Historia de mujeres líderes de NYRR

Updated February 2024.

NYRR has a history of women in leadership roles stretching back to our early days. Throughout our history, all of our leaders have worked and advocated for equal opportunities and recognition for women runners. 

Nina Kuscsik and Kathrine Switzer

Trailblazing pioneers Nina Kuscsik and Kathrine Switzer became involved with NYRR in the late 1960s and appear on our membership roster starting in 1970, when both had become well known in distance running.

Kuscsik (pictured above) ran the 1969 Boston Marathon—unofficially, as women were not accepted as official finishers at Boston until 1972—and was the sole woman participant in the 1970 New York City Marathon. Switzer (pictured below) famously finished the Boston Marathon in 1967 wearing a bib number, defying race officials who tried to remove her from the course. Both would go on to win the New York City Marathon—Kuscsik in 1972 and ’73 and Switzer in 1974.

The two also worked passionately for equal opportunities for women runners. Kuscsik successfully lobbied the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) to permit women to race long distances, including the marathon. Switzer created and led an international series of women’s marathons, an effort that helped lead to the marathon becoming an Olympic event for women in 1984.

Together with NYRR president Fred Lebow, the duo founded the world’s first all-women road race, the Crazylegs Mini Marathon (now the Mastercard New York Mini 10K), in 1972.

Kuscsik held the finish line tape at the 2021 TCS New York City Marathon, the event’s 50th running. Switzer ran the 2017 Boston Marathon and TCS New York City Marathon and is the founder of 261 Fearless, a global nonprofit women’s running organization dedicated to encouraging and uniting women through running.

Alice Schneider

Alice Schneider (above, center) was one of the first full-time employees of NYRR and a pioneer in computerized road race registration, timing, and scoring. Starting as a volunteer in the mid-1970s, she taught herself computer programming and developed the software and systems that allowed NYRR to register, time, and score thousands of runners in the New York City Marathon and other events. The systems she built for NYRR were in use for almost 35 years.

Schneider, who died in 2016, was married to Allan Steinfeld, the president and CEO of NYRR and the race director of the New York City Marathon. Both were leaders in the field and made modern mass-participation road racing possible.

Mary Wittenberg

Mary Wittenberg was the president and CEO of NYRR and the race director of the New York City Marathon from 2005 to 2015. She was the first woman to direct an Abbott World Marathon Majors race.

After joining NYRR in 1998, she became the chief operating officer in 2000. In 2005, she became the first woman to lead NYRR as president and CEO, and she led NYRR to become the world’s premier community running organization. Wittenberg helped launch the World Marathon Majors in 2006. Among many awards and honors, she received the 2016 Abebe Bikila Award and was inducted into the NYRR Hall of Fame in 2017. 

She ran the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon for NYRR Team for Kids and continues to participate in NYRR races. 

Kerin Hempel 

Kerin Hempel was the CEO of NYRR from 2020 to 2022 and previously served as the vice president of strategy and planning from 2010 to 2014 and interim head of finance in 2019-2020. An avid runner, she has been a member of NYRR since the 1990s, ran her first New York City Marathon in 1999, and has participated in many other NYRR races. 

Erica Edwards-O'Neal

Erica Edwards-O’Neal joined NYRR in 2020 as the organization's first-ever senior vice president of culture, diversity, equity, & social responsibility. She spearheads culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy across the organization, leading the policies and practices to embed equity and belonging principles in the organizational DNA. 

Eight of the 14 members of NYRR's senior leadership team are women.

Nnenna Lynch

Nnenna Lynch is the Chair of NYRR’s Board of Directors. She has served on the board since 2014 and for many years was Chair of the Community Impact Committee. She is the first woman and the first African American Chair of NYRR’s Board of Directors.

A born-and-raised New Yorker, Nnenna ran her first race in 1981 at age 10. She went on to run in college and then professionally, and for the last couple of decades has been a recreational runner.

Eleven of the 25 members of NYRR’s Board of Directors are women.