Lesle Gallimore appointed as OL Reign General Manager
Former UW women’s soccer coach has extensive ties to the club.
OL Reign announced today that they have appointed former UW women’s soccer head coach Lesle Gallimore as the club’s new General Manager, replacing the recently departed Nick Perera. Gallimore joins the club after having served as commissioner of the Girls Academy since its inception in mid-2020. The search process involved the club hiring an outside firm to recruit candidates, as well as OL Reign CEO Vincent Berthillot, OL’s director of international women’s football Sophie Sauvage, and a variety of Reign players contributing to the search and interviewing candidates.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to join OL Reign as their new General Manager. I’d like to thank everyone at OL, specifically Vincent Berthillot and Sophie Sauvage, as well as Bloom Sports for leading a comprehensive and thorough search,” said Gallimore in a club release. “I’d also like to express my gratitude to the staff, board, and membership of the Girls Academy for their support and belief in my leadership. The past three years have been a critical period of personal growth for me, and I’m so proud for having served as the first Commissioner of the GA. It is a privilege to be chosen and trusted to be a part of what to me has been an elite professional club from the beginning of the NWSL.”
Gallimore has extensive ties to the club and region, having served as UW’s head coach for 26 years before retiring after the 2019 season. She was also the Reign’s color commentator for many of their broadcasts from Memorial Stadium, providing her remarkable insight to fans watching the games. As a coach she had links to the Reign from the beginning, providing input to Bill and Teresa Predmore as the club was getting organized as well as coaching against them in the team’s annual Community Shield preseason match for many years. She coached several current and former Reign players, including recruiting Shae Holmes and Olivia Van Der Jagt to UW and working with Lauren Barnes, Emily Sonnett, Rose Lavelle and Claudia Dickey during various stints with US Youth National Teams.
Gallimore understands that the circumstances she’s coming into are somewhat unusual, with the Reign on the market and new owners potentially wanting to go in a different direction, but as she told The Athletic in an interview, “This position allows for me to come in and take some of that [uncertainty] away from them. My job is going to be assessing what maybe even small pain points are preventing them from focusing on performing, preventing Laura from 100% focusing on coaching duties, and take that on. I know the staff and the front office have been divvying out a lot of different roles amongst themselves, and this position is going to be able to take that back and take the burden off others that have been doing double duty.”
Gallimore will have her hands full rather quickly, with players departing for World Cup training camps in less than a month and the summer transfer window opening around the same time, but she’s looking forward to the task.
“I’m in the unique position of having watched the club evolve, and now to join in with a thrice shield-winning organization to help guide, support, and elevate the environment to even greater heights is an honor and a challenge I welcome,” said Gallimore in a team release. “OL Reign boasts a remarkable roster and technical staff whose efforts on the pitch I will attempt to humbly match off the pitch. I can’t wait to get started.”