Anita DeFrantz is a member of the International Olympic Committee and the IOC Executive Board. She serves on the Legal Affairs Commission of the IOC, which is made up of lawyers, and on the Finance Commission, which reviews the investments and spending plans.

Before she joined the ranks of the IOC, DeFrantz captained the U.S. women’s rowing team and rowed in the eight that won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. DeFrantz served as Vice President of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and was elected to IOC membership in 1986, making her not only the first African-American but also the first American woman to serve on the committee.

In 1987, DeFrantz began her 28-year role stewarding the legacy of 1984 LA Games as president of the LA84 Foundation, which received 40% of the 1984 surplus funds. Over the last 32 years, the LA84 Foundation has invested more than $225 million to support more than 2,000 youth sports organizations, and it continues to provide Los Angeles youth with recreation and sports opportunities. It also has the largest digital sport library in the nation and has sponsored research and conferences on sports and society.

In 1992, she named a member of the IOC Executive Board and elected a member of the IOC’s Olympic Program Commission. In 1997, she became the organization’s first female vice president, a position she held until 2001.

DeFrantz has B.A. from Connecticut College and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She holds more than a dozen honorary doctorate degrees from college and universities, including Pepperdine University, Mount Holyoke College and Pomona College.