Board Member

ANNE CRIBBS

Anne's swimming career started when she was six at the local pool in Menlo Park, California. Anne went on to win gold as a 14 year-old swimmer at the 1959 Pan American Games. A year later, she competed at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games. Holder of the American records in both the one hundred and two hundred meter breast stroke events, she placed fifth in the 200 Meter Breast Stroke at the Rome Olympics and was a member of the gold medal-winning, 400-meter medley relay team. Anne retired from competitive swimming at the age of fifteen. Few high schools and no universities had women’s competitive swimming teams and there were no more mountains to climb.

Since then Anne’s professional career has been dedicated to serving sport and the community. In 1995, Anne co-founded the American Basketball League, the first women’s professional basketball league in the United States. During its existence, the ABL set the standard for what women’s professional sports could and should become, creating a permanent legacy and forever changing the paradigm.

She became President and CEO of the San Francisco Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee (BASOC) in 1999, and led the San Francisco 2012 Olympic bid. Highlights of her work include consolidating political support, including mayors, county Boards of Supervisors, the Governor’s office and State legislature. The bid enjoyed 90% public support, rallied the support of 400 Northern California Olympians and 150 Paralympians, and reached out to community groups throughout the Bay Area. San Francisco lost out to New York in the voting for the 2012 U.S. Candidate City but Anne’s work left a huge legacy, which will be felt in Northern California for years to come.

BASOC, under Anne’s leadership, organized the 2007 World Junior Table Tennis Championships, held at Stanford University in December, 2007 featuring 196 competitors from 36 countries. In 2006, Anne acted as the executive director for the 2006 FINA World Masters Championships – 7800 competitors from 75 countries. Anne just completed a term as the President and CEO of the 2009 Summer National Senior Games, - 18 medal sports, 7 demonstration sports and 10,000 competitors over fifty years old, qualifying from all 50 states - the largest multi sport event in the United States.

Currently, she continues to serve as the President of BASOC and is organizing the 2010 Bay Area Senior Games, a legacy of the 2009 Summer National Senior Games.

With her own public and community relations firm, Anne’s clients include: FINA Masters 2006 World Championships, 2009 National Senior Games, The Monterey Horse Park (a legacy project of the San Francisco 2012 Bid), the Bay Area Senior Games, the 2008 U.S. Olympian Reunion and the Rich May Memorial Golf Classic. She has a considerable portfolio of board positions, including Past President of the Northern California Olympians, past Vice-President of the U.S. Olympic Alumni Association, San Jose Sports Authority Chair (1997-2000) and current vice chair and Advisory Board Member for the Women’s Sports Foundation. She was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2003, and is also a member of the San Mateo County Hall of Fame and the Menlo Atherton High School Hall of Fame.