HELSINKI – As the current four-year term comes to an end, candidates for the future IIHF Council had the chance to introduce themselves at the 2012 IIHF Annual Congress.

The IIHF Council is the IIHF’s executive body consisting of one President, three Vice Presidents representing three regions (Asia/Oceania, Europe/Africa, Americas) and nine more Council members including a minimum of two female members, and the General Secretary as non-voting member.

Each of the IIHF’s member national associations had the possibility to nominate one candidate that is member of its governing board.

Several current Council members have not been nominated, partly due to the age limit of 72 years in the year of election including Shoichi Tomita (Japan), Murray Costello (Canada) and Frederick Meredith (Great Britain), who will all retire from their positions after having served on the IIHF Council for many years.

The election will take place during the 2012 IIHF General Congress, 24-30 September 2012 in Tokyo, Japan. It will be the first-ever IIHF Congress to be held in Asia in honour of Shoichi Tomita, who has served in the IIHF Council since 1978.

Also two internal auditors will be elected.

List of Candidates (in brackets: nationality, age at election)

President:
Dr René Fasel (Switzerland, 62, current President)

Vice President Europe/Africa:
Kalervo Kummola (Finland, 66, current Vice President)

Vice President Americas:
Bob Nicholson (Canada, 59)

Vice President Asia/Oceania:
Thomas Wu (Hong Kong, 40)

Female Council candidates:
Dr Beate Grupp (Germany, 47, current member)
Monique Scheier-Schneider (Luxembourg, 58, current member)
Shirley Rurak (Australia, 66)
Dr Zsuzsa Kolbenheyer (Hungary, 35)
Dr Katerina Radostova (Czech Republic, 34)

Male Council candidates:
Frank Gonzalez (Spain, 56, current member)
Christer Englund (Sweden, 65, current member)
Anthony Rossi (USA, 71, current member)
Vladislav Tretiak (Russia, 60)
Dr Igor Nemecek (Slovakia, 51)
Joaquin de la Garma (Mexico, 58)
Kirovs Lipmans (Latvia, 71)
Luc Tardif (France, 59)
Dr Slavko Azman (Slovenia, 65)
Henrik Bach Niesen (Denmark, 46)
Vidar Gardarsson (Iceland, 50)

Auditors:
Fabio Oetterli (Switzerland, 57)
Juray Siroky (Slovakia, 58)