Nusea

Greg Zaff is the Executive Director of the National Urban Squash and Education Association (NUSEA). Greg and the Executive Directors of StreetSquash (Harlem), CitySquash (The Bronx) and SquashSmarts (Philadelphia) created NUSEA to guide and support the improvement and growth of urban squash programs across the United States.
As the Founder and Executive Director of the first country’s first urban squash and education program, SquashBusters in Boston, Greg was the right man for the job of leading the new national association.

Greg’s twelve years leading up to his appointment as NUSEA’s leader was devoted to building a youth enrichment model that would demonstrate sustainable and significant impact on the lives of urban youth. At SquashBusters, he crafted a program model that engaged youth in thrice weekly structured experiences in squash, academic enrichment, community service and mentoring.

SquashBusters early success led to its partnership with Northeastern University in building the country’s first-ever urban youth center featuring squash and academics. The success of this very ambitious capital project - $9.4m construction cost – signaled to the country that the sky really was the limit for urban squash to make a difference in the world. Since the completion of this center, StreetSquash in Harlem and SquashSmarts in Philadelphia have built similarly magnificent youth centers.

Greg spent his early adult years playing professional squash on the World Professional Squash Association Tour where he reached a career high of #2 and earned a tournament victory in 1990 at the Canadian Open Championships. It was during Greg’s seven years as a touring squash professional that the motivation to democratize the sport of squash began to arise.

Greg retired from professional squash in 1991 to pursue a career in public service. His first stop was the Kennedy School of Government where he studied public policy, community development and non-profit leadership for two years and received his Masters in Public Policy. It was here at the Kennedy School that Greg wrote a term paper for starting an urban squash program entitled ‘Bringing Squash Down from the Ivory Tower, the Creation of an Urban Squash and Education Program.’ Upon graduation, Greg spent less than two years working in affordable housing at the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency before he resigned with the conviction at last to make his urban squash dream a reality. It was in April 1995 that SquashBusters and urban squash were born.

Greg graduated from Williams College in 1984. Greg lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife, Sonja, and his two bulldogs, Leo and Lucy.