Board of Directors

Officers

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Brian Gisel (CAN)

Vice President & Chair, Ultimate Committee

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Charlie Mead (GBR)

Chair, Disc Golf Committee

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Daniel O’Neill (USA)

Chair, Freestyle Committee

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Rob McLeod (CAN)

Chair, Overall Committee

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Steve Taylor (USA)

Guts Committee Chair

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Shiellah Quintos (CAN)

Chair, Beach Ultimate Committee

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Alex Matovu (UGA)

Continental Representative, AAFDF President

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Jose Maria Javier Weber Bautista (PHI)

Continental Representative, AOFDF President

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Chasen Brokaw (NCA)

Continental Representative, PAFDF Interim President

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Haude Hermand (FRA)

Continental Representative, EFDF President

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Esther Omuseni Akiso (KEN)

Director at Large

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Yoonee Jeong (KOR)

Director at Large

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Wolfgang Maehr (SGP)

Spirit of the Game Committee (SOTG) Chair

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Jamie Nuwer (USA)

Chair, Medical & Anti-Doping Committee

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Caroline Tisson (GER)

Athletes Commission Chair

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Volker Bernardi (GER)

Secretary General, non-voting

Robert “Nob” Rauch (USA)

President

Board member: 1988-1997, 2006-present
Current term ends: 2024

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.

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Brian Gisel (CAN)

Vice President & Chair, Ultimate Committee

Board member: 2002-2007, 2009-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Kate Bergeron (USA)

Treasurer

Board member: 2014-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Thomas Griesbaum (GER)

Secretary

Board member: 2012-present
Current term ends: 2024

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.

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Charlie Mead (GBR)

Chair, Disc Golf Committee

Board member:
Current term ends: 2024

Charlie Mead has rich experience as a player, administrator,and tournament organiser 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. In 2024 he was elected to the World Disc Golf Hall of Fame. Still playing actively he attempted to defend his 6th European Championship title in Hungary in 2023 – and though unsuccessful he still enjoys the sport as much as ever! He has now been Chair of the WFDF Disc Golf Committee for 8 years and has overseen the growth of the WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships and Continental Team Disc Golf Championships as well as the WFDF Disc Golf World Rankings which are used to select teams for The World Games (TWG) . After a hiatus of 23 years Disc Golf in back in TWG and will be a competitive sport in Chengdu China in 2025. 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 has been the Tournament Director for the WFDF Overall Championships and TD for four WFDF World Ultimate Championships as well as WFDF TTD for 11 other events. 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 Masters degrees in both Child Psychology and Educational Psychology from Birmingham University. Charlie lives with partner Maggi on their farm in Devon, UK.

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Daniel O’Neill (USA)

Chair, Freestyle Committee

Board member: 2024-present
Current term ends: 2025

Daniel O’Neill is a 32-year-old flying disc sports athlete hailing from Harlem, New York City. Originally from Connecticut, Daniel moved to NYC in 2009 for college and has been highly active in the New York and global frisbee scenes ever since. In the 14 years he has been playing freestyle, he had the great fortune to teach and grow the sport in many countries around the world. He partnered with the FPA and the Paul McBeth Foundation to offer Freestyle and Disc Golf clinics in Mexico, Bolivia, and Nigeria. Directly representing WFDF, he has been an ambassador of flying disc sports and taught at multi-sport events including TAFISA European Sport for all Games 2023 in Perugia Italy, at the African Beach Games in Cape Verde, and at the World Urban Games in Budapest Hungary. He served a 3-year term as marketing director for the FPA and was tournament director and hosted the 2016 FPA World Championships. Daniel is 3x Freestyle World Champion and World Urban Games gold medalist. Post-college, Daniel has pursued both theater and dance professionally alongside his many athletic accolades in frisbee sports. Additionally, over the past seven years, Daniel has become a subject matter expert in recruitment marketing and talent acquisition strategy. Daniel currently is Vice President, Talent Strategy at NAS, a 75-year-old recruitment marketing firm. Daniel received his B.A. in 2013 from Columbia University, where he triple majored in Theater, Dance, and Economics-Philosophy.

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Rob McLeod (CAN)

Chair, Overall Committee

Board member: 2018-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Steve Taylor (USA)

Guts Committee Chair

Current term ends: 2024 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.

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Shiellah Quintos (CAN)

Chair, Beach Ultimate Committee

Board member:
Current term ends: 2025

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).

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Alex Matovu (UGA)

Continental Representative, AAFDF President

Board member: 2017-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Jose Maria Javier Weber Bautista (PHI)

Continental Representative, AOFDF President

Board member: 2024-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Chasen Brokaw (NCA)

Continental Representative, PAFDF Interim President

Current term ends: 2025 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.

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Haude Hermand (FRA)

Continental Representative, EFDF President

Board member:
Current term ends: 2025

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).

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Esther Omuseni Akiso (KEN)

Director at Large

Board member: 2024-present
Current term ends: 2025

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).

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Yoonee Jeong (KOR)

Director at Large

Board member: 2018-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Wolfgang Maehr (SGP)

Spirit of the Game Committee (SOTG) Chair


Current term ends: 2025 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).

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Jamie Nuwer (USA)

Chair, Medical & Anti-Doping Committee

Board member: 2014-present
Current term ends: 2025

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.

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Caroline Tisson (GER)

Athletes Commission Chair


Current term ends: 2024 Caroline was elected as member of the WFDF Athletes’ Commission at WUCC 2022 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, starting 2010 at EYUC in Heilbronn (GER U17 girls, 1st place and Spirit Winner) until the most recent 2023 season with the German adult mixed team. 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. She has been leading the Erasmus+ funded project “Empowering women in Ultimate Frisbee – Play.Coach.Grow” and currently works for the German Sports Youth within the German Olympic Sports Confederation. Caroline lives in Karlsruhe, Germany.

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Volker Bernardi (GER)

Secretary General, non-voting

WFDF staff member since 2011
Current term ends: Not an elected position

Volker Bernardi has been the Executive Director of WFDF since 2011. He was educated as a sports lawyer and has been serving as Senior International Sports Administrator and Consultant for a period of more than 21 years supporting the development of several national and international Sports Federations. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the International World Games Association (IWGA). He is a former Administrative Director of the International Canoe Federation and his professional stages include the position of Sports Coordinator for High competitive sports, national/international sports coordination with the Ministry of the interior affairs/sports Saarland. He has also represented several cases in front of the International Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS). Bernardi holds a MEMOS Master degree (Executive Master of Sports Organisation Management) from the University Claude Bernard Lyon (France). He graduated from first and second state examintation as lawyer from the University of the Saarland, Saarbrücken.

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The Board currently consists of 19 members. The WFDF Members vote in annual Board elections each November. Board Members are normally elected for 2 year terms, with roughly half the Board positions up for election each year. Terms of office start on January 1st the following year and conclude 31st December the year after that.

Board of Directors Tasks Include:

  • Normal Board Member participation (4-6 conference calls per year) and expectation of turnaround on e-mail correspondence within five (5) business days
  • Approve event hosts and sanctioning
  • Approve new members
  • Approve policies and contracts
  • Special project oversight, as agreed
  • Read all correspondence on WFDF board mailing list
  • Read all correspondence on WFDF member link mailing list