Press Release: IBA announces candidates for Board of Directors

(April 25, 2022) Following comprehensive eligibility checks and skills assessment, the International Boxing Association (IBA) has published the list of candidates for the upcoming election to positions on the IBA Board of Directors, including that of President.  The elections will take place at an Extraordinary Congress on 13–14 May, during the IBA Women’s World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

The election process was developed by the independent Governance Reform Group (GRG), led by Professor Ulrich Haas. After unanimously accepting reforms to the IBA Constitution at the Extraordinary Congress in December 2021, IBA decreased the number of Directors on the Board to 18, agreed that at least five must be women, and noted there must be at least one representative from each continent. The Presidents of each Confederation will automatically assume a seat on the Board and are not among the nominees.

An independent Interim Nomination Unit was created in February 2022 to establish the eligibility and analyse the skillsets of nominees. Its members are:

• Prof. Piermarco Zen-Ruffinen, Professor Emeritus of the Law Faculty at the University of Neuchatel
• Dr. Catherine Ordway, Sport Integrity Research Lead at the University of Canberra, Chair of the Badminton World Federation Vetting Panel
• Louise Reilly, Barrister-at-Law, Chair of the Board of the Biathlon Integrity Unit
• Jacques Blondin, Head of Regulatory Enforcement at FIFA
• Roberto Cammarelle, AIBA World Champion and Olympic Champion

Rigorous background checks were conducted by the vetting company Genius, and input was also provided by Prof. Richard McLaren, whose team has been engaged in a thorough investigation of IBA’s integrity.

The elections at the IBA Extraordinary Congress will be supervised by a representative of the independent Interim Nomination Unit, with the voting itself to be conducted electronically via Lumi. As defined by IBA’s Regulations on the Congress and Elections, with the announcement of the candidates the election period begins and candidates are bound by comprehensive rules regarding their campaigning.

The decision by the Interim Nomination Unit is available here.

The candidates for the position of IBA President are:

• Umar Kremlev (RUS)
• Boris van der Vorst (NED)

The candidates for the IBA Board of Directors are:

• Volodymyr Prodyvus (UKR)
• Belhaj Abdeljaouad (MAR)
• Vusal Nasirli (AZE)
• Kristy Harris (AUS)
• Jammalage Dian Gomes (SRI)
• Mohamed Sais (COM)
• Matthew Holt (SCO)
• Mir Farid Vatanparast (GER)
• Felipe José Martinez Martinez (ESP)
• Julia Felton (AUS)
• Pearl Beverly Dlamini (SWZ)
• Yousuf Al-Kazim (QAT)
• Adnan Bin Ali (KUW)
• Jinqiang Zhou (CHN)
• Nenad Borovcanin (SRB)
• Paul Thorogood (WAL)
• Lars Brovil (DEN)
• Marta Forcen Celaya (ESP)
• Muhangi Moses (UGA)
• Elise Seignolle (USA)
• Michael McAtee (USA)
• Stephen Grant Hartley (NZL)
• Karin Mattsson (SWE)
• Luisa Elena Benitez Gomez (VEN)
• Boris van der Vorst (NED)
• Bertrand Magloire Roland Mendouga (CMR)
• Zsuzsanna Toth (HUN)
• Per-Axel Sjoholm (SWE)