WFDF 2024 Elections: Leadership for the Future of Flying Disc

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the full results of its 2024 elections in December, 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 four-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 2025 and beyond,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The 2024 elections saw the WFDF Member Associations voting on five positions on the Board of Directors and three on the Ultimate Committee to serve a four-year term, effective 1 January 2025. The 2025 election was conducted online via a voting form using the Single Transferable Vote methodology.

The following candidates were elected by the WFDF membership for the respective open Board positions:

Newly elected members of the Board of Directors

Robert “Nob” Rauch was an active Ultimate player from 1976 to 1994 and has been involved in positions of leadership in flying disc (frisbee) sports since 1987. He was the National Director/Executive Director of the Ultimate Players Association (the UPA, now USA Ultimate) from 1988 to 1990 and was chairman of the UPA’s Executive Committee in 1991-1992. He has also served as president of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) 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 January 2019. A long-time New Yorker, Rauch retired this year from a 43-year career in finance and investment banking specializing in debt restructurings in global emerging markets and is currently pursuing a PhD in Sport Management from the Deutsche Sport Hochschule Köln in Germany. 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. Rauch is married to former Ultimate player Katie Shields Rauch and has three adult children.

Catherine has served as the Secretary of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) since January 2025. With a professional background in project management, international development, and NGO work, she brings a wealth of experience to her new position. Catherine (she/her) is currently the General Secretary of the Uganda Ultimate Frisbee Association and serves as a Youth in Sport Program Advisor for Brotherly Hearts International. Her professional work focuses on inclusivity and community-building through sport, with a particular passion for the empowerment of women and girls. Her journey in Ultimate began in 2016, when she was introduced to the sport. Her commitment and leadership quickly led her to take on key roles within the Uganda Ultimate Frisbee community. Catherine has played a significant part in organizing national tournaments and international events, contributing to the growth of Ultimate Frisbee in her country. Catherine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Project Management and has earned certificates in Sports Administration and Leadership from The Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC), Girls for Girls (G4G) Project and the Hive Global Leaders Program.

Craig Sheather has taken on the role of Chair of the Disc Golf Committee as of January 2025, having previously served as a member of the committee. An avid Disc Golf player for over 25 years, Craig has been an influential figure in various provincial and national organizations in Canada. He has organized and chaired major events, including the prestigious BC Open, a PDGA A-tier tournament, as well as National and Provincial Championships in Canada. After a successful 33-year career in the not-for-profit sector, where he served as the Chief Operating Officer at the YMCA, Craig brings a wealth of leadership experience in community-focused organizations. His broad experience as both a player and organizer has helped shape the landscape of Disc Golf in Canada. Craig holds a Bachelor’s degree in Leisure Studies and remains deeply committed to growing the sport at every level, ensuring it remains accessible and engaging for communities everywhere.

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.

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. She is also a USAU Certified Observer since 2007, USAU/UPA Club Championships Volunteer Coordinator (2003–2012) and UPA Northeast Mixed Regional Coordinator (2003–2008). She was the Executive Director of the  Canadian Ultimate Players Association (2004 – 2006) and Executive Director of the  Association de Ultimate de Montréal (2002 – 2008).

Returning Members of the Board

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 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. Most recently she has participated in the Grand Masters women’s division of Ultimate in the USA with Boston Ultimate/Nor’easter. In 2014 Kate was a member of the US Master’s team (Godiva) that won the Silver medal at 2014 World Ultimate Club Championships. Kate is Vice President, Hardware Engineering at Apple, Inc. where she oversees Mac, iPad, Watch, and Audio products.

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.

Rob McLeod, widely recognized as “Frisbee Rob,” is an esteemed motivational speaker and a dedicated ambassador of frisbee. With an impressive tally of 13 Guinness World Records, 21 World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) World Records, and 14 World Championship titles, his expertise in the flying disc sports realm is unparalleled. Rob’s diverse skill set spans across all WFDF-recognized disc sports, with 23 years of active competition and achievements. As a passionate advocate for the sport, Rob has spent the last decade inspiring the next generation, having conducted over 7,500 workshops in more than 500 schools. His commitment has enlightened over 150,000 kids about the joys and benefits of frisbee. His mission is to expand the reach of frisbee, fostering unity among disc sport organizations and optimizing community resources to cultivate the growth of flying disc sports. Rob’s academic background is as diverse as his frisbee career; he holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Dalhousie University and has pursued a major in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Calgary. His educational pursuits complement his sporting achievements, underpinning his dedication to excellence both on and off the field.

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).

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 Director of Business Operations at CityPT Inc.

Esther Omuseni is now WFDF’s Women in Sport Commission Chair. As Director-at-large she will develop flying disc sports globally and focusing on gender equality and equity, inclusive participation in promoting gender equality, cultural sensitivity, youth empowerment and collaboration and representation. She holds a Msc. Medical biotechnology at Maseno University and a Degree in Bsc, Biomedical Science and Technology at Egerton University (Njoro Campus).

Filomena Fortes was appointed as an independent board member of WFDF in 2024, with a long history of sports experience in Cape Verde, across Africa, and in the Olympic Movement, and she has been an IOC Member since 2019. She is President of the Cape Verdean Olympic Committee (2014-present) and currently serves as Vice-President of Zone II of ANOCA, as President of the Association of Olympic Committees of Portuguese Official Language (ACOLOP), Vice-President of the Women and Sport Commission of ANOCA, and as a Member of the WADA Foundation Board. Within the IOC, Fortes is a member of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad (2019-present), Sustainability and Legacy Commission (2022-present), and Olympism 365 (2022-present), and was previously a member of the Sport and Active Society Commission (2014-2021), Olympic Education Commission (2014-2021), and Coordination of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad Los Angeles 2028 Commission (2019-2020). For Rio 2016, she served as head of the Cape Verdean Delegation to the Olympic Games and as Paralympic Attaché to the Paralympic Games, and for London 2012 was Paralympic Attaché to the Paralympic Games. She was also a Founder Member of Cape Verdean Paralympic Committee and was previously President of the Cape Verdean Handball Federation (2014-2017). Outside of sports administration, Fortes has worked as a secondary school physical education teacher, professor and coordinator of physical education and sports courses at UNICV (1996-2012), and as Coordinator of the Physical Education and Sports course at the Public University of Cape Verde (2012-2014). She earned a degree in Physical Culture at the High Institute Manuel Fajardo, Cuba, a Postgraduate in Youth Education at Coimbra, Portugal, a Master in Sport Sciences (FCDEF) at Porto University, Portugal, an Executive Master in Sports Organisations at MEMOS, and a PHD in Sciences of Education from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal.

Ex-Officio member of the Board

Member elected by the board to replace a member stepping down:

Members selected by the Continental Associations:

Jose Maria, or more known in the Asian Ultimate Community as Ping, has been an active member of the Philippine Ultimate Community since it started in the Philippines in 2002.. As an organizer, Ping has been the President and member of the Board of Directors of both the Philippine Ultimate Association (PUA) and later the Philippine Flying Disc Association (PFDA). He has also been a member of the Tournament Organizing Committee of several WFDF Events in the region. He is currently the Technical Director of the Juniors National Team Program of the PFDA and has been a player, captain, coach and manager of the National Team of the Philippines, Pilipinas Ultimate. He works on the continued development of the sport of Ultimate in the Philippines through Grassroots Programs through his Company, JMJ Sports Training Services, and was recently voted as the President of the Asia Oceania Flying Disc Federation (AOFDF) after serving as the Federation’s Secretary General from 2017-2019 and the Ultimate Committee Chairperson from 2020 – 2023. He is currently employed as the Sports and Recreations Manager of Alabang Country Club and is married for 16 years to teammate Guila and has 4 kids who all play ultimate.

Chasen currently serves as the President of Asociación Departamental de Ultimate Managua (ADUM), a local flying disc association in Nicaragua, and has been a board member of the PanAmerican Flying Disc Federation since 2022. He is also the Executive Director of Breaking Borders which uses the sport of Ultimate as a way to mentor and disciple youth. He has lived in Nicaragua since 2015 and has been an integral part to the growth of Ultimate in the country. He has a passion for working with young people and helping them recognize where their value truly comes from. He believes that Ultimate is an excellent tool to build community, teach leadership and conflict resolution, and compete. He believes that PAFDF can help accomplish the goals that WFDF has set forth in its strategic plan if they can inspire and equip their national members and their communities to join in the work. In his role as the PAFDF President he will work to do the following: to solidify relationships in the region which will lead to more buy-in and consequently more people involved to accomplish the mission of WFDF; to create accessible events for all, which will lead to the level of play increasing, will help our countries compete better at global and regional events, and will help build important connections and relationships between participating teams; to work to help the WFDF member countries in the Pan American region to be more compliant and committed as members of WFDF so that they can experience more growth in their countries. He is starting to play more Disc Golf as he gets slower and slower on the Ultimate field. Chasen received his BS in Health Sciences from the University of South Florida in 2013.  He is married to Katie with two young children, Alex and Bailey.

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.

Haude was re-elected EFDF President in January 2022. 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).

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, German.

Election Result Details

The 2024 election was conducted online via a voting tool using the Single Transferable Voting (STV) methodology. A total of 80 Members in Good Standing were eligible to vote, with 188 available votes. To meet the required quorum and quota, 40 Members were required to vote, with a simple majority of the votes cast for each position.

Throughout the voting period from November 15 to December 15, 2024, a total number of 67 Members with a total number of 167 effective votes cast their ballot.

WFDF Board of Directors Members:

Ultimate Committee and Sub-Committees: