LPGA Hires Its First Female Commissioner

Carolyn Vesper Bivens was hired Wednesday as the first female commissioner in the 55-year history of the LPGA Tour.

Bivens will replace Ty Votaw, who is stepping down after seven years.

For the last four years, Bivens was president and CEO of Initiative, a media planning and buying company. She previously was the associate publisher of USA Today, where she also had been senior vice president of advertising.

“My hope is to keep the momentum going,” Bivens, 52, said. “This is not an organization that needs to be fixed.”

She started at USA Today in circulation marketing and ended up in advertising until being chosen as associate publisher. All along, the running joke at the newspaper was that her dream job was to run the LPGA Tour.

“They roasted me with a sports page naming me commissioner of the Senior LPGA for my 40th birthday,” Bivens said.