WADA announces candidates for 2023 National Anti-Doping Organization Expert Advisory Group elections

Elections to be held in November

Further to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) communications of 15 June 2022 and 19 July 2022 calling for interested candidates for the upcoming elections for WADA’s 2023 National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) Expert Advisory Group, we are pleased to announce that we have received 22 eligible nominations for the ten seats.

WADA President Witold Bańka said: "WADA’s NADO Expert Advisory Group has always played a very important role for the Agency and clean sport. Based on recent governance reforms approved by WADA’s Foundation Board, the Advisory Group will now be elected and NADOs will be represented on our Board. This is a tremendous step forward in enhancing the voice of National Anti-Doping Organizations within WADA and in further strengthening the Agency’s governance.”

The 22 candidates are listed below in alphabetical order by name (per region). Each of the five regions will have its own election to elect two candidates each for the ten-member NADO Expert Advisory Group.

A consolidation of the candidate profiles, with additional details, can be found in one document here.

[1] Nominated by Cyprus Anti-Doping Authority

[2] Mr. David Sharpe withdrew his candidacy on 28 October 2022

Eligibility

Candidates were required to meet eligibility criteria, as outlined in Article 4 of the WADA NADO Expert Advisory Group Election Procedure. These included: being employed at the executive level by an eligible NADO or serving as a member of the oversight body of an eligible NADO and not being involved in the management or operations of any International Federation, National Federation, Major Event Organization, National Olympic Committee, National Paralympic Committee, or government department with responsibility for sport or anti-doping. In addition, the NADO nominating a candidate was required to meet eligibility criteria, as outlined in Article 3 of the Election Procedure. All 22 candidates listed above were reviewed and confirmed by the Election Scrutineer, while two other candidates were declared ineligible against the eligibility criteria.

To be eligible to vote in the election, all NADOs are to meet the same criteria as a NADO nominating a candidate. All NADOs were advised of the candidate list on 30 September 2022 and all eligible NADOs will be contacted to confirm if they wish to vote in the election.

Election

The election will be held virtually via an online voting platform between 1-3 November 2022. Only those NADOs registered and deemed eligible will be able to vote. As noted above, eligible NADOs will vote for two representatives for their respective regions.

Unless a second round is to be organized due to a tie result, the elected candidates will be confirmed by the Election Scrutineer on 4 November and will be announced by WADA shortly after.

The Chair of WADA’s current NADO Expert Advisory Group, Rune Andersen, said: “NADOs play a critical role in protecting clean sport. The governance reforms strengthening the NADO Expert Advisory Group and providing for two Foundation Board members are a significant step forward. It is important for all NADOs to participate in the election process to ensure strong and effective representation within WADA.”

Election Timeline

The following table outlines the timelines that apply to the election.

*Might be postponed in case of tie results and run-off rounds need to be organized.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to governance@wada-ama.org.