Katie Stone co-founded USA Chess in 1997 and sold the company in 2004. She was the Vice President of Operations for 8 years and continues to work with USA Chess as a part-time, independent contractor. Throughout her career with USA Chess, Ms. Stone's responsibilities included the direct the implementation and management of all aspects of the company’s 60-city national summer camp tour each summer which draws more than 3,000 attendees; the direct management of the Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth markets where USA Chess provided year-long instruction to approximately 50 schools and approximately 2,000 students; the oversight of all internet, administrative and back-office functions; strategic business planning and new business development; and the direct management of all employees and their travel throughout approximately 60 U.S. cities each summer.

     Prior to co-founding USA Chess, Ms. Stone was the former Director of Recruiting & Publicity for the prestigious and internationally acclaimed chess program at  The University of Texas at Dallas. While at UTD, she co-organized the 1998 Pan American Intercollegiate Chess Championships, an international event. No stranger to high level event production, Ms. Stone gained valuable experience during her four year tenure with the two-time NBA World Champion Houston Rockets and was with them during their championship years. In addition, she worked at the Houston Rockets summer children's basketball camps and was selected to work for USA Basketball at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Stone's passion for chess comes from her family. Her great grandfather, Dr. Leo Stone, was an avid chess player and years ago, he helped sponsor world chess great Bobby Fischer. Her grandfather, Donald Stone, a former sponsor of the U.S. Blind Chess Team, was an active chess tournament player for more than 75 years.