Travis T. Tygart, Chief Executive Officer

Travis T. Tygart became USADA’s Chief Executive Officer in September of 2007. In his 22 years working with USADA, he has also served as the Director of Legal Affairs and as Senior Managing Director & General Counsel, during which time he prosecuted cases on behalf of clean athletes before the American Arbitration Association and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

As CEO, Tygart works closely with the USADA Board of Directors to carry out the organization’s mission of preserving the integrity of competition, inspiring true sport, and protecting the rights of clean athletes. Tygart has also reached out and made himself available to many Olympic and Paralympic athletes, embracing them as an essential part of the fight against doping.

Having originally joined USADA in 2002, Tygart was actively involved in drafting the USADA Protocol for Olympic Movement Testing, and has testified on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport in front of numerous Committees and Sub-Committees of the U.S. Congress, including the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Commerce Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Internationally, Tygart has testified in front of Committees of the European Union, the German Parliament, and the French Senate about the issues surrounding doping in sport and creating effective anti-doping policy.

A lawyer by training, Tygart has also published numerous papers and law review articles on various topics, including Title IX, antitrust, and doping in sport. He has also spoken about the need for hGH testing in all sports, regulation of the supplement industry, and the ratification of the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.

Under Tygart’s leadership, some of USADA’s most significant efforts to protect clean athletes have come in the form of major investigations. Working alongside federal authorities, USADA investigated the international steroid bust, Operation Raw Deal, and the international doping conspiracy involving the BALCO laboratory in San Francisco. Tygart also led the investigation into the U.S. Postal Service pro-cycling team doping conspiracy and spearheaded the publication of the Reasoned Decision in the Lance Armstrong case. Tygart has also led the international effort to advocate for justice and reform in the aftermath of the Russian state-sponsored doping scheme. This effort has ignited a movement to change the global anti-doping system to make it more independent and to give athletes a stronger voice and vote in decisions.  As well, these efforts led to the passage of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Fraud Act, a landmark new law that criminalizes international doping fraud. Tygart’s tenure as CEO also produced the groundbreaking research on the importance of true sport: “What Sport Means in America,” and the “TrueSport Report.” Tygart was recognized for efforts for athletes when he was awarded the USA Swimming Award in 2016 and won USA Swimming Athlete’s Appreciation Award in 2019.

In addition to his work at USADA, Tygart currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Sports Lawyers Association and on the Board of Governors of the Partnership for Clean Competition. He has previously served on other committees and boards, including the Society for Major League Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches, the House Government Reform Committee’s Zero Tolerance Roundtable, and the Institute of National Anti-Doping Agencies. He was also appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency as the Vice-Chair for its Independent Observers Team, which monitored the doping control and legal processes at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Over the course of his career, Tygart has been recognized by Sports Illustrated as one of the 50 Most Powerful People in Sports, named to the TIME 100 list of Most Influential People in the World for 2013, and deemed one of the Top 12 World Sports Personalities of the Year by Sport Intern. He has also been named one of the World’s Most Influential Sports Personalities by Inside Sport, as one of the Colorado Lawyers of the Year by Colorado Law Weekly and in 2023, he received the Association of Chief Executive Officers of Sports (ACES) Stephen D. Ducoff Leadership Award.

Originally from Jacksonville, Fla., Tygart graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in philosophy, and in 2010, earned the University’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Tygart went on to earn his JD from Southern Methodist University in 1999, graduating Order of the Coif, and in 2014, he was recognized as one of its Distinguished Alumni. Travis and his wife, Nichole, have three children aged 22, 20 and 16.