Nasdaq's Greifeld aims to elevate game with USATF Foundation

17 Aug 2012, 7:51 am   -   Source: Reuters
Nasdaq chief executive officer, Robert Greifeld, speaks to an audience at the Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. global exchange and brokerage conference in New York June 7, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Nasdaq chief executive officer, Robert Greifeld, speaks to an audience at the Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. global exchange and brokerage conference in New York June 7, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For Nasdaq OMX Group Chief Executive Robert Greifeld, attending his first Summer Olympics this year in London was as much a wakeup call as it was a realization of a childhood dream.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For Nasdaq OMX Group Chief Executive Robert Greifeld, attending his first Summer Olympics this year in London was as much a wakeup call as it was a realization of a childhood dream.

"Sitting there as a lifelong track fan and to be in a stadium where there are 80,000 screaming people for the sport that you love, you say, 'well why can't this happen more often?'" Greifeld said in an interview. "There are efforts that have to be brought to bear to make the sport more prominent."

Greifeld chairs the USA Track and Field Foundation, which focuses on funding youth and up-and-coming elite athletes, hoping some might reach the level of Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man, or Allyson Felix, a triple gold medallist in track in London, who draw crowds to the sport.

Since 2005, the foundation has given grants to 260 post-collegiate athletes - who are generally near the top of their sport, but not quite at the level where shoe companies come knocking with lucrative endorsement contracts - that have met minimum performance and financial needs standards.

Out of the nearly 50 athletes the foundation currently sponsors, 19 made the U.S. Olympic team this year, including Keshia Baker, who ran in the qualifying round of the women's 4x400 metres relay, helping the team into the final and earning her a gold medal.

The average grant is between $3,000 and $6,000, though a bonus pool of $100,000 was split among the Olympic qualifiers ahead of London.

"Nobody is getting rich off of this," said Greifeld, a founding member of the foundation, along with former USATF CEO Craig Masback and fundraiser Tom Jackovic.

"Hopefully our funding allows them to keep with the sport, progress, and then take up different levels of support and grow out of needing the foundation."

The majority of the foundation's revenue, projected at around $1.2 million this year, comes from the pockets of its 25 directors, supplemented by individual gifts and special projects. But the foundation is also looking for additional revenue sources.

Greifeld who earned $7.6 million in total compensation last year as CEO of transatlantic exchange operator Nasdaq, was once an aspiring track athlete himself, starting as a sprinter before moving to middle distance running.

His athletics career was cut short by his own funding gap.

"When I was in high school I had to quit track to get a job in order to have some guarantee that I would be able to go to college," said Greifeld, 55, who grew up in Queens, New York. He later completed four marathons.

Another key mandate of the foundation is getting young people involved in track and field through youth programs.

"Most of our focus is on inner-city, and under-served and under-privileged areas, and to the extent these kids get involved in track and learn to work hard today for the benefit tomorrow, I think it's a great life lesson," said Greifeld, who did not discuss Nasdaq-related issues during the interview.

U.S. track athletes took home 29 medals from London, and included a world record-breaking performance by the 4x100 metres women's relay team.

While the U.S. men's 4x100 team was unable to catch Bolt and the Jamaican team, Greifeld, after attending his first Summer Games in London, said he thinks U.S. sprinters have it in them to take back the Olympic title they last won in Sydney in 2000.

"But clearly we have to elevate our game."

(Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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