WFDF appoints Volker Bernardi of Germany as Executive Director

In Official Communication, Press Release * Official Communication by WFDF

The World Flying Disc Federation has announced the appointment of Volker Bernardi from Germany as its new Executive Director. Mr. Bernardi, who will  serve as the first full-time Executive Director of WFDF, has assumed his duties effective immediately. Kevin “Skippy” Givens, former part-time Executive  Director, will stay on as Administrative Consultant through March 31, 2011 to assist in the transition. Mr. Bernardi will establish a home office near Frankfurt,  Germany to serve a WFDF’s administrative headquarters.
“We are extremely pleased to bring on someone with Volker’s Olympic Movement experience to WFDF,” stated Robert “Nob” Rauch, WFDF President.  “Although he is not a disc player, with his professional sports background we are confident Volker can assist us in effectively addressing the challenges and  opportunities we are facing at WFDF, including developing our anti-doping programs, improving our global development efforts, upgrading our internal  communications and governance standards, and further supporting our events and current and prospective members. And we want to especially thank  Skippy Givens for all of his contributions over the last three years. Skippy has done a great job carrying out his responsibilities in a part-time position and  WFDF is much better for all his efforts.”

Mr. Bernardi has most recently served as a senior international sports consultant and has significant experience with several Olympic Movement associations.  Over the last five years, he held a number of positions within the German Squash Federation as Secretary General and Chair of their Anti-Doping  Commission and as CEO of their Marketing and Promotion Company. He also served as Director of the Marketing Commissions of the World Squash  Federation and European Squash Federation and supported the 38th Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008 as Marketing Director. Prior to this, Mr. Bernardi was  the Administrative Director of the International Canoe Federation based in Madrid from 2000 to 2005, where he was responsible for administration and  international relations with the IOC, ASOIF, and GAISF, and served as the WADA Contact Officer. Mr. Bernardi, 41, currently resides with his family in  Harxheim, Germany, near Frankfurt. He is a German National but has spent a part of his working career in Madrid/Spain. He was trained as an attorney  specialized in sports law and, in 1996 and 1998, he concluded his legal state examinations at the University of the Saarland in Saarbrücken (Germany). He  was awarded the Executive Master in Sport Administration Management (MEMOS) degree at the IOC and University of Lyon (France) in 2002. He is a  lecturer in Sports Law at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz (Germany). Mr. Bernardi is fluent in German, English, French, and Spanish, and  conversant in Italian.
Mr. Bernardi’s appointment concludes a search that was begun in October 2010 and which generated interest from nearly 35 candidates from five countries.