Mike Cullina joined the US Club Soccer staff on July 1, 2021 as incoming CEO and fully assumed the CEO position on January 1, 2022. Cullina’s time with US Club Soccer began in 2015 with an appointment to the organization’s board of directors, prior to being unanimously named chairperson in 2018.
Cullina has wide-ranging business and technical experience as a board member, league director, club executive director, club technical director, club director of coaching, A-licensed coach, grassroots coaching education instructor and referee.
He carries six years of experience on U.S. Soccer’s Board of Directors. During that time, Cullina was appointed to nine different committees and working groups, most notably as vice chair of the Yates Implementation Committee and chair of the Referee Committee. Additionally, he proudly served as Youth Council Representative, chair of the Technical Development Committee, chair of the Open Cup Committee, member of Nominating and Governance, and member of the Diversity in Coaching Working Group. He continues to be a trusted voice in U.S. Soccer, currently working a temporary assignment with the Federation – alongside his role as US Club Soccer CEO – to improve the youth soccer landscape across the country.
Prior to serving the game on a national scale with US Club Soccer and U.S. Soccer, Cullina gained valuable club and league management and leadership experience in his home state of Virginia as Executive Director of Prince William Soccer Club (PWSI) and Virginia Development Academy, and President of the Virginia Premier Soccer League.
And while Cullina’s business acumen has been developed in those executive roles and boardrooms, he got his start in the sport coaching collegiately as the head men’s and women’s soccer coach at Ottawa University (1994-98) and head women’s soccer coach at Graceland University (1998-2000). After that, he transitioned his on-field knowledge to leagues and clubs as Director of Coaching and technical director of multiple organizations in Nebraska, Ohio and eventually Virginia, including DOC and Director of Player Development for the Nebraska State Soccer Association (2002-05).
Cullina lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.
