Dennis Lewin Assumes Chairmanship of Little League International Board of Directors

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Dennis Lewin a former executive with ABC Sports and the National Football League, has assumed the chairmanship of the Little League International Board of Directors. Mr. Lewin, who will serve as chairman until 2010, succeeds Timothy Hughes of Williamsport, Pa.

A member of the Little League International Board of Directors for 11 years, Mr. Lewin of Wellington, Fla., served as chairman-elect since 2004. He succeeds Timothy Hughes from Williamsport, Pa., who will remain on the board.

Mr. Lewin’s professional career spanned 30 years with ABC Sports (15 years as coordinating producer of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”) before he joined the NFL in March 1997. He retired from the NFL in September 2003, but stayed on as a scheduling consultant for the league until September 2006. Highlighting his numerous production credits while with ABC, Mr. Lewin produced coverage of the Winter and Summer Olympic Games; Major League Baseball, including three World Series; and the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport. During his tenure as senior vice president of production, ABC Sports was awarded 64 Emmy Awards for excellence in television broadcasting. Mr. Lewin personally garnered 13 Emmys.

“I have a genuine respect for the role and responsibility of chairman and it is an honor to lead the Little League International Board of Directors,” Mr. Lewin, a graduate of Forest Hills (N.Y.) Little League, said. “I have been a part of the Little League program for many years, and I am proud to be associated with an organization that plays such a relevant role in the lives of so many children. I see my time as chairman as an opportunity to continue to nurture, and help expand the program.”

Elected in 1986, Mr. Lewin also is the first Little League graduate to serve as a trustee to the Little League Foundation. The Little League Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt agency that was established to insure Little League’s future, protect its ideals and extend its benefits.

Among Mr. Lewin’s first duties as chairman was to introduce the nine volunteer district administrators who were elected to terms on the Little League International Board of Directors.

The newly-elected field directors are: Kenji Kimura of Tokyo, Japan (Asia-Pacific Region, four-year term); Douglas MacKenzie of Sydney, Nova Scotia (Canada Region, five-year term); Giuseppe Guilizzoni of Novara, Italy (Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, five-year term); Ana F. Piñeros de Pelaez of Barranquilla, Colombia (Latin America Region, three-year term); John P. Roll of Greenville, Ky. (Central Region, three-year term); David E. Ruotolo of West Haven, Conn. (East Region, four-year term); Paul H. Flanagan of Sophia, W. Va. (South Region, five-year term); Ferris Maness of Fresno, Texas (Southwest Region, three-year term); and Robert Fleming of Las Vegas, Nevada (West Region, four-year term).

Mrs. Piñeros de Pelaez, representing the Latin American Region, is the third female to hold a seat on the board directors, joining current members Dr. Davie Jane Gilmour and Sally John. A district administrator (DA) for 20 years, Mrs. Piñeros de Pelaez is the first female DA to be nominated and elected to the board.

The nine new members were nominated in April by their fellow district administrators at the 24th Little League International Congress in Houston, Texas. Also elected to at-large seats on the Little League International Board of Directors were Hugh E. Tanner and Dr. Darrell Burnett.

Mr. Tanner, a partner with the International Law Firm of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P, in Houston, Texas, has been a coach, manager, board member and president in his 12 years of volunteer service to West University Little League. He also was instrumental in establishing West University Little League’s Challenger Division. Mr. Tanner was co-chairman for the 24th Congress.

Dr. Burnett, a sports psychologist from Laguna Niguel, Calif., coordinates the Challenger Division in California Districts 55 and 68, and has served on the board of directors for Rancho Niguel Little League since 1987. Joining the Little League Challenger program in 1991, Dr. Burnett was appointed the District 55 Assistant District Administrator for the Challenger Division in 1992.

“Each of these new directors brings a wealth of experience and volunteer leadership to Little League’s board of directors,” Mr. Lewin said. “Their diversity and background will be an asset as the Little League program moves forward and embraces news challenges in the coming years.”

Little League Baseball, founded in 1939, is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with nearly 2.7 million participants and one million volunteers in all 50 U.S. states and more than 70 other countries. The Little League International Board of Directors, a volunteer board, is responsible for the management of the property and affairs of Little League.

The 2007 Little League International Board of Directors meeting in Williamsport, Pa., concluded on Friday, Nov. 9, with the election of 11 Little League volunteers to seats on the board. Nine field directors were nominated by the delegates at the 24th Little League International Congress convened in April of this year in Houston, Texas, and members of the outgoing board voted two new members to seats. Pictured from left in the front row, next to Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball and Softball, are newly-elected field directors Kenji Kimura of Tokyo, Japan (Asia-Pacific Region, four-year term); Ana F. Piñeros de Pelaez of Barranquilla, Colombia (Latin America Region, three-year term); Paul H. Flanagan of Sophia, W. Va. (South Region, five-year term); Giuseppe Guilizzoni of Novara, Italy (Europe, Middle East and Africa Region, five-year term); David E. Ruotolo of West Haven, Conn. (East Region, four-year term); Robert Fleming of Las Vegas, Nev.(West Region, four-year term); Douglas MacKenzie of Sydney, Nova Scotia (Canada Region, five-year term); and Dennis Lewin of Wellington, Fla., chairman of the board of directors. In the back row, from left, are: Dr. Darrell Burnett of Laguna Niguel, Calif. (at-large seat); John P. Roll of Greenville, Ky. (Central Region, three-year term); Ferris Maness of Fresno, Texas (Southwest Region, three-year term); and Hugh E. Tanner of Houston, Texas (at-large seat).