Executive Committee

The 16-member Executive Committee (ExCo) is delegated by WADA’s Foundation Board (Board) to manage the running of the Agency, including the performance of activities and the administration of assets. This also includes taking all decisions that are not reserved by WADA’s Statutes or Swiss law to the Board.

Representatives of the Olympic Movement and of the Public Authorities are appointed by their respective constituency groups. Per WADA’s Statutes, appointments to the ExCo are subject to Board approval.

[Currently, almost half (7/16) of the ExCo is made up of active or former international-level athletes.]

Independent Chair and Vice-Chair

Witold Bańka

President | Poland

Witold Bańka

President | Poland

Effective January 2020, Witold Bańka commenced in his role as President of WADA. Prior to this, since May 2017, Mr. Bańka served as the European representative on WADA’s Executive Committee in his capacity as Minister of Sport and Tourism, Poland.

In November 2015, Mr. Bańka was appointed Minister of Sport and Tourism, Poland, to the cabinet of Prime Minister Beata Szydło. In December 2017, he was reappointed to the cabinet of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. In this role, Mr. Bańka initiated an amendment of the Act on Sport whose main objectives were to increase transparency of the work of Polish sports associations and to eradicate corruption and nepotism from sport. He is the author of the Bill on the Fight Against Doping in Sport, which comprehensively regulates all matters relating to combating doping in Poland.

Prior to entering politics, Mr. Bańka worked in the public relations sector, delivering training courses in media relations and reputation management. In this capacity, he also created advertising campaigns and built PR strategies with leading Polish companies.

As a 400-meter runner, Mr. Bańka represented Poland internationally from 2005 – 2012, with career highlights that included: silver medals in 2005 and 2006 at the Polish Athletics Junior Championships; a relay gold in 2005 at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Erfurt, Germany; a gold and a silver medal in 2007 and 2009 respectively at the Summer Universiade in Bangkok, Thailand and those in Belgrade, Serbia; and, a bronze medal in 2007 at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Mr. Bańka was born in October 1984 in Tychy, Poland; and, graduated with a degree in political science from the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. While he retired from elite sport in 2012, he is still very active in sport, including running marathons.
Yang Yang

Vice-President | China

Yang Yang

Vice-President | China

Effective January 2020, Yang Yang commenced in her role as Vice-President of WADA.
Yang Yang won two gold medals and a silver in short-track speed skating at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City – the first gold medal being China’s first ever in a Winter Olympics. She also won silver at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano; a bronze at the 2006 Games in Turin; and 28 gold medals at World Championships between 1997-2005. In total, Yang Yang collected 59 world titles throughout her professional career and is the winner of the most world titles in China.

Yang Yang has also had a distinguished career in sports administration. She was a member of WADA’s Athlete Committee from 2003-2013 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2010-2018; after which, she was appointed IOC Marketing Commission member. In 2006, she was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Chinese National Olympic Committee and, in 2010, Vice-Chair of the Chinese Youth Federation. She is a global ambassador for the Special Olympics and founding member of the Chinese Athlete Education Foundation. In 2014, she became Chair of the IOC Evaluation Commission for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games and, in 2016, she was elected as the first female Speed Skating Council member for the International Skating Union in its over 100-year history. In 2017, she was appointed Chair of the Athlete’s Commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

In 2009, Yang Yang established the China Champion Foundation, which focuses on sports education for children and career development for retired athletes. In 2013, she founded the Fei Yang Skating Academy in Shanghai, a professional facility built to promote ice sports in China. Since founding the Academy, it has trained thousands of children – including several that have gone on to be selected for China’s junior team.

Yang Yang was born in 1976 in Jiamusi, Heilongjiang (China) and graduated in 2007 with a degree in business administration from Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management.

Independent Members

Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni

Italy

Former Deputy Secretary General, Council of Europe (2012-2021)
Former Director General of Programmes, Council of Europe (2011-2012)
Former Director General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport, Council of Europe (2004-2011)
Recipient, Order of Merit, Italy; Knight, Legion of Honour, France; Order of Saint Agatha, Republic of San Marino; Order of the Rising Sun, Japan

Venetia Bennett

Australia

Barrister, Francis Burt Chambers
Member, National Sports Tribunal
Past-President, Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association
Panel Member, Immediation (on-line dispute resolution platform)

Patricia Sangenis

Argentina

Director of Sport and Health of Buenos Aires
Fellow Member of the American College of Sports Medicine
Former Executive Committee Member, International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS)
Former Member, IOC Medical and Scientific Commission
Former Chair, Women in Sport Commission of the Argentina Olympic Committee

Athlete Council Chair

Member to be confirmed

The Athlete Council will designate its Chair in accordance with its Terms of Reference in early 2026.

Olympic Movement

(In alphabetical order by organization)

ANOC Representative

Dr. Lenka Dienstbach-Wech
Member, Health, Medicine and Science Commission
IOC
Germany

Three-time Olympian in Rowing (2000, 2004, 2008)
Multiple medals at World Rowing Cup Events
Member, World Rowing Council

ASOIF Representative

Ingmar De Vos
IOC Member
ASOIF President
Belgium

FEI President
Executive Committee Member, SportAccord
Member, IOC Commissions (Legal Affairs; Coordination of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad Los Angeles 2028; Women in Sport)
President, International Horse Sports Confederation (IHSC)
Member, Board of Directors of the National Olympic Committee of Belgium

IOC Representatives

Dagmawit Girmay Berhane
IOC Member
Ethiopia

Board Member, Ethiopian National Olympic Committee
Executive Council Member and Chair of Finance and Audit Commission, ANOC
Member, IOC Commissions (Coordination for the Games of the XXXV Olympiad Brisbane 2032; Finance; Audit; Members Election; Advisory Committee on Human Rights; Olympic Solidarity)
Member, WADA Risk and Audit Committee

Nenad Lalovic
IOC Member
UWW President
Serbia

IOC Executive Board Member, Member of IOC Olympic Solidarity Commission, Member of Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions
Executive Board Member, ASOIF
Executive Board Member, Olympic Committee of Serbia

IOC Athletes' Commission Representative

Humphrey Kayange Emonyi
IOC Member
IOC Athletes' Commission Member
Kenya

Olympian in rubgy (rugby sevens) (2016)
Champion (Kenya) of the 2016 Singapore Sevens of the 2015-16 World Rugby Sevens Series
Member, WADA Athlete Council

Public Authorities

(In alphabetical order by region)

Africa Representative

Amma Twum-Amoah
Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, African Union
Ghana

Former Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan
Permanent Representative to the African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Americas Representative

Member to be confirmed

Asia Representative

Koji Murofushi
Senior Advisor, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Japan

Four-time Olympian in hammer throw (2012, 2008, 2004, 2000); Gold Medalist (2004); Bronze Medalist (2012)
World Championships in Athletics Gold Medalist (2011); Silver Medalist (2001); Bronze Medalist (2003);
Asian Games Gold Medalist (2002, 1998); Silver Medalist (1994)
Senior Specially Appointed Professor at Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Europe Representative

Matvii Bidnyi
Minister of Youth and Sports
Ukraine

Former national bodybuilding champion (2000, 2001, 2002)
World Junior Bodybuilding Championships Silver Medalist (2000)

Oceania Representative

Anika Wells
Minister for Communications, Minister for Sport
Australia

Executive Committee

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