NSCA names new executive director

A seasoned professional with a history of leading nonprofit, membership-based associations, Michael Massik joins the NSCA as Executive Director effective in January 2016.

“Michael brings a wealth of experience from his work with nonprofits, but also has experience working with the sport of weightlifting which is closely aligned with the strength and conditioning profession,” explains Dr. Greg Haff, NSCA Board president. “His documented ability to increase membership in his previous roles coupled with his ability to enhance the overall member experience makes Michael a very unique individual.  His skill sets align well with the NSCA’s future goals and having him join the NSCA family allows us to continue to focus on improving the member experience whilst maintain our organization’s core values.”

As Executive Director, Massik will be responsible for all of the day-to-day activities of the staff at headquarters and will report to the NSCA Board of Directors.

Charged with serving the needs of nearly 30,000 members, he will focus on increasing the Association’s value to its members and leveraging his extensive background to enhance the membership experience.

“I am excited to join the NSCA team and use my science training and sport leadership experience to best serve our members and help shepherd the organization in achieving its mission of being the worldwide authority on strength and conditioning,” said Massik.

Massik joins the NSCA after spending the previous three years as CEO of USA Weightlifting (USAW). During his tenure at USAW, the organization saw tremendous growth in membership with an increase of more than 12,000 members. He also played a central role in hosting the 2015 IWF World Weightlifting Championships, which took place this past November in Houston, Texas, the first time since 1978 that the US hosted the event.

Before his time at USAW, Massik ran his own sports consulting company, Massik-Burton LLC, for four years and prior to that served as executive director of USA Fencing for 12 years, from 1996-2008. Under his leadership, fencing went from no medals in Atlanta (1996 Olympic Games) to six medals in Beijing (2008), and a fencer won a gold medal in the sport for the first time in 100 years. During the same period, fencing’s membership grew from approximately 8,000 to 25,000.

As a strategic planner and thinker, Michael is dedicated to and focused on increasing value to members in the development and implementation of association projects and services. Michael earned both his Master’s in Toxicology and Bachelor’s in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Kentucky and started his career working ten years as a Research Project Manager and Director.