Minzner joins USRowing following more than 10 years with Community Rowing, a non-profit rowing club in Boston, where she was the director of inclusion and advocacy.

She and her team of coaches and staff created a model for serving people with disabilities, military veterans and underserved youth, which has been adopted on a national level, during her time with the non-profit.

Minzner will now oversee the high performance programme on a full-time basis after she first took the role part-time in April 2019.

Her focus is on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, scheduled to take place from August 24 to September 5 after being postponed from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I am thrilled to be in a position to focus my attention on building a programme of sustained excellence for US Para-rowing across all disciplines," said Minzner.

"I look forward to working with all the coaches, athletes, and the high performance staff at USRowing to make that happen, from Tokyo through LA 2028."

Before being named director, Minzner was a coach of the PR3 mixed four with coxswain team for several years, guiding them to a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

"We are really fortunate to be able to get Ellen on board full-time to continue to build the Para programmes," said USRowing high performance director Matt Imes.

"As World Rowing has included events at the World Championships, our Para programming will benefit greatly from having dedicated personnel and resources working year-round to lead and support the programmes."