The last 12 months have been extra busy for Shawn Sullivan, particularly his ears. Appointed Running USA executive director last October, Sullivan immediately engaged in a “listening tour” to understand how others interact with Running USA, the leading trade organization for the sport of road running and mass participation endurance events.

Sullivan attended road races from coast to coast, connecting with race directors of small community 5Ks and marquee events.

He met with personnel from major running brands and providers of endurance event services.

He visited run specialty shops and spoke with retail leaders.

He engaged in conversations – formal and informal – at Running USA’s annual conference and other industry events.

He queried Running USA staff and board members about achievements, challenges, solutions and improvements.

Intentional and earnest, Sullivan’s listening tour is now informing his stewardship of Running USA’s strategy, membership and programming.

“What’s so clear to me is people have a great deal of passion not just for the running industry, road racing and events, but for Running USA as an organization. Now, it’s about building on that in innovative and collaborative ways,” says Sullivan, who spent more than two decades spearheading communications, marketing, licensing and fan experience efforts in collegiate athletics before joining Running USA.

Sullivan, a former Division I cross-country and track and field athlete and run specialty store employee in Chicago, chats with Running Insight about his immediate priorities and aspirations for Running USA, including how running stores fit into the mix.

What were your initial impressions of Running USA when you stepped into the executive director role last fall?

I was amazed at the production of such a small team and the broad expertise of our board of directors. Then, seeing our industry conference occur for the first time this past winter in St. Louis proved the knowledge, passion and energy is real. Our industry is on the rise with individuals who are positive and ambitious, which only shows there’s so much more potential to unlock.

Now a year in, what’s at the top of your whiteboard?

Executing the leading industry conference, which is presented by haku here in early 2027 in Henderson, NV, is at the top of the list. The conference is our bread and butter at Running USA. The programming, our registrations, our exhibitors, our sponsors – all of it’s on the rise, so we want to capitalize there.

Additionally, our team is working hard to support a few new things at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. We have our inaugural Running USA Charity Team participating in the race itself and raising funds to support Running USA’s initiatives and industry growth. Plus, we’re hosting our first Running USA Member Village at Chicago’s Abbott Health & Fitness Expo. That features eight of our Running USA member road races promoting their events all under one Running USA umbrella.

Finally, the Global Runner Survey presented by Active Network in partnership with haku just released as well. That’s the biggest piece of research we produce annually and it features terrific takeaways for industry folks to make the most informed decisions.

Taken together, these efforts demonstrate how we’re trying to expand member value, strengthen resources and advance professional development and industry collaboration for events of all sizes.

What are your longer-term aspirations for Running USA?

Ultimately, we want to reinforce Running USA as the organization where the running industry connects, which we can achieve by educating, elevating and engaging the running industry and its constituents.

We have aspirations to grow our organization financially. We want to raise the profile of Running USA. We want to highlight our members, creating, growing and delivering on our meaningful member benefits. We want to expand our research in terms of the breadth, quality and consistency. We want to continue to grow our industry conference and leverage that to create year-round dialogue in the industry supporting events of all sizes and disciplines.

And then, we’ve been a traditional business-to-business trade organization for more than 25 years and we want to explore ways to become more consumer-facing.

When you talk about being more consumer-facing, what could that mean?

It’s about being intentional about what we could do for an individual runner or even fans of running. It’s a longer-term play, but we are intrigued by the possibilities of creating opportunities and benefits for individual runners in addition to the organizations and events themselves.

And that segues into a related piece, which is running stores, run clubs and run crews. We want to explore how our benefits might help those parties as well.

Let’s stick with the run shops. Where do you see run specialty shops fitting into the Running USA orbit?

We do have run specialty shops as members and collaborators, and for that, we’re super grateful. But the opportunity is even greater for collaboration.

Right now, we see run shops producing events and races, putting on fun runs, hosting education and having brands in their shops, and they’ll find several Running USA member benefits impactful, whether that’s our insurance coverage, music licensing, our research or our race reports.

Signing up for our email newsletter can be a helpful starting point, too. That can equip those on the retail floor with running industry context, news, event happenings and trends and add another tool to their toolbelt.

Now, we need to engage further with run shops and ask how we can support them. In initial talks, we’re hearing about employee development, retention and event support, so we’re thinking about ways we can contribute there.

But retailers should know this: We want to include the run shop perspective in everything we’re doing, we are an open ear to assist you and we have a blank canvas in which to partner on items. Maybe it’s a research project. Maybe it’s helping you understand the event space. Maybe you’re trying to develop young professionals and retain them. We can be helpful to you and we’d love to collaborate and grow the running industry.

What does success look like for Running USA?

It all comes down to supporting our members and all running industry personnel in the growth of road running and endurance sports. That means serving as the hub of our industry in all facets and contributing to an inclusive and unified running industry.

If we’re doing this the right way, we’ll see our membership grow, we’ll see the industry conference expand, we’ll see our education become more bountiful and we’ll be able to deliver even more services to our members.