Meet the Team | everychildaswimmer

Meet our Team

Learn more about our team

Meet the dedicated team behind our success.

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Casey McGovern

Casey leads the Every Child a Swimmer (ECAS) program, a division of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Driven by a deeply personal and heartfelt mission. After the tragic loss of her daughter, Edna Mae, to drowning in 2009, Casey made her a promise: while she couldn’t bring her back, she would dedicate her life to preventing other families from experiencing the same devastation. This promise fuels her unwavering commitment to making drowning prevention a priority and ensuring that every child has access to life-saving swim lessons.

Under Casey’s leadership, ECAS is transforming water safety across the country. Through key partnerships with swim schools and the passage of legislation in Florida, Georgia, and Arkansas, ECAS is making water safety education a standard in schools and communities. The goal is ultimately to have this legislation passed and implemented throughout the entire country. Making the need for water safety a PRIORITY!

Casey is focused on expanding swim lesson access, maintaining the integrity of scholarship programs, and fostering accountability to drive real change.

For Casey, this work is about more than policy—it’s about saving lives. Every child lost to drowning is one too many. While the statistics are grim, they are not unchangeable.

Through collaboration, education, and collective action, we can shift the tide, prevent future tragedies, and create a generation of swimmers. Together, we can change the future of water safety and fulfill the powerful goal of making every child a swimmer.

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Carrie Hazen

Carrie brings over two decades of entrepreneurial experience, specializing in real estate, to her work in program development at Every Child a Swimmer. Known for her ability to envision long-term outcomes and bring them to life, she has a proven track record of closing multi-million-dollar real estate transactions with countless satisfied clients. Integrity, in both her business and personal life, has been a guiding principle throughout her career.

Carrie’s commitment to drowning prevention is deeply rooted in personal tragedy, as her 19-month-old niece, Edna Mae, drowned in 2009. This loss led her sister, Casey McGovern, to become a drowning prevention advocate, and Carrie has supported her in raising awareness ever since.

Guided by her faith in God, Carrie has been inspired to give selflessly—dedicating her time, resources, and heart to making a meaningful impact. She is passionate about creating lifetime partnerships that go beyond financial support, inviting partners to become true ambassadors of the Every Child a Swimmer program.

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Nicole Nilsson

Nicole plays an integral role in Every Child A Swimmer (ECAS), working to expand the organization’s reach by building partnerships with quality swim schools across the country and, eventually, the world. Although her background isn’t in swimming, Nicole has contributed to the swimming community through her involvement with the non-profit Swim4Nick, where she helped provide scholarships to high school swimmers. She has also participated in organizing swim clinics and ocean swim races.

Before joining ECAS, Nicole spent over 10 years as a realtor, where she gained valuable experience in building relationships and managing contracts—skills that she now applies to her work with ECAS to help the program grow. Additionally, her time serving in schools and on PTO boards has strengthened her connection to the educational community, which has proven useful in supporting swim school partners.

Nicole’s passion for drowning prevention began after meeting Casey McGovern more than 15 years ago in a mother-daughter playgroup. When Casey experienced the tragic loss of her daughter to drowning, Nicole and others came together to support her. This heartbreaking event made Nicole realize how important drowning prevention is and how it can affect anyone. Since then, she has stood alongside Casey in her mission to raise awareness about water safety, deeply committed to ensuring that no other family experiences such a loss.

Originally from Iowa, Nicole has been married for 25 years and has lived in South Florida for 23 years. As a mother of three children who all learned to swim through Swim America, Nicole understands firsthand the importance of learning to swim, especially in Florida, where being surrounded by water makes it a critical life skill.

Looking to the future, Nicole is focused on helping ECAS reach more communities and making the program as accessible and streamlined as possible for swim providers and families in need. She also hopes to foster greater collaboration with industries such as insurance, water sports, and pool supply, which can benefit from supporting a program that promotes swimming and water safety. Nicole is eager to continue learning and working with others to make a meaningful impact through ECAS.

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Kylie Hazen

At Every Child A Swimmer (ECAS), Kylie is driven by a passion for drowning prevention and a commitment to collaborating with like-minded individuals nationwide to achieve a shared goal: saving lives through water safety education and access to swim lessons. A deeply personal motivator in her work is the privilege of working under her aunt, Casey McGovern, whose dedication and leadership inspire her every day.

In her role at ECAS, Kylie collaborates with swim schools across the country, helping create safer environments for children from underserved communities, ensuring they have access to swim lessons. Together, they are making water safety education accessible and impactful, helping to create a future where every child is a swimmer.

Through collaboration, education, and collective action, we can shift the tide, prevent future tragedies, and create a generation of swimmers. Together, we can change the future of water safety and fulfill the powerful goal of making every child a swimmer.