New England LMSC

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Bob Seltzer

NE LMSC

Bob Seltzer started his competitive swimming career at Syosset High School in the late 1960s. He was recruited to swim in college but opted instead to “fully enjoy the diversions of college life in the late 1960s and early 1970s,” he recalls. “I went on a 20-year taper before joining USMS in the early 1990s.” 

Bob served as NEM president from 1996 through 2000. “At my first public speech as NEM President in 1996, I vowed to double membership in four years (1000 by 2000 was the slogan). NEM had a poor record of growing membership. As every business owner knows, it’s easier and cheaper to sell an existing client than find a new one. We conducted a study of member renewal rates and found that those people who competed and were affiliated with "coached workout groups" renewed membership at much higher rates. We created two major new competitive events with the expressed intent of growing NEM membership. The first event was the January 1997 One Hour Swim which we turned into an epic battle against the evil empire represented by Davis Aquatic Masters, the perennial National Champion. Under the able leadership of Fred Schlicher and through the creative use of email we turned it into a major calendar event. In March 1997, we held the first ever NEM Workout Group competition at Northeastern University. This was the brainchild of Ed Gendreau who kept pressuring me to think about NE Masters adopting US/NE Swimming organizational structure. I connected Ed's idea with our member retention program. I also used the North Carolina model where their regional competition featured local workout groups but they competed nationally at North Carolina Masters.  

It took us a few years and a few venue changes (Northeastern to Brown then Brown to Harvard) to perfect the NEM Workout Group competition format. Again, creative use of email helped promote the event throughout New England. We even had email rankings of various groups, very similar to ESPN power ratings in football, to encourage people to compete in getting the most entries processed by the deadline. Finally Rick Osterberg took over meet management from me and through his many innovations (webcam, live scoreboard, live results, rolling check-in) transformed the NEM Workout Group competition into very high quality championship meet. In time, it became a "destination event" and attracted visiting workout groups from around the country. 

The growth of Masters swimming in New England grew well beyond our initial targets. I was most fortunate to be a part of dedicated volunteers and am most proud that those that followed us have continued to keep Masters swimming in New England growing nearly 20 years after my last year as President of NEM.“

Bob has served several stints as founder of software/technology companies and he’s currently a managing director at an investment bank.