2024-2025 Election Results

USRowing is pleased to announce the election of Kirsten Feldman as Northeast Regional Representative on the Board, Michael Murphy as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Referee Coordinator, and Blake Ebright-Jones as the Midwest Regional Referee Coordinator.

Kirsten Feldman is the current board chair at USRowing. She is a retired investment banker with extensive experience advising companies and boards. She was elected to the USRowing Board in 2023 as the Northeast Region representative and has previously served as Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, as a member of the High-Performance Council, and is currently a Trustee of the USRowing Foundation. 

She retired as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in New York City, after leading the firm's Global Retail Industry practice for many years. Following her retirement, Kirsten has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund, Asphalt Green, the Montana Land Reliance, and the Steep Rock Association. 

Michael Murphy is a Chief Referee and has refereed at multiple notable regattas, including USRowing’s Youth National Championships and USRowing Masters National Championships. Murphy has been a referee for 18 years, beginning as an assistant referee in 2007, a full referee in 2010, and a clinician in 2014. He began rowing at Monsignor Bonner High School and continued to row at Mercyhurst College. He still rows as a master in Philadelphia at Fairmount Rowing Association and with the Central Pennsylvania Rowing Association on the Susquehanna. He is the Vice Commodore of the Schuylkill Navy. Michael Murphy said he is "fortunate to live in the Mid-Atlantic Region with the best referees in the country" and he added "a serious Thank You to USRowing for giving him the opportunity to do this.”

Blake Ebright-Jones is a Clinician based in the Midwest region. He is originally from Michigan, where he began rowing in high school and continued in college. He started refereeing other sports (like soccer, softball, basketball, and football) in college to pay rowing dues, then added rowing to his repertoire. Blake referees at a wide variety of regattas for many different levels of rowers, from small local head races with athletes new to the sport all the way to large Nationally Recognized Regattas (NRR) and trials events. He is the chief referee at a NRR in the Midwest and makes training a key component of the experience for jury members. Blake spends all year looking forward to regatta season and is excited to have the opportunity to continue doing what he loves.