World Surf League Commissioner Jessi Miley-Dyer Stepping Aside
LOS ANGELES, Calif., USA (Friday, June 6, 2025) - The World Surf League (WSL) today announced that Jessi Miley-Dyer, Commissioner, will be stepping aside after more than 13 years with the organization.
A former Championship Tour competitor, Miley-Dyer transitioned from professional surfing to sport leadership at the end of 2011, joining the WSL, then known as the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). Since then, she has been instrumental in shaping the modern era of professional surfing and advancing equity within the sport.
Miley-Dyer played a key role in many defining moments, including the historic introduction of equal prize money for men and women in 2018. From there, the fully combined men's and women's Tours were announced in 2022. Most recently, she drove the expansion of the women's Championship Tour field, set to take effect in 2026, solidifying a more equitable future for the next generation of surfers.
"With the 2025 regular season complete, and our postseason qualification and expanded women's field now set, I feel this is the right moment for me to step aside," said Miley-Dyer. "It's been the honor of my life to help guide this sport that has given me so much. I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved together, from raising the level of competition to breaking new ground in gender equality. I'll always be the WSL's biggest fan, and I'm excited to see what comes next for both the WSL and our athletes."
Ryan Crosby, WSL CEO, praised Miley-Dyer's contributions: "Jessi has been incredibly influential in competitive surfing, not just as a competitor, but for her vision and commitment to fairness and excellence. Her impact on the WSL and the sport as a whole is profound, and she leaves the organization in a stronger, more inclusive place. We're grateful for her years of service and wish her nothing but success in what comes next."
Miley-Dyer's final event as the Commissioner is the upcoming Lexus Trestles Pro. The window opens on June 9 in Lower Trestles, California.
The WSL Tours and Competition team remains in place to carry forward the oversight of the league's competitive landscape, with the continued focus on delivering world-class competitions and advancing the sport across all divisions and tiers.
Comments
The silence is deafening! Great job title though 'Commissioner of the Word Surf League!' - should get a few hits on Seek.
That would be a good job for Sal. Get her off waves and into a role she could probably do.
Sally would be terrific from a marketing perspective but way too sincere for the opacity and gaslighting this role demands.
Swellnet is the only site where I read the comments, and I'm once again vindicated. Thanks for this.
me too !!
probably see an appearance in politics.
Sal?
Too nice and not sharp enough.
I don’t think you have to be too smart to make a group decision on running a comp on any given day.
Sal is far smarter than might meet the eye. Think she'd do a great job. Layne B would be another one who I suspect would be great - one thing with Layne there would be no going soft.
Not sure if not sharp AndyM. She comes across all nice and smiley, but when you do hear her talk the few times Ive seen her on the WSL panel, she has a fantastic sports mind and is tactic sharp. I think she would do well in a similar role where she doesn't have to kiss WSL arse. How like when Flick almost swallowed her tonsils at Margies when they put it on hold.
Wonder if this was brought on by criticism of decisions at Margs.
Also sounds like they arent replacing her in the last sentence. Hope that doesn't mean some faceless people will control everything from WSL headquarters online.
Wouldnt like anyone to be the meat in the mega sandwedge; between billionairez, sponsors, PR dancers, Pro prancers, dreamers and schemers. Lucky 13 yrs.
LA isnt OK for migrants ATM. Photocopy your passport. https://maps.app.goo.gl/m3aR6fWTkhNpEmSA8
Faceless people control the world. eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackRock
Frenetic violins ursurp the brave new world
bbbird is on the money...Back Story...
https://www.usskiandsnowboard.org/news/sophie-goldschmidt-appointed-us-…
WSL X Sophie Goldschmidt US S&S Prez CEO has secured Team USA 2x Solid Gold Surfing Medals.
Handsomely Rewarded...
https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/alpine-skiing-u.s.-ski-snowboard-sec…
Sophie Rules your Lineup...because she can...
https://www.surfer.com/news/us-ski-needs-to-keep-their-kooky-hands-off-…
https://standupmagazin.com/en/2025/05/usa-ski-to-take-over-surfing/
Aspen is in danger of losing Olympic Surfing Governance to rival woke Alien USA Surfing Rebel Jocks
Sophie asks ICE why Trump bankrolls her woke rival Olympic bidders (US Surfing) WSL comps etc...
US Surfing is run by Woke Migrant Yobz WSL (Evil Aukus Chiko Chick) + ISA Fernando (Argentina) Gulp!
Aspen Sophie strokes Trump's Pussy hair comb over ... You heard da Prez :
"Ban & Cut up the Alien Surf Bodies + Bring me Jessi's Heart & Feed their woke remains to the Sharks!"
ICE : [Deport] [Deport]
Pop the champagne! Worst calls in history! Good riddance! ...!
Gotta be related to Margaret River.
The final call to run a comp on a given day has always been a bit of a murky business, she’s taken the hit for it and deservedly so.
Should have been front and center explaining everything every step of the way.
Will be interesting to see how the process is presented at Trestles
good move, can only endure so many unexplained decisions before it feels disrespectful to the sport and the viewers.
Ding dong the witch is dead!!! (corporately speaking of course)..
Hoo fuckin ray!!
Can't say I'm sorry to see her go, but there is no denying she did some good in the organisation.
Time for some new blood to push the competetors and push on in the right direction. Particularly with JBay, Chopes & Cloudbreak coming up.
Would be good to interview her after the dust settles.
She may have resigned in protest at not having authority over the call or various other issues
Unfortunately I can’t imagine getting a straight answer out of her.
Still haven’t heard from E. Logan
Non-disparagement clauses perhaps.
Couldn't have been an easy job- figurehead supposedly calling the shots with the strings pulled from behind and impossible to please everyone.
For sure she did a lot of good in the organisation, but more than once people were left scratching their heads.
Good luck for the future (JMD and the WSL).
Logical and empathetic = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
Meanwhile,.... back at the ranch, .... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble
Maybe the Goat Kelly S will take her place ?
Only if they give him a wildcard!
Wonder if the WSL was reading FR's post day reports and the commentary from SN crew.
Someone on that thread posted the rules and regulations for making a decision to run the contest which included a surfers rep but with caveats that it couldn’t be the surfer in the next heat or something similar.
I got confused just reading it, means that the surfers rep is likely to change during the day and as the contest nears the end and more surfers leave then there’s fewer to choose from.
Plus, how are they chosen? Can a surfer say no? Do they have obligations to sit in the judges tower or at least be present watching the surfing the entire time etc? What if a rival for the world title is up next in conditions that suit them, could they be motivated to call the contest off to reduce the chance of their rival winning?
What a shamozzle
I could almost guarantee the WSL read Freerides posts.
If they don't, it doesn't say much about the calibre of their Media/PR team.
As amazing as we find them, I can see a world in which the Woz definitely does not read them
I can’t imagine that the Woz wouldn’t be conscientious about keeping in touch with their core audience.
Nah just kidding, I reckon they’re totally out of touch.
I mainly subscibe to Swellnet, so the world & wsltd can continue to follow the good-ship SS Freeride surf stories .... till the rain & clouds part, sun shineth and rainbows fills the heavens above.... & joyful doves coo... after the torrential flood of mediaocrity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediocrity_principle
Zen is spot on. Media monitoring with AI enabled insights on key themes/root causes is standard and affordable. The business I run receives thousands of 'media' mentions a day (mainly on socials) and we monitor all of it and feed it back into our product and service design processes. Mad not to.
They must get a wry smile from the comments on here - admire the passion, appreciate the ideas but lament the level of commercialism and appreciation for their product.
13 years too late. Bring back Kieren Perrow.
Agree @Bulrz. At least KP could walk the walk
Tourism down, musicians and surfers banned on the west coast of USA....
its hard to think she knows anything about the tub
regardless of whether she's made some fuckups (for all we know, there's an AI elo-dirk called RYAN making the calls and blaming JMD.. imagine giving the lion's share of your career to the closed-shop wazzle compound.. non disclosures now, as @FR suggested) - she prolly just reckons she's done .. hopefully for her she got the cash to look a bit relaxed - doesn't ever look not-stressed from what I've seen.
To paraphrase that Hole singer 'you can hate me, that's fine, but I can't afford to - I'm all that I've got'.
Jesse Starling, who's been commentating lately and had an online mag called MurMur (same as a uni's I reckon.. murdoch..?) doing a podcast with JMD 5 months ago:
Trestles comments today + Newcastle comments
(Turpel chatting with Sage : / + Jesse Starling is the new Turpel)
based on the above line of questions = yep.
It's an hour, but like I said to a mate recently, 'you'd give Bill Burr an hour..'
Interesting to watch the recent face behind the Bronte girl/ sunglassed worldstage acronym..
you pecker heads who watch the wsl support all, this woman is better than most of you keyboard warriors
Based on what? Got some facts to support that claim?
Or just a keyboard warrior?
she can be better than us at her job and still not be good enough, those are not mutually exclusive things
- Margs this year
- Women at cooking pipe a few years back
- Spitting dbah waiting for snapper, then running at shit deebs day after no snapper
- basically every day in portugal
Just off top of my head.....gotta been dozens more....bye....put someone in who gives a fuck about the actual surfing being done and itll be right
- Margs this year
- Women at cooking pipe a few years back
- Spitting dbah waiting for snapper, then running at shit deebs day after no snapper
- basically every day in portugal
Just off top of my head.....gotta been dozens more....bye....put someone in who gives a fuck about the actual surfing being done and itll be right