Francis "Skip" Gilbert is an American sports executive and retired U.S.

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player. He was a two-time NCAA Division I First-Team All-American

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and played in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. His business career includes roles in executive management, sales and sales management, marketing and event operations. He held these roles with companies such as

United States Youth Soccer Association The United States Youth Soccer Association (US Youth Soccer, abbreviated USYS) is the largest youth affiliate and member of the United States Soccer Federation, the governing body for soccer in the United States. US Youth Soccer includes 54 S ...

, the

US Anti-Doping Agency The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

, the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tenn ...

USA Triathlon USA Triathlon (USAT) is the national governing body for the multisport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon in the United States. USA Triathlon is a member federation of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and ...

USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overa ...

US Soccer The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer at ...

, the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

and the

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

Soccer

Gilbert attended the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

where he played on the men's soccer team. He was twice selected as a first team NCAA Division 1 All American goalkeeper. He graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in economics and political science and was inducted in the Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. He played for the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

in the

, and played for the US Olympic Development Team in the

Korea Cup The Korea Cup (, Korea Cup International Football Tournament) was an international Association football, football tournament held annually in South Korea from 1971 to 1999. History The Korea Cup was created with the name ''President of Sout ...

tournament in South Korea.

Sports executive

After retiring from playing soccer, Gilbert has worked in the publishing and sports marketing career fields. Most recently, Gilbert was the CEO of the

. His prior sports management career includes senior management positions at the

(Managing Director - Operations, Marketing & Development), the

(US Open Tournament Manager & Managing Director, Professional Tennis Operations),

(CEO), the

(VP- Corporate Partnerships & Publishing),

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

(VP-Sales) and

(CMO). He began his business career in sports publishing spending almost ten years in sales at

, part of that as the National Sales Manager. Gilbert has served on numerous Olympic Boards, including being elected as Chairman of the National Governing Bodies Council, the direct liason between the NGBs and the USOPC. He served on the USOPC Governance Reform Committee and a development committee leading to the formation of

SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization set up to reduce sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States. Established in 2017 under the Safe Sport Authorization Act, Prot ...

. Gilbert was a co-founder and long-time Chairman of the Association of Chief Executives of Sport (ACES), serving over 60 Olympic and non-Olympic sport National Governning Bodies (NGBs).

References

External links

USA Triathlon bio
*
Interview from US Tennis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Skip 1960 births Living people All-American college men's soccer players American men's soccer players Men's association football goalkeepers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players American sports businesspeople Vermont Catamounts men's soccer players American soccer executives 20th-century American sportsmen