At The Net w/ Amber Marino, USTA Eastern

This year will mark a changing of the guard for the USTA Eastern Section, as after more than a decade of serving as the Section’s Executive Director, Jenny Schnitzer announced her retirement at the end of 2025.

Schnitzer led the Section since 2015, and now passes the baton to Amber Marino, who officially took over as the new Executive Director on January 1st.

Marino is no stranger to a leadership post at Eastern. She became the first female since 1997 to serve a term as President of the USTA Eastern’s Board of Directors back in 2019, and since June 2025 has been the Associate Executive Director, working right alongside Schnitzer in preparation of taking over the position in 2026.

“Jenny is a remarkable leader and person, and I have learned so much from her over the years,” said Marino. “I worked particularly closely with her when I served as President of the Section. Part of my tenure fell during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we had to dig deep and make a lot of decisions together in support of the Eastern tennis community.

She has been an incredible friend and mentor, and I can’t thank her enough for her guidance and openness with me, especially as I step into this new role. She has involved me in every decision, every issue and every project that has crossed her desk since I joined the staff earlier this year. I’ve been really grateful to absorb so much information from her and to see firsthand how she operates in this role.”

Marino and Schnitzer’s relationship actually goes back way before the two worked together at Eastern, but began when Marino was an instructor at 15-LOVE, an NJTL that introduces the sport of tennis to kids all across the greater Albany area.

After playing high school tennis in her small upstate town of Carthage, she attended the College of St. Rose in Albany where she would walk on to the women’s tennis team, which is when she was introduced to 15-LOVE. She began working there in the summer of 1996, and continued there through her graduation, and even after, while also working as a middle school math teacher. Then in 2001, Marino was named the Executive Director of the organization, a position she held for nearly 25 years. Through that, she first met Schnitzer, as the latter would drive up to Albany for various events that the organization held, and as Marino recalls:“She was just as passionate about the sport and the section back then as she is today.”

Marino always made sure her plate was full. In addition to being Executive Director of 15-LOVE, she volunteered with the Section, serving on several committees, sat on the board as a member-at-large, as well as being the Regional Director of the Northern Region, then Vice President and President of the Section.

“Through all of my experiences, I’ve witnessed firsthand the incredible power of this sport and how it can change lives for the better, how it can really make a positive impact on an entire community,” Marino explains. “That’s what has always motivated me and what will continue to motivate me moving forward.”

With that motivation, and a multitude of past leadership experiences, Marino is excited for this next chapter of her life and this new challenge. And the work has already begun. The Eastern Section is perhaps the most complicated of all the Sections that compromise the USTA: The needs of those in each region of the section differ significantly, and Marino and her team need to be able to adapt to all the varying logistics.

It’s precisely that aspect, and the challenge of it, that makes Mariono a perfect fit to navigate these waters:

“I think this is the one of the most interesting features of our Section and a challenge I embrace coming from Western and Northern. What has made Eastern so strong in this regard is its organizational structure: We have dedicated regional councils made up of enthusiastic volunteers who advocate on behalf of their communities, and we also employ staff members from each region who work to specifically address those local needs.”

To that end, towards the end of 2025, Eastern surveyed club owners and managers about their businesses, and what they might need for growth and stability. By listening to those needs, Eastern put together four areas they think they can assist:

“Now we are working with staff on a plan to execute and be most useful in those areas. This is what I love, and the model I see for growth. We can all come together, listen, strategize and act,” said Marino. “We can’t solve every problem, but when staff and volunteers work together, bringing different perspectives and different skill sets, we can create meaningful growth.”

Growth is the name of the game, and while transitioning to a new leader can sometimes create issues, Marino is more than prepared to continue the amazing work done by previous Eastern Section leadership. She is someone who has made using the sport of tennis and benefitting those in her community her life’s work.

Like any good leader, she is quick to say that she doesn’t consider herself at the top of the Section, but instead wants to listen to and work with all facets that make up the tennis landscape.

“I’m continually inspired by the Eastern tennis community. You’ll never find a more passionate group of people, from our facility managers to our coaches and instructors, to staff members and volunteers,” she said. “It’s a testament to all of their hard work, creativity and dedication that the sport has really flourished in this area. Yes, I am here to lead, but also to listen, strategize, to walk beside, to support and encourage. In my former role we were in the office every day, and my door was literally always open. I always want to make listening and learning a priority.”

When Marino isn’t helping grow the sport of tennis in the Eastern Section, she is spending time with her husband and two sons, the older of whom just went off to college this past fall. In similar fashion to her work life, though, she enjoys giving back to her community. During the winter months, her family volunteers running a CYO basketball program through their church, hosting a league for about 200 kids, doing everything from scheduling down to mopping the floors. She also recently spent some time volunteering with 15-LOVE again, and it was a family affair as she spent time on court along with her two sons, teaching tennis to  kids.

It’s just another example of Marino’s passion for all things tennis, which is what makes her an ideal successor to Schnitzer for the role of Executive Director.

“Eastern is a strong organization with amazing people. The first thing I want to do is spend time with each staff member and board member to understand how they see the organization, and where they see opportunities. I love getting a sense of people’s strengths and passions, which are not always the same as their job descriptions,” she said. “Combining passion and work is what motivates people, and that is what will ultimately propel us forward.”