New board, governance at World Sailing

At the 2024 World Sailing General Assembly, the final meeting of the 2024 Annual Conference, World Sailing Member National Authorities voted in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections. Incumbent President Quanhai Li (CHN) was re-elected for a further four-year term.

Quanhai Li received 55 votes, Rodion Luka (UKR) received two votes, and Philippe Rogge (BEL) received 29 votes in the first and only round of voting.

Özlem Akdurak (TUR), Daniel Belcher (AUS), Tomasz Chamera (POL), Beatriz González Luna (MEX), Line Markert (DEN), Josep Pla Maronda (AND), and Cory Sertl (USA) were elected as Vice Presidents and will join the World Sailing Board.

Each member of the Board will serve a four-year term, at which time another election will be held. Departing Board members were Philip Baum, Sarah Kenny, Yann Rocherieux, and Marcus Spillane.

The 2024 World Sailing Annual Conference wrapped up with the last Council meeting and General Assembly under the previous Board where the final phase of Governance reform proposals was passed by Council.

Unanimously approved, the new Governance structure will come into effect immediately and will introduce a streamlined process for decision-making, along with more focused committees, a new Code of Ethics and a more efficient disciplinary procedure.

The changes will enable the federation to be more efficient and increase transparency in line with the requirements of a modern global sporting body.

Under the new World Sailing Governance structure, voting delegates were required to vote for an equal number of male and female candidates thereby ensuring gender parity on the World Sailing Board. The final member of the Board will be the new Chair of the Athletes’ Committee who will be elected by the Athletes’ Committee in the New Year.

The World Sailing Council also unanimously approved the new five-year World Sailing Strategy, Ready for the Future, which will help guide the sport through until 2029. The strategy focuses on four priorities: Commercial and Events, Growth, Governance, and Impact.

The Republic of Tajikistan were welcomed as World Sailing’s newest member and will join Group H.