USA Triathlon has announced that Megan Ritch has been appointed to the World Triathlon Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Commission, while Kristina Mena has been appointed to the World Triathlon Sustainability Commission. With Ritch’s and Mena’s respective appointments to the two World Triathlon Commissions, the United States has 10 members serving in roles across the World Triathlon Executive Board, Committees, Commissions and Tribunal — the most of any nation.
USA Triathlon’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access Senior Manager, Megan Ritch (Colorado Springs, CO) oversees USA Triathlon’s equity, diversity and inclusion efforts as well as women’s engagement in the sport in the United States.
Ritch designed USA Triathlon’s ‘Together, We Thrive’ initiative with the goal of integrating diversity, equity, inclusion and access into all areas of USA Triathlon and keeping it at the forefront of the multisport community.
In October 2021, the initiative was the recipient of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s annual Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Choice Award, the fourth time the organization has been honoured by the USOPC for its diversity and inclusion efforts since 2017.
Ritch joins the World Triathlon Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission, which has a mission to increase diversity and inclusion in World Triathlon and make leadership roles within World Triathlon accessible to all.
Kristina Mena (El Paso, Texas), the El Paso Campus Dean at the UTHealth School of Public Health, joins the World Triathlon Sustainability Commission, which was launched in 2020 and is tasked with creating a detailed pathway for greater environmental consideration in all policy making among stakeholders and local organizing committees.
USA Triathlon notes that Mena is ‘A trailblazer in preserving and reusing water resources and a prominent advocate for protecting public health, is focused on helping underserved and underrepresented populations, sharing resources and enhancing the sustainability efforts already underway throughout the multisport community.’
In 2016, Mena conducted human health risk assessment for the water quality at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games.
