WFDF President Rauch re-elected
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the results of its 2022 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 am extremely pleased to see a very experienced Board of Directors returning after being re-elected. Supported by our capable staff, dedicated volunteers, and the enthusiastic flying disc community, I am confident that we are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities in 2023 and beyond,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.
“Of particular note we have increased the number of women on the Board to nine out of the eighteen members as we continue to pursue gender equality across our governance structure as well as in our competitive events. I also want to thank outgoing Board member David Raflo for his contributions to the development of Flying Disc sports globally and welcome his replacement Shiellah Quintos as the new Beach Ultimate Committee Chair. After the election of Caroline Tisson as Athletes’ Commission chair, the increase of voting women on the Board to 50% constitutes a highlight for WFDF governance heading into the new year 2023.”
The 2022 elections saw the WFDF Member Associations voting on five positions on the Board of Directors and on the Ultimate Committee to serve a two-year term, effective 1 January 2023. The 2022 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 the respective open Board positions:
President: Robert “Nob” Rauch (USA), Executive Committee position
Robert “Nob” Rauch was an active 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) from 1988 to 1990, was chairman of the UPA’s Executive Committee in 1991-1992 and is currently a member of the USAU Investment Committee and Hall of Fame Committee. He has also served as president of the WFDF from 1992 to 1994 and from 2011 to the present and as Chair of its Ultimate Committee from 1988 to 1992. He starts his seventh consecutive term at the beginning of 2023.
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 January 2019. Rauch has a 42-year career in finance and investment banking and is currently a Managing Director of Miller Buckfire & Co., specializing in corporate and sovereign debt restructurings in global emerging markets. He received his bachelor’s degree in political economy from Williams College and 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 adult 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 has been President of the European Flying Disc Federation from 1990-2020 and 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 playing actively he is the current MP65 European Masters Disc Golf Champion and will be defending his title in Hungary in 2023. He has now been Chair of the WFDF Disc Golf Committee for 6 years and has overseen the growth of the WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships in 2017, 2019 and 2022. 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.
Guts Committee Chair: Steve Taylor (USA)
Steve has been the President of USA Guts since 2007. As an athlete, he has played Guts since 1981 and his team won the 2010 US National Championship. He was a member of Team USA at WUGC 2004 and WUGC 2008 and participated in the All Japan Guts Tournament in Tokyo in 2007 and 2009. Steve is the owner and partner of LUX Interactive, which provides web-based software solutions to a variety of clients, including concentrations in airlines, not-for-profit organizations, and e-commerce clients.
Beach Ultimate Committee Chair: Shiellah Quintos (CAN)
Shiellah has served as WFDF Ultimate Subcommittee Chair since 2017 and EUF Head Scorekeeper since 2019. She worked for BULA as the Volunteer Coordinator at WCBU / EBUCC / EBUC since 2015 and as WFDF Game Advisor/Trainer starting from WUCC 2014. She is a USAU Certified Observer Trainer since 2012 and USAU Northeast Regional Observer Coordinator, since 2011. Adding up to her Ultimate experience is USAU Certified Observer since 2007, USAU/UPA Club Championships Volunteer Coordinator (2003 – 2012) and UPA Northeast Mixed Regional Coordinator (2003 – 2008). She was an Executive Director, Canadian Ultimate Players Association (2004 – 2006) and Executive Director, Association de Ultimate de Montréal (2002 – 2008).
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.
Europe Continental Representative: Haude Hermand (FRA) for EFDF
Haude was re-elected EFDF President in January 2022 already. Having discovered Flying Disc in 1998, she has been playing Ultimate in club since 2008, and coaching since 2012. She was a French National Champion in the Women division (2010 to 2013) and French Mixed National Team captain (2010 to 2016). A FFFD Board member for International affairs since 2016 she also serves as EUF Board member (Competition Coordinator) since. Working as a System Engineering Manager in THALES (Air Traffic Management domain) she graduated with an Engineering diploma from SUPELEC (Paris, FRANCE) and Master of Electrical and Computer Engineering (GeorgiaTech, USA).
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 2014 World Ultimate Club Championships in the Women’s Masters division with Godiva. Kate is now an active “Ultimate Parent”, with both of her children participating in the youth division of the sport. Kate is also a Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Apple Inc. in Cupertino, CA and has many years of experience as a Product Development Executive.
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 has also been elected as Vice President for the last four years. 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.
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.
Overall Committee Chair: Rob McLeod (CAN)
Rob McLeod is a full time motivational speaker and frisbee ambassador with 13 Guinness World Records, 21 WFDF World Records, and 14 World Championships in the sport of flying disc. Also known as Frisbee Rob, he 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 22 years. Over the past eight years Rob has been to more than 400 schools, ran more than 6,000 workshops, and taught frisbee to more than 140,000 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.
Spirit of the Game Committee (SOTG) Chair: José Amoroso (POR)
José Amoroso is an adjunct teacher in Polytechnic of Leiria since 2008. He has been ambassador of the National Ethics plan in Sport since 2018 and was ambassador of Leiria European City of Sport 2022. Currently the Chair of the WFDF Spirit Of The Game Commission, Chair of the WFDF University and School Sport / Youth and Sport Commission and Chair, WFDF Sport for All and Development Commission. He began his passion for disc sports in 2000 as an Erasmus student in Belgium (Bruges). He founded the Leiria Flying objects in 2012, and he was previously President National Association of Ultimate and Sports Disc for 5 years, Over 20 years of professional experience in the field of Physical Education and Sport, having exercised activities in the areas of Education, Pedagogy, and Ethics in sports, PhD. in Physical education and Sports (thesis entitled “ULTIMATE FRISBEE PLAYERS: PLAYING HIGHLY COMPETITIVE WITH GOOD SPIRIT”) and Author of the ebooks on Parasport Wheelchair Ultimate (2021) and Ultimate at Schools Programme Teacher’s File (2020).
Medical Director: Jamie Nuwer (USA)
Jamie has served as the Medical Anti-Doping Committee Chairwoman of WFDF since 2011 and as the Medical Committee Chairwoman for USA Ultimate since 2010. She has been the coach for the UCLA and Stanford Women’s Ultimate Frisbee teams since 2003 and was coach of the USA U20 and U23 junior national teams in 2012-2013. She has done research on college Ultimate injuries and developed the Sports Medicine Section of the USA Ultimate Coaching Manual for Coaching. She is currently Medical DirectorMedical Director at RegenCore, a non-surgical Regenerative Sports Medicine and Orthopedic practice with locations in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California.
Director at large appointed by the Board: Caroline Malone (QAT)
Caroline ‘Caz’ Malone is WFDF’s Women in Sport Commission Chair. As Director-at-large she’s developing flying disc sports globally and focusing on gender equality and equity. Caz is an international Ultimate Frisbee player with experience in Open, Mixed and Women’s teams across three continents. She helped launch and develop the Ultimate Players Association of Qatar, and served as Development Director and President 2015-2017. In her professional life, Caz is an award-winning TV/Digital producer/ reporter for international news broadcasters with 20 years global experience.
Director at large appointed by the Board: Yoonee Jeong (KOR)
Yoonee first caught the Ultimate fever in 2004 and served as the first female president of Korea Ultimate Players Association (KUPA) from 2008 to 2010. She continued toplay 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.
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 two of the first women’s Dominican teams, Fusion and Panteras. Over the years she played for several local teams, three of which she served as Spirit Captain for. She was the President of the Dominican National Association (AUDN) for the 2018-2020 term. She has served as a WFDF Ultimate Committee member, was a volunteer at the WFDF 2018 WUCC in Cincinnati, was the WFDF Tournament Technical Director for the PanAmerican Ultimate Championship in Sarasota, FL in 2019, and the Spirit Director for WFDF 2022 WUCC in Cincinnati. Nicole received her Clinical Psychology degree from the Univeridad Iberoamericana in Santo Domingo and her postgraduate degree in Social Cognitive Therapy from Univeridad de Barcelona in Spain, and she is a teacher at the Cap Cana Heritage School in Punta Cana.
Athletes Commission Chair: Caroline Tisson (GER)
Caroline was elected as member of the WFDF Athletes’ Commission at WUCC 2022 Caroline was elected as member of the WFDF Athletes’ Commission at WUCC2022 and thereafter chosen by the Commission as its chair. She has been presenting Germany as part of various national teams and participated in numerous international events, including 2010 EYUC Heilbronn, GER (U17 girls, 1st place and Spirit Winner), 2011 EYUC Wroclaw, POL (U20 women, 2nd place), 2012 WYUC Dublin, IRL (U20 women, 4th place and Spirit Winner), 2013 EYUC Cologne, GER (U20 women, 1st place), 2015 WU24C London, GBR (U24 women), 2016 WUGC London, GBR (adult women), 2018 WU24C Perth, AUS (U24 women), 2019 EUC Györ, HUN (adult women, captain). At club level, she competes internationally with YAKA from Noisy-le-Sec, FRA. She also has been serving as a National Coach for various Junior women’s teams from 2015 to 2022. With a master’s degree in International Sport Development and Politics, Caroline understands challenges of sports governance and knows about the importance of athlete’s representation. Currently, Caroline is leading the Erasmus+ funded project “Empowering women in Ultimate Frisbee – Play.Coach.Grow”, which is a joint project by DFV (Germany) and IFDA (Ireland). She currently lives in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Election Result Details
The 2022 Election was conducted online via a voting form using the Single Transferable Vote methodology. There were 54 regular members in good standing with a total of 143 votes. To meet the requisite majorities, a total of 73 votes were required for election with no less than 28 member associations voting.
Over the course of the voting period, which extended from November 15 to December 15, 2022, 37 members with a total of 109 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 (97 yes, 12 abstentions)
Secretary: Thomas GRIESBAUM (106 yes, 3 abstentions)
Chair, Disc Golf: Charlie MEAD (94 yes, 15 abstentions)
Chair, Guts: Steve TAYLOR (78 yes, 31 abstentions)
Chair, Beach Ultimate: Shiellah QUINTOS (100 yes, 9 abstentions)
Africa Representative: Alex “Queenie” MATOVU elected by AAFDF
European Representative: Haude HERMAND elected by EFDF
Ultimate Committee Members:
Ultimate Committee Deputy Chair: Will DEAVER (99 yes, 10 abstentions)
Championships Sub-Committee Chair: Simon HILL (102 yes, 7 abstentions)
Rules Subcommittee Chair: Rueben BERG (106 yes, 3 abstentions)