jocilyn herself has worked with our national team program as an assistant coach and High Performance Manager from 2017 to 2018, helping U.S. national teams to several awards including 2018 UANA High Point Award in 12&U and a sweep of all events. She has helped to establish clubs in the United Kingdom, served on the USAAS Board of Governors, represented her association and zone as Pacific Northwest Officials’ Chair and West Zone Coaches’ Representative and helped to consult with other clubs.

Outside of her involvement in artistic swimming, Jocilyn works as a project manager in Seattle where she lives with her fiancé Zac, daughter Sayler and Golden Retriever Harry. In her role, she works with startup nonprofit organizations in a multitude of tasks in the areas of social media, website management and community partnerships. Jocilyn enjoys traveling all over the world, hiking, adding to her sneaker collection and cooking for her friends, family and athletes.

First Elected: 2023

Current Term: 2023 - 2025

Anna Montgomery started her involvement in artistic swimming as an athlete on the Heronettes in her hometown of Hamden, Conn. After nine years as a competitive athlete, she went on to college to obtain her bachelor’s degree in biology from Franklin & Marshall College. Returning to her home state, Anna began her career in water quality monitoring and analysis, joining her laboratory skills with her passion for environmental causes. Within a few years she had also found herself back in the world of the sport she had loved as a youth, but this time as an assistant coach on the Heronettes and as a judge. As the head coach of the Heronettes transitioned into her retirement, Anna stepped up her responsibilities on the club, eventually taking on the head coach role. She currently also holds the Vice Chair position on the East Zone executive board, is the 2019 recipient of the East Zone Coach of the Year award. Additionally, Anna has volunteered on the USAAS Competition & Innovation Committee. She looks forward to bringing her passion for grassroots artistic swimming to her new position.

First Elected: 2021

Current Term: 2021 - 2023

Claire Barton hails from the Bay Area where she trained in artistic swimming with the Santa Clara Aquamaids. She competed as a member of the national team at the 2015 FINA World Championships where she helped the team to 10th in tech team, 2015 US Open where the tech team was awarded first and the 2015 UANA Pan American Games where the squad placed third. She also competed at the 2014 FINA World Junior Championships where she helped the junior national team to an 8th place finish. Claire’s extensive national team and competitive club experience makes her well-prepared to represent the USAAS athlete voice in organizational decisions.

First Elected: 2022

Current Term: 2024 - 2026

First Elected: 2024

Current Term: 2024-2026

First Elected: 2024

Current Term: 2024-2026

A 2021 graduate of University of Incarnate Word, Natalia was instrumental in her team getting back on the podium at the 2021 U.S. Collegiate Championship where UIW claimed a third-place finish and Natalia was named a Collegiate Athlete of the Year. She has represented USA on the international stage as a national team athlete, including competing alongside Bill May in the mixed duet category at the 2019 FINA World Championships. Recently, Natalia has made the move to Los Angeles to rejoin the national team program and take her place as a senior national team athlete as the squad prepares for the 2022 World Championships.

First Elected: 2024

Current Term: 2024-2028

Jaime joined the Senior National Team and moved to Los Angeles to train full-time in 2021 following the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, she has competed in multiple World Series, World Cup, and World Championship events, including in Japan at the 2023 World Championship event, when the team brought home a silver in Acrobatics and a bronze in Tech team. She was also part of the 2023 Pan American Games Team that missed the Olympic Qualification by coming in second place. In 2024, at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Jaime helped the team qualify for the Paris Olympic Games for the first time since 2008 while also securing bronze in both the Acrobatic and Free team events. Jaime also represented the United States in both the team and duet events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this past summer and won a silver medal with the team!

First Elected: 2018

Current Term: 2022-2026

Morgan Fuller Kolsrud grew up competing for the Santa Clara Aquamaids before going on to swim for Stanford University, where she helped capture multiple event titles and the 2013 National Championship. While at Stanford, Morgan was a 3-time Collegiate All-American and 4-time Collegiate Academic All-American. Morgan was a member of the National Team from 2010-2013, and was a member of the 2012 Olympic Training Squad. Morgan previously coached for the San Francisco Merionettes for seven years. She graduated from Stanford in 2014 with a Bachelor's in Psychology and Minors in Human Biology and Sociology and received her Master's Degree in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco in 2018. Morgan is currently finishing up her law degree at Santa Clara University School of Law. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two daughters, and two cats.

First Elected: 2023

CurrentTerm: 2023 - 2024

acklyn began her artistic swimming journey with the Santa Clara Aquamaids, earning a spot on the U.S. National Team at just 13 years old. Following a successful youth and junior career, she attended Stanford University, where she excelled both in and out of the pool. As team captain in her senior year, Jacklyn led Stanford to a National Championship title in 2021, capping a collegiate career that included multiple event titles, two USAAS Collegiate Athlete of the Year honors, and the prestigious Stanford Athletic Board Award for her dedication to athletics, academics, and advocacy.

After graduating from Stanford with a Master’s in Biomedical Informatics and a Bachelor’s in Psychology, she joined the Senior National Team in 2022, representing Team USA at the highest level of competition. Her career includes becoming a 2x World Championships Bronze Medalist (2023, 2024), 2023 Pan American Games Silver Medalist, and 11x World Cup Medalist (5 Gold, 1 Silver, 5 Bronze). Most notably, Jacklyn helped secure Team USA’s first Olympic artistic swimming medal in two decades at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Beyond the pool, Jacklyn is passionate about driving meaningful change in education and health equity. Her work with nationally recognized nonprofits includes creating virtual programming for veterans in long-term care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and advancing access to higher education for underrepresented communities.

As a member of the USAAS Board of Directors, Jacklyn brings her commitment to excellence and her unwavering dedication to representing the athlete voice in shaping the future of the sport.

First Elected: 2023

Current Term: 2024-2026

Monica Velazquez-Stiak was a four-time national team athlete and a member of the Buckeye synchronized (artistic) swimming team from 2014-18. During that time, she helped the program to three national championships in addition to her four individual titles. At Ohio State she earned an undergraduate and master's degree in sports management and worked for Ohio State Athletics in their camps and clinics department. Prior to returning to OSU as the assistant coach, Velazquez-Stiak worked in the USAAS national office as the Membership and Athlete Safety Manager. Within her role, she also served as an assistant for our junior and senior national teams at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games and the 2022 French Open.

First Elected: 2020

Current Term: 2020 - 2024

Kerhyl Gantt is a Senior Brand Marketing Director at Nike with 12 years of brand leadership orchestrating campaigns across Global, North America and Territory regions, and Nike’s sub-brand, the Jordan Brand. She currently leads North America Marketing for Men’s Sports. Throughout her career she’s had the pleasure of leading Nike Inc’s most successful digital product launch in North America – the Air Jordan XI - developing Superbowl and NBA All-Star plans, launching Nike’s Equality campaign across the retail landscape, helping execute the NFL X Nike licensing deal, and building plans to sign football, golf, baseball and UFC athletes to the brand.

As a child, Kerhyl excelled in swimming and is a proud product of the USA Swimming club team Harris County Aquatics Program. Kerhyl is an alumna of Howard University where she was a Division I collegiate athlete on the swim team. She also holds an MBA from The Wharton School. In her spare time, Kerhyl aims to give back as she hopes to do through her time on the USAAS board. Kerhyl also currently serves on the board for the national non-profit, Bright Pink.

First Elected: 2020

Current Term: 2020 - 2024

Jennell Lynch has over 15+ years’ experience as a dancer and cheerleader. She had held roles as Camp Instructor / Competitive Judge for the Eastern Cheerleaders/Dance Association, Cheerleader and Dance Captain for Norfolk State University, Marketing and Communications Manager for the National Football League Players, Inc., Board Member of the Hampton Roads Youth Foundation and professional cheerleader for a AF2 team, the Norfolk Nighthawks.

As an MBA, a career executive, and mother of four competitive athletes, Jennell is a trained doula and founder of the Executive Doula Agency. Jennell now helps women and businesses navigate the intersection between career, giving birth and personal life.

After 20 years as an executive working in politics and private equity, along with earning a master’s degree in organizational management and marketing, Jennell has learned the granular details that can create a healthier workspace for working women. Throughout her career, she recognized that companies commonly lacked the internal support, knowledge, and resources for working women who are expecting or already mothers.

First Elected: 2020

Current Term: 2020 - 2024

Joanne Pasternack is a dynamic and visionary philanthropic leader who, over the past two decades, has galvanized community impact with internationally recognized brands including the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, City of Mountain View, and Special Olympics. In September 2018, she joined ServiceNow as their Head of Global Impact – a newly created role where she will be developing a global corporate social responsibility portfolio for the cloud computing company based in Santa Clara, California.

First Elected: 2020

Current Term: 2020 - 2024

Stacey Chapman has over 20 years of experience in the sports industry including leadership roles in brand, sports marketing, partnership activation and youth coaching education for brands like NIKE and the Portland Trail Blazers. She began her career at the LA84 Foundation, the legacy of the ‘84 Olympic Summer Games, designing and implementing youth sport coaching education programs. She then joined NIKE, where she spent the next 12 years in leadership roles in Brand Management, Sports Marketing and Community Affairs. Stacey played collegiate soccer at U.C Berkeley and participated in the NCAA Division I Final Four. Her mother is an active USA Synchro Swimming Masters swimmer. Stacey lives in Vancouver, WA where she leads marketing for Burgerville, a PNW restaurant chain that prides itself serving high-quality, locally sourced ingredients.