Marolt to step down from FIS Council, Paine nominated as replacement
After 12 years of representing the United States, USSA’s former president and CEO Bill Marolt will step aside as FIS Council member at the conclusion of the upcoming International Ski Federation (FIS) Congress in the beginning of June. The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association has nominated its chairman, W. Dexter Paine, to stand as candidate to the Council for the new two-year term.
Marolt, who is a vice president of the FIS as well as council member, will represent the United States until a new council is elected at the very end of the Congress meeting. Marolt was nominated and subsequently elected to the Council replacing Hank Tauber who had been a vice president and member for 14 years.
Also standing for reelection is current FIS President Gian Franco Kasper. With no challengers, Mr. Kasper is expected to be re-elected by acclamation.
Of note is the nomination by Japan of long-time FIS member Aki Murasato. Murasato has been recently appointed by the Japanese Olympic Committee to handle the athletic competitions and venues for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Summer Games.
Paine was named chairman of USSA in 2006 after a number of years on the board. He is a graduate of Williams College, where he was a member of the alpine ski team. Paine is chairman and chief executive officer of Paine & Partners, a firm which invests in the food and agribusiness sectors, a number of which are located in Europe.
According to the nominations there are 21 candidates running for the 15 Council positions. Seven, including Paine, are new nominations. Nominated are:
KASPER Gian Franco, SUI Swiss-Ski Association – re-election
Members
ÅRJES Mats, SWE Swedish Ski Association – re-election
BOKAREV Andrey, RUS Russian Ski Association – re-election
GOSPER Dean, AUS Ski & Snowboard Australia – re-election
HOERMANN Alfons, GER German Ski Association – re-election
KASZO Klara, HUN Hungarian Ski Association – new election
KOCIJANCIC Janez, SLO Ski Association of Slovenia – re-election
KUMPOST Roman, CZE Czech Ski Association – re-election
LEE Sung-Won, KOR Korea Ski Association – re-election
MIHOC Dan Gheorghe, ROU Romanian Ski Biathlon Federation – new election
MINEV Zeko, BUL Bulgarian Ski Federation – new election
MURASATO Aki, JPN Ski Association of Japan – new election
PAINE Dexter, USA U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association – new election
PAVLEK Vedran, CRO Croatian Ski Association – re-election
RODA Flavio, ITA Italian Winter Sports Federation – re-election
ROLDAN Eduardo, SPA Royal Spanish Winter Sports Fed. – re-election
SCHROECKSNADEL Peter, AUT Austrian Ski Association – re-election
SEEBERG Sverre, NOR Norwegian Ski Association – re-election
SMIRNOV Vladimir, KAZ Kazakhstan Ski Association – new election
SMITH Patrick, CAN Canadian Snowsports Association – re-election
UUSITALO Martti, FIN Finnish Ski Association – new election
VION Michel, FRA French Ski Association re-election