WFDF President Rauch re-elected
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the results of its 2020 elections, with the WFDF member associations voting on several open positions on the Board of Directors. Among other positions, the membership re-elected Robert “Nob“ Rauch as President for an additional two-year term.
“I feel truly honored that the WFDF membership has entrusted me to serve another term as their President. WFDF will be relying upon its experienced Board of Directors, capable staff, dedicated volunteers, and enthusiastic flying disc community to confront the challenges and opportunities in 2021 and beyond. While the COVID pandemic is currently in its massive second wave and the situation feels quite dire, the introduction of effective and safe vaccines challenges us to initiate and manage the transition back to a more normal level of activities, all while keeping within health and safety guidelines,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch upon his re-election, which makes him the longest standing WFDF President over a consecutive period.
“We are extremely pleased to have maintained the number of women on the Board at seven out of the eighteen members as we continue to pursue gender equality in our governance structure as well as in our competitive events. I also want to thank outgoing Board members Amandine Constant (EFDF) and Guts chair Steve Taylor for their long-standing contribution to the development of Flying Disc sports.”
The 2020 elections saw the WFDF Member Associations voting on the open positions on the Board of Directors and on the Ultimate Committee to serve, effective 1 January 2021. The 2020 election was conducted online via a voting form using the Single Transferable Vote methodology where the positions were elected in uncontested votes.
The following candidates were elected by the WFDF membership for two-year Board positions:
President: Robert “Nob” Rauch (USA), Executive Committee position
Robert “Nob” Rauch was a competitive Ultimate player from 1976 to 1994 and has been involved in positions of leadership in disc sports since 1987. He was the National Director/Executive Director of the Ultimate Players Association (the UPA, now USA Ultimate or USAU) from 1988 to 1990, was chairman of the UPA’s Executive Committee in 1991-1992, and is currently a board member and treasurer of The Ultimate Hall of Fame. He has also served as president of the World Flying Disc Federation from 1992 to 1994 and from 2011 to the present and as Chair of its Ultimate Committee from 1988 to 1992. As an athlete playing on Ultimate teams in Chicago, Boston, and New York, Rauch won six US National Championships and five World Championships, and he was elected to the Ultimate Hall of Fame in 2006. He also was a contributing author for the book “Ultimate: The First Five Decades” for Volume 1 published in December 2005 and Volume 2 in May 2019. Rauch has a 40+ year career as an investment banker and investment manager specializing in corporate and sovereign debt and private equity in global emerging markets. He received his bachelor’s degree in political economy from Williams College and a master’s degree in finance and international business from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University. He is married to former Ultimate player Katie Shields Rauch and has three children.
Secretary: Thomas Griesbaum (GER), Executive Committee position
Thomas has been involved with disc sports since 1981, beginning with freestyle, disc golf and field events and later with Ultimate. He served as a WFDF board member from 2001-2006 and rejoined as Secretary in 2011. He was President of the European Flying Disc Federation from 1990 to 2020 and now serves as its Vice President. He was a co-founder of Deutscher Frisbeesport-Verband for which he served as President from 1989-2000. He organized the first Ultimate exhibition in the World Games in 1989 and served as WFDF’s technical delegate at the 2005 World Games. Thomas is currently a staff member of the Faculty of Informatics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Disc Golf Chair: Charlie Mead (GBR)
Charlie Mead has rich experience as a player, administrator and tournament organizer of all disc sports since 1980. He has held World Overall titles, and European and British Titles in Disc Golf in Open, Master, Grand Master and Senior Grand Master Divisions, and he was awarded the Steady Ed Headrick Trophy for representing and developing Disc Golf in 2013. Still active, for 2016 he was elected Captain of the GB Team for the European Disc Golf Championships in Oulu, Finland. He was also a member of the Great Britain National Ultimate Team from 1982-1991 in the Open and Masters’ Divisions. Charlie was the first UK Flying Disc President (1981), first European Flying Disc Federation President (1982), first WFDF President (1985- 1989), Chair of the WFDF Ultimate Committee and Board member (1994-2002), and he is currently International Coordinator for the British Disc Golf Association (BDGA). Charlie was the Tournament Director for the WFDF Overall Championships in Colchester in 1989, the TD for WFDF World Ultimate Championships in 1986, 1994, 1995, and 1999, and Technical TD for WFDF’s events in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002. Outside of his disc career, Charlie is currently an independent consultant providing localized community-based psychological support to children in need. He received a BA (Hons) from Keele University, and M. Ed degrees in both Child Psychology and Educational Psychology from Birmingham University. Charlie lives with partner Maggi on their farm in Devon, UK.
Overall Committee Chair: Rob McLeod (CAN)
“Frisbee Rob” McLeod is a full time motivational speaker and frisbee ambassador with six Guinness World Records, 14 WFDF World Records, and 12 World Championships in the sport of flying disc. Rob has competed in all of the disc sports recognized by the WFDF and is still an active player in most of them, having been playing frisbee for 19 years. Over the past five years Rob has been to more than 350 schools, ran more than 5,000 workshops, and taught frisbee to more than 125,000 kids, all in his efforts to introduce frisbee to as many people as possible and bring together the various disc sport organizations throughout all the communities in order to bring their efforts together and maximize the resources and human power to grow the sport of flying disc. Rob holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Dalhousie University and majored in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Calgary.
Guts Committee Chair: Adam Swanson (USA)
Adam has been the on the board of USA Guts since 2018. As an athlete, he has played Guts since 2010 and he represented Team USA at the World Ultimate and Guts Frisbee Championships in 2012 and 2016, winning gold in 2016. An active competitor, he was named Most Valuable Player at the International Frisbee Tournament (IFT) in 2018. He was also the team Captain and Club President on his college Ultimate team. Adam is the Associate Accountant at the University of Wisconsin – Steven Point, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in 2016.
Beach Ultimate Committee Chair: David Raflo (USA)
David Raflo has been playing Ultimate since 1992 and organizing since 1995. With the Ultimate Players Association/USA Ultimate, David served in numerous volunteer roles from 1995 through 2011 including Regional Coordinator, National Open Director, National Masters Director, Secretary of Board of Directors, Coaching Instructor, Observer, Volunteer Coordinator for various events, and Competition Director for about 20 more. David began working full-time for USA Ultimate as Events Manager in 2012 and has overseen numerous championship events, including several of USAU’s Beach events since 2016. He was also the principal author of the Tournament Director’s Manual and Showcase Game Manual for USAU. David began volunteering with WFDF in 2007 and, over the years, has served at various times on the Spirit of the Game, Ultimate Rules, Events, and Beach Ultimate Committees. David has also served as WFDF Tournament Technical Director of the WFDF 2018 World Junior Ultimate Championships and at WFDF’s 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 Pan American Ultimate Championships. David co-authored the chapter about local leagues in “Ultimate: The First Four Decades” and, in 2018 — the 50th anniversary of the development of Ultimate –he put on museum-style exhibits of Ultimate’s history at WFDF’s World Ultimate Club Championships, USA Ultimate’s National Championships, and at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, the birthplace of the sport. David earned a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia and currently lives in Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
Elected by the Continental Associations and approved by the respective WFDF membership for the open positions:
Africa Continental Representative: Alex “Queenie” Matovu (UGA) for AAFDF
Alex “Queenie” Matovu started playing ultimate in 1995 in Kampala as a teenager. In 1999 he started the Kampala Ultimate Frisbee Club just after organizing a first ever tournament in November 1999. From 2001-2005 he ran a series of tournaments attracting several embassies and schools and ran tournaments on the same ground. In 2006 he started the Seven Hills Classics Ultimate tournament which later became one of the biggest Ultimate Tournaments in Africa attracting five to seven countries within the region of East Africa. In 2015 Alex led team Uganda to the WCBU2015, with the same year Uganda hosting the first All Africa Ultimate Club Championship and hosting a WFDF East Africa Ultimate Clinic. In 2016 Matovu discussed to form the All Africa Flying Disc Federation (AAFDF) which was officially launched at the 2017 All Africa Ultimate Club Champion in Nairobi. Alex has been President since 2017 for the All Africa Flying Disc Federation. Outside of the Ultimate scene, he is a Director of Activate Uganda, a sports events management company, has run several businesses in Uganda, and worked for the US State Department as a contractor.
European Continental Representative: Haude Hermand (FRA) for EFDF
Haude Hermand discovered Flying Disc in 1998 and has been playing club Ultimate since 2008 and coaching since 2012. She was elected President of the European Flying Disc Federation (EFDF) in December 2020. Her team won the French National Championship in the Women’s division from 2010 to 2013 and she was the French Mixed National Team captain from 2010 to 2016. Haude has served as a Board member of Fédération Flying Disc France (FFDF) in charge of international affairs since 2016 and has also served as a Board member and Competition Coordinator of the European Ultimate Federation (EUF) since 2016. In her professional life she is System Engineering Manager for THALES, the air traffic management group. Haude received her Engineering diploma from SUPELEC (Paris) and her Master of Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech in the USA.
Returning At-Large Member of the Board:
The Board of Directors has in addition appointed an At-Large Board member for the 2021-2022 term.
Director At-Large: Yoonee Jeong (KOR)
Yoonee first caught the Ultimate fever in 2004 and served as the first female president of the Korea Ultimate Players Association (KUPA) from 2008 to 2010. She continued to play ultimate through marriage, work, and three kids and most recently was part of Singapore Women’s Team at the WBCU 2017 and Women’s Masters Team at the WMUCC 2018. She also was a Game Advisor for the U24 2018 and WUCC 2018. For her day job, Yoonee works at Telenor Group as a Director of Public and Regulatory Affairs. Previously, she has worked for international organizations such as the UN and World Bank as a technology public policy professional. She received her master’s degree in International Development Policy from Duke University and her bachelor’s degree from Ateneo de Manila University.
Returning Members of the Board:
Treasurer: Kate Bergeron (USA), Executive Committee position
Kate rejoined the Board as WFDF Treasurer in 2014, having held this position previously from 2008 through the end of 2012. She has served as a WFDF board member since 2007 and has held numerous functions at the Ultimate Players Association (now USA Ultimate) including serving as its President from 2002 to 2004. Kate has worked as a coach for several Women’s Ultimate teams and recently won the Silver medal at the 2014 World Ultimate Club Championships in the Women’s Masters division with Godiva. Kate is a Senior Director, Macintosh Product Design, Apple Inc. at Cupertino, CA, and has experience as a Product Development Executive for many years.
Chair, Ultimate Committee: Brian Gisel (CAN), Executive Committee member
Brian has been a WFDF board member since 2009 and previously from 2002-2007, serving as the Ultimate Committee Chair from 2004-2007. He was tournament director of the 2008 World Ultimate and Guts Championships and the 1997 World Ultimate Club Championships and has run several Canadian National Championships. He was the Vancouver Ultimate League Board President from 2009-2012 and has also served on the Ultimate Canada board. Brian is currently the General Manager of BC Ultimate.
Asia/Oceania Continental Representative: Fumio “Moro” Morooka (JPN) for AOFDF
Moro is a sports education professional who has been a Board Member of WFDF continuously since 1992. He has also currently served as President of Japan Flying Disc Association since 2009 and is on the Executive Committee of the International World Games Association. He was Tournament Director of the WFDF WUGC in 1992 and TOC President in 2012 of the World Ultimate and Guts Championships held in Japan. In addition to disc sports, Moro has been a Board Member of the Japan Olympic Academy (JOA) from 2007 to the Present and Executive Director of the Japan World Games Association (JWGA) from 2001 to the present. He previously served as Executive Director of the World Games 2001 Akita Organizing Committee and was a Council Member of SportAccord from 2009 -2011. Moro is Professor of Department of Health and Physical Education at Sophia University in Tokyo, where he has served as its chair and has authored numerous books and papers in the field of sports and recreation.
America Representative: Nicole Bulos (DOM) for PAFDF
Nicole was one of the founding members of the Project Ultimate Femenino (UF!) in the Dominican Republic in 2010, which resulted in the formation of the first female ultimate teams in the country, and she became the co-founder and captain the following year of one of the first women’s Dominican teams, Fusion. After playing for various teams, she is currently on her local team Shotgun and became the President of the Dominican national association (AUDN) in 2018. She has served as a WFDF Ultimate Committee member, was a volunteer at the WFDF 2018 WUCC in Cincinnati, and was the WFDF Tournament Technical Director for the PanAmerican Ultimate Championship in Sarasota, FL in 2019. Nicole received her Clinical Psychology degree from the Univeridad Iberoamericana in Santo Domingo and her postgraduate degree in social cognitive therapy form Univeridad de Barcelona in Spain, and she is a teacher at the Carol Morgan School in Santo Domingo.
Chair, Freestyle: Lori Daniels (USA)
Lori has been involved with flying disc sports since 1981, as an athlete, promoter, and administrator. She earned the title as WFDF 2011 Women’s Overall Champion and has also won three WFDF Freestyle Championships, in addition to winning numerous US Open Overall titles, Freestyle Players Association (FPA) titles, and Double Disc Court championships, and other titles too numerous to recount. As an all-round disc sport competitor, she remains active with today with Freestyle, Disc Golf, and Ultimate. Lori has been the tournament director of a number of events over the years and recently served as MC for the Freestyle competition at the inaugural World Urban Games in Budapest in 2019. Lori has served as Executive director of the FPA from 2010-2015 and is currently a member of the board, and she has served as a member of the WFDF Freestyle Committee since 2014. Lori is a full-time Associate Professor of Social Work and chair of the MSW program at Hawaii Pacific University in Honolulu. She earned her BS in Psychology at Mary Washington College in Virginia, her MA in Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, and her PhD in Social Welfare at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Medical Director: Jamie Nuwer (USA)
Dr. Jamie has served as the Medical Anti-Doping Committee Chairwoman of WFDF since 2011 and as the Medical Committee Chairwoman for USA Ultimate from 2010-2014. She has been the coaching Ultimate since 2003 and has coached the Stanford Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team since 2010. She coached several of the USA U20 and U24 junior national teams in 2012-2016. She has done research on college Ultimate injuries and developed the first Sports Medicine Section of the USA Ultimate Coaching Manual for Coaching. She currently works at her own private practice in Palo Alto, CA doing sports medicine and regenerative medicine. Jamie received her MD from UCLA and a BS in Biology from Stanford University.
Director At-Large: Caroline Malone (QAT)
Caroline “Caz” Malone is currently the Chair of the WFDF Women in Sport Commission. She was previously WFDF’s Deputy Chair of the Sport for All and Development Commission, AFDF Deputy Secretary General and President of the Ultimate Players Association of Qatar (UPAQ) while living in the country. Caz has been an international Ultimate player for Open, Mixed and Women’s teams across three continents, and played for the debut national teams in World Ultimate Championships of the UAE in 2011 and Qatar in 2015. She has 15 years of global journalism experience, a BSc in Economics and Philosophy with joint honours from the London School of Economics and a masters degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong.
Spirit of the Game Committee (SOTG) Chair: Wolfgang Maehr (SGP)
Wolfgang has played Ultimate for the last 15 years in Europe (Sweden, Norway) and in Asia (India, Singapore) participating in a number of tournaments at all levels across Europe and especially Southeast Asia, including three WFDF World Championships. He has also been involved in Singapore’s beach Ultimate scene and previously was involved in the Indian Ultimate community for more than 7 years working mostly on the systems and administration side of things. Wolfgang has been an active member of the SOTG Committee since 2018 with a particular focus on updating the scoring system and doing analytics on the data. An Austrian national, Wolfgang has been involved in digital product design since 2004 and is currently the Design/Product Lead at PebbleRoad in Singapore. He received his Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) in Information and Communication Engineering at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (AUT) and Linköping University (SWE) and Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design at Chalmers University of Technology in (SWE).
Athletes Commission Chair: Liam Grant (IRL)
Liam started playing Ultimate in 2009 at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He first represented Ireland at WCBU in 2011 and has played for his country at multiple European and world championships since. Notably, he won a silver medal in the mixed division at EBUC 2013 and captained the mixed national team at WUGC 2016. He is also a four-time Irish national champion with his club team PELT. The Siege of Limerick is one of the biggest tournaments in Europe and Liam was a Tournament Director for the event for five years, along with organizing several national championship events. From Tom’s Tourney to the Asian Oceanic Ultimate Guts Championships, Liam has commentated on almost every major Ultimate event on the planet, and he remains one of the standout names in the broadcasting of the sport. He is also an established journalist, writing for the likes of Ultiworld and co-hosting the European ultimate podcast, EuroZone. Liam is also a former Irish college surf champion and is trained as an Emergency Medical Technician. He has an honors degree in Earth & Ocean Science from the National University of Ireland, Galway and a long history of entrepreneurship.
Election Result Details:
The 2020 Election was conducted online via a voting form using the Single Transferable Vote methodology. There were 58 regular members in good standing with a total of 157 votes. To meet the requisite majorities, a total of 80 votes were required for election with no less than 29 member associations voting. Over the course of the voting period, which extended from November 1 to December 1, 2020, 45 members with a total of 127 votes cast their ballots. All candidates have received the quorum needed for passage.
The following votes were tallied per each candidate:
WFDF Board of Directors Members:
President: Robert “Nob” RAUCH (124 yes, 3 abstentions)
Secretary: Thomas GRIESBAUM (123 yes, 4 abstentions)
Chair, Disc Golf: Charlie MEAD (97 yes, 30 abstentions)
Chair, Guts: Adam SWANSON (91 yes, 36 abstentions)
Chair, Overall: Rob MCLEOD (92 yes, 35 abstentions)
Chair, Beach Ultimate: David RAFLO (112 yes, 25 abstentions)
Ultimate Committee Members:
Ultimate Committee Deputy Chair: Will DEAVER (112 yes, 25 abstentions)
Championships Sub-Committee Chair: Simon HILL (122 yes, 15 abstentions)
Rules Subcommittee Chair: Rueben BERG (113 yes, 14 abstentions)