At major USATF masters meets, athletes age 25-34 compete as submasters — a great way to introduce the kiddies to our niche. But the national committee that runs adult age-group sport has been made up of mostly 50-plus folks. Until this summer.

For the first time in my vanishing memory, a submaster has joined the USATF Masters Track & Field Executive Committee.

Landen Lama, a Washington, D.C., resident who doesn’t turn 31 until November, was named interim treasurer in late June. He succeeds Mike Travers, who resigned for still unexplained reasons. (He never replied to my email queries.)

In mid-July, I reached out to Landen and others, seeking more info on the appointment. MTF Chairman Robert Thomas didn’t get back to me, but Landen did last week after returning from Daegu.

Who is the newbie?

Landen Carpenter Lama is a 2014 graduate of Lancaster High School in Ohio with degrees from Ohio University and the University of Akron. At Lancaster, he wa a student rep at the local school board and class president. At Ohio U, Landen was the president of Student Senate, earning a full-tuition scholarship for that work.

But he wasn’t just a political wonk. He had style. Once, as lead parliamentarian of the Student Senate, he dressed as KFC’s Colonel Sanders. He also became an ordained minister through American Marriage Ministries, a non-denominational church that ordains people online so that they can officiate weddings for friends, family and community.

But officiating has been his calling.

In 2018, Landen was one of 15 winning USATF Young Officials Grants.

“These grants give $500 to help officials under the age of 40 to work USATF national championship meets and gain valuable experience,” said a USATF officials newsletter. Since then, he’s become a go-to guy for major masters meets, including at the
2024 World Masters Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he won the International Official of the Meet Award for his work as a Call Room Referee.

His day job is in diversity.

Landen works for FTI Consulting, which calls itself “the leading global expert firm for organizations facing crisis and transformation, with more than 8,100 employees in 32 countries and territories.”

On LinkedIn, Landen says: “With over two years as Senior Associate for Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging at FTI Consulting, my work focuses on driving cultural transformation through inclusive strategies and innovative employee resource group (ERG) frameworks. I lead global ERG operations, fostering collaboration across North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM to ensure a culturally adaptive and scalable approach.”

He went on: “My core expertise includes diversity and inclusion strategy, ERG management, and program development. Dedicated to empowering diverse networks, I aim to create inclusive environments and foster leadership visibility across FTI’s global footprint. My efforts reflect a commitment to shaping equitable workplaces and ensuring impactful engagement aligned with regional and global needs.”

Not sure how that applies to the USATF treasurer’s gig, but at least he’s transparent on how he got the job. Here’s a Q&A we did via email:

How did you come to be named USATF Masters Track & Field Committee Treasurer? When did this happen?

I’ve wanted to become more involved with the Masters Track & Field Committee for several years and had made that interest known to both past and current officers. Most people knew me primarily through officiating, but I was interested in contributing more broadly to the committee and bringing some of my professional experience into that work.

Colleen Barney, Vice Chair of the Masters Track & Field Committee and Treasurer of World Masters Athletics, reached out to me in late June after Mike Travers resigned and asked whether I would be interested in stepping into the treasurer role. Colleen and I have known each other for years, and we had previously discussed ways I could become more involved with the committee.

After I expressed my interest, Robert Thomas and I spoke more about my professional background and experience outside of officiating. Robert then proposed my appointment to the Executive Committee on June 28, and shortly afterward I was informed that I would serve as interim treasurer until an election could be held at the annual meeting to fill the remainder of the term.

Did you seek the role or get recruited by someone? Who contacted you?

It was really a combination of both. I had made it known for several years that I wanted to become more involved with the Masters Track & Field Committee beyond officiating, but I was not specifically campaigning to become Treasurer.

Colleen Barney contacted me after the position became vacant and asked whether I would be interested. Because she already knew both my background and my interest in becoming more involved, it was a natural conversation. From there, Robert Thomas and I discussed the role and my experience before he brought my name forward to the Executive Committee.

What happened to Mike Travers? Is Mike helping you with the books and the transition?

All I know is that Mike resigned from the role. I was not involved in the circumstances surrounding his resignation, and I have not had a formal transition with him.

Fortunately, the officers work closely together, so Robert Thomas, Colleen Barney, Rachel (Guest) and our National Office contacts were able to help bring me up to speed. A significant part of the transition has also been learning the National Office financial processes and making sure the committee’s internal processes align with them.

Will you run for the treasurer position the next time an election is held? 

Yes. I intend to run for treasurer at the upcoming Annual Meeting to complete the remainder of the current term.

I accepted the interim appointment because I believed I could contribute to the committee in a meaningful way, and the first few months in the role have reinforced that. I enjoy the combination of financial oversight, committee operations and process improvement that comes with the position, and I would like the opportunity to continue building on the work already underway.

Your youth is remarkable. Being 30, you’re younger than Masters age 35. Have you encountered any obstacles to winning trust among older MTF officials?

My age was probably more of a challenge when I first became an official than it is today. I became certified while I was still in high school, so early on I certainly had to prove that I was knowledgeable, dependable and capable of handling responsibility.

By the time I became heavily involved in masters athletics, I already had an established officiating record and relationships with many people in the sport. I think trust ultimately comes from consistently doing the work well.

That has continued internationally. At the 2026 World Masters Athletics Championships in Daegu, I was appointed to the WMA Competition Management Team and served as the WMA Call Room Director. That was a significant responsibility involving call room operations across a championship with multiple venues, international officials and local officials.

So while I may be younger than most people in masters leadership, I think my experience and the responsibilities I have been trusted with speak for themselves.

Past treasurers have released annual MTF budgets to me for posting on my blog. Would you be agreeable to doing the same? 

I support transparency and would be comfortable sharing information that the committee and USATF have determined can appropriately be made public.

My approach will be to follow the guidance provided by USATF and the National Office regarding what financial information can be distributed publicly. Anything that is formally presented publicly through the Annual Meeting or otherwise approved for public release, I am happy to help make accessible.

Who is helping you with treasurer duties or learning the same?

The other committee officers have all been helpful during the transition, particularly Robert, Colleen and Rachel (Guest), along with our contacts in the National Office.

A large part of the learning process has been understanding how the National Office handles budgets, reimbursements, payments and financial reporting, and then creating committee processes that work within that structure.

That type of work is also very familiar to me professionally. Much of my career has involved operations, process improvement, program management and building systems that make complicated work easier to manage. I’ve been able to apply many of those same skills to the Treasurer role.

What’s your track, or sports, background? PRs? Major achievements? Current activities?

I’ve been involved with track and field in some form for close to 20 years.

I grew up in Lancaster, Ohio, and started on the meet-management side during middle school and high school. I did everything from scorekeeping hand-timing slips and announcing to venue setup and other meet operations.

In 2014, during my senior year of high school, I became a certified Ohio High School Athletic Association official after encouragement from local officials. Around the same time, one of my mentors, Len Krsak, introduced me to USATF officiating. Len was then chair of the USATF National Officials Committee and told me that if the United States ever hosted the Olympics, USATF officiating could potentially provide a pathway to being involved. That certainly caught my attention.

Within officiating, I joke that I became a bit of a one-trick pony because I found the call room very early and essentially never left. Terri Tutt, Karen Krsak and the late Linda Meltzer were among the people who encouraged me in that direction, particularly after my first NCAA meet at Ohio State.

My first major exposure to Masters athletics was the 2015 National Senior Games in Minnesota, where I was essentially the only clerk while also helping with packet pickup for thousands of athletes. Rex Harvey saw me working there and encouraged me to apply to become an International Volunteer Official for the 2016 World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth, Australia.

I was selected for Perth and was later recognized by then-WMA President Stan Perkins as an “Official to Watch.” That championship really started my international masters journey.

Since then, I have officiated multiple National Senior Games, USATF Masters Indoor and Outdoor Championships, NCAA and other major competitions, and six World Masters Athletics Championships.

At the 2024 World Masters Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, I received the International Official of the Meet Award for my work as a Call Room Referee.

Most recently, at the 2026 World Masters Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, I was appointed to the WMA Competition Management Team and served as WMA Call Room Director. That was my first championship serving in that management capacity, and I expect to continue in the role at future WMA championships.

Anything else readers should know about your MTF role, USATF officiating history or work career record?

One thing I think is important about my involvement in Masters Track & Field is that I bring experience from several different sides of an organization.

Officiating is obviously how most people in the sport know me, but professionally my background is in organizational operations, employee engagement, program management and process improvement. I currently work in a corporate human resources environment where much of my work involves managing programs, budgets, governance structures, communications and relationships across a large organization.

Those skills translate very naturally to committee work. Being treasurer is not simply about approving reimbursements or keeping track of a spreadsheet. It also means helping the committee understand where its resources are going, developing clearer processes, planning responsibly for future championships and making sure decisions are supported by accurate financial information.

I also think my international involvement with World Masters Athletics gives me a useful perspective. I have spent more than a decade working at masters championships in the United States and around the world, so I have seen how different organizations and local organizing committees operate and where strong planning can make a championship successful.

Long term, I hope to continue contributing to masters athletics not only as an official, but also through governance, operations and championship organization.