In the first of two press calls the day she was appointed, USA Gymnastics president and chief executive officer Li Li Leung spoke about her vision of change in USAG. Read the announcement of Leung as CEO here.

"Let me first start off by saying how thrilled I am to be with you all and to be officially announced as the next president and CEO of USA Gymnastics," Leung said. "I truly am honored to be chosen for this role. As we all know, USA Gymnastics is at a critical turning point and we now have the opportunity to look forward and move forward."

Leung said this position is much more than a job to her and  she considers it a personal calling as gymnastics has been a part of her life since she was a young child. 

"I have the experience, passion, determination and perspective to do what it takes to rebuild the organization, and I want to help lead this transformation and to rebuild the community's trust in and credibility of USA Gymnastics."

Leung says she will focus on the values of safety, integrity, transparency, accountability, respect, collaboration and communication.

"It is my desire to transform the culture and experience for our athletes and to rid our sport of the opportunity for abuse to occur again," she said.

In discussing her priorities when she gets started, Leung says she plans to go on a listening and learning tour to hear from current gymnasts, coaches and the community. She also hopes to work with the survivors to make changes that are necessary to the organization.

"Ultimately, we will create an athlete-driven organization where safety is essential to everything we do."

Leung was an elite and NCAA gymnast and plans to use this perspective, along with her business background, in reshaping USAG. She spoke briefly about her experience as a gymnast.

"I would say overall that I was one of the lucky ones in the sense that my coach was very focused on engraining mental, physical and emotional toughness and it wasn't about punishment. Now, having said that, when I read the Ropes & Gray report, there were parts of the report that I felt as if I were reading my own memoir in the sense of sacrificing my childhood, in the sense of not necessarily having a voice and in the sense of competing on broken bones. I, to some extent, am also a recovering gymnast. And I'm on this journey of recovery as well. And I hope that other gymnasts out there will join me on this journey."

While following along with the sport the past few months, Leung felt compelled to act. 

"I felt that the sport had reached a new low, and I was so disheartened that I could not sit back any longer." She reached out to USAG a few months ago and began the hiring process.

Leung has already spoken with USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland and says that the two are on the same page and "100 percent committed" to working together to resolve the decertification request. 

"With the combination of my experience from both the gymnastics side as well as the business side, with the board having the expertise that they have, with the management team that we will put in place, we're confident that we can remain as NGB for USA Gymnastics."

Leung will move to USAG headquarters in Indianapolis and will officially start her role on March 8.

"If I had one ask, it would be to judge us on our response; judge us on our actions going forward. We will learn from the past and look to the future to heal and rebuild."

More on Leung from USA Gymnastics:

Li Li Leung has described her appointment as president and CEO of USA Gymnastics as coming full circle from her first participation at age 7 in the sport that she loves and helped make her who she is today: a highly successful and experienced executive.

She was born in Brooklyn, New York, three minutes before her twin sister. The sisters began training near their home in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and their parents, both university professors, saw their success, passion and joy for gymnastics. And like others in the sport, they moved the family to Parsippany, New Jersey, to be close to North Stars Gymnastics Academy, a training facility that would help them advance in the sport.

Li Li competed in many USA Gymnastics events, was member of a U.S. junior national training team and represented the U.S. in the 1988 Junior Pan American Games. She enjoyed success at the University of Michigan, earning a full, four-year scholarship and Academic All Big Ten Athlete honors as a member of the gymnastics team that won several Big Ten titles. She also competed in the NCAA Championships during her four years on the team. Li Li graduated with a B.A. in psychology.

After graduation, she worked as a program manager for Michigan’s Alumni Association and Athletic Department from 1997-2001. She went on to earn her MBA and Master of Science in sport management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she was a volunteer assistant coach with the gymnastics team.

Because of her interest in the Olympics, she joined global sports management firm Helios Partners, where she founded, built and managed the China office, starting 2005 in anticipation of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She then started the firm’s London office, where she became senior vice president and managing director. While in both Beijing and London, Li Li negotiated agreements and developed and managed initiatives on behalf of about a dozen partners for the Olympic games.

After working for Helios for nearly nine years, she became a vice president at the National Basketball Association (NBA). At the NBA, Li Li was responsible for leading, negotiating and managing international partner relationships, as well as developing collaborative relationships in complex settings. Her biggest focus was managing the league’s global priority partners. In addition, she also worked with USA Basketball, the sport’s national governing body.

Li Li is looking forward to settling into life in Indianapolis with her husband and making a meaningful impact at USA Gymnastics.