MONTREAL—Karate Canada will head into the 2023-24 season with a new look to its Board of Directors.

The national body for karate in Canada wrapped up its 2023 Annual General Meeting by re-electing two Directors while also welcoming three new Directors to its nine-member Board led by President, Craig Vokey.

Patricia Karl and and Oleg Raileanu were both re-elected for three-year terms. An education assistant with the Greater St. Albert Catholic School District in Northern Alberta for nearly two decades, Karl currently sits on Karate Canada’s Diversity Equity Inclusion & Gender Equality Ad Hoc Committee. Ontario’s Oleg Raileanu was also re-elected by the membership for another term. Raileanu played a leading role in guiding Karate Canada through COVID-19, a leadership transition and ensuring the Board integrated a Canada Governance Code while sitting on the Governance and Nominations Committees.

The Board of Directors welcomed three new faces in October. British Columbia’s Andreas Kuntze was elected to a one-year term as Vice-President. Quebec’s Yogen Mungroosing was elected to a Director at Large position for one year, while Ontario’s Daniel Sanchez Griborio was appointed by the Athlete Council to begin a three year term as Athlete Director.

Kuntze was instrumental in helping Karate BC overcome many challenges – from financial shortfalls, membership decreases and the pandemic – while serving three, two-year terms on the Karate BC Board. He will now look to bring that experience to the national level.

Yogen Mungroosing has been in Canada’s karate community for decades and officiating as a WKF Judge A, and referee, judging and refereeing high performance athletes at national and international levels. Mungroosing has held a variety of managerial positions in the airline industry for early 40 years.

“We are in a very good place both on and off the field of play, but we need to continue to be innovative and challenge ourselves as a community across the country if we truly want to achieve excellence at all levels of our sport,” said Craig Vokey, President, Karate Canada. The experience Patricia, Oleg, Andreas, Yogen, and Daniel bring to our leadership group will be critical to helping us achieve our collective goals. I welcome them to our team and am very much looking forward to working with each of them.”

The five Directors announced during the 2023 Annual General Meeting will join President Craig Vokey, Treasurer Danny Morin, and Directors at Large – Alexander David and Blake Peterson.

For more information on Karate Canada, please visit us at www.karatecanada.org.