USA Track & Field’s board this month hired California-based executive search firm Bialla & Associates to find a replacement for Doug Logan, who was fired as CEO last month.

USATF board members spent the last month considering six search firms, three of which were interviewed in person.

“We are extremely confident that this process will yield the best available candidate for our organization’s top professional leadership position,” USATF President and Chairman Stephanie Hightower said.

Hightower said USATF board members and Bialla will work together to solicit input from USATF stakeholders in assessing the organization’s leadership needs, then will develop a comprehensive job description.

Creating an initial pool of candidates will begin immediately, with interviews likely to start after Jan. 1, she added. The search committee anticipates submitting two to three finalists to the full board for consideration in early 2011. No current USATF board members are candidates for the position. 

Hightower said she could not discuss the specifics of Logan’s job performance or termination.

Logan had been CEO of the track and field sanctioning body headquartered in Indianapolis since July 2008, succeeding Craig Masback.

USATF Chief Operating Officer Mike McNees, a Brownsburg High School graduate, has assumed day-to-day leadership of USATF until a replacement is hired.