Board of Management Profiles President - Mr John Kotsifas John has been involved in the administration of Taekwondo in Australia and internationally for more than 15yrs. He holds a Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Economics as well as post graduate qualifications in Industrial Relations law. Up until 2008 he was a partner in the legal firm Ryan Carlisle Thomas and is currently the Principal of JK Legal Barristers & Solicitors. He was Secretary General of the Australian Taekwondo Union up to 1994 and in 1995 was appointed Vice President of TKD Australian Taekwondo, the unified organization between the ATA and the ATU. Up to 1995 he also was the elected secretary General of the Victorian Division of the national governing body. In 1995 he was elected Secretary General of Taekwondo Australia and held that position until 2000. In 2000 he was appointed Section Manager of the Australian Olympic Taekwondo team which resulted in a Gold and Silver medal to Lauren Burns and Daniel Trenton respectively. Between 2000 and 2004 he served on Taekwondo Australia's Board of Management. In 2004 he was appointed by the Australian Olympic Committee as Section Manager of 5 Olympic sports being: Wrestling, Fencing, Synchronized Swimming, Modern Pentathlon and Weightlifting In 2005 he was elected as the inaugural Secretary General of the Oceania Taekwondo Union which is the WTF's continental Union representing the interests of all Oceania nations. He continues to hold that position. John has also been appointed by the WTF on numerous WTF committees and Boards and works closely with the WTF and other continental Unions for the pursuit of Taekwondo globally.
Secretary General - Mr Stuart Lee Stuart Lee is the Managing Director of his company that provides a mixture of migration advice and civil services. He is a qualified Migration Agent with a background in the building industry and also has over 37 years experience in the sport of Taekwondo, he is currently a 7 th Dan Kukkiwon certificate holder. As a Taekwondo athlete Stuart competed for 20 years and captained Australia on six occasions. Upon retiring from the competition circuit he went on to re-write and then implemented a national sports specific coach education program that was recognised by the Australian Sports Commission in 1998. Stuart was one of Australia s Taekwondo selection panel members for the 2000 Olympic Games and was Chair for the 2004 Olympic Games. Stuart managed the Australian Olympic Taekwondo Program between 2001 and 2008 as High Performance Manager and for the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 was the Australia Olympic Committees Taekwondo Section Manager. He was subsequently invited to speak at the Australian Sports Commissions Post 2004 Olympic Games Forum. Stuart was instrumental in negotiations between the sport and the Australian Sports Commission that granted the sport well over 1Million Dollars to support Australia s elite Taekwondo athletes and coaches, he also established and provided an elite group of athletes and coaches the opportunity to relocate to Canberra and train full-time at the Australian Institute of Sport during 2007 as a lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He is currently the Senior Vice President of the Oceania Taekwondo Union and has completed numerous sports management, coach and athlete education programs thought-out the Oceania region. He has been inducted into the Shoalhaven Region s Elite Sportsman s Hall of Fame and was awarded Life membership to Taekwondo Australia ACT Division in 2010 for his dedication to the sport and the region.
Director of Sport - Mr Daniel Trenton (2008 Olympic Head Coach, Olympic Silver Medallist, Sydney 2000) Daniel Trenton is a three time Olympian, he was both an Olympic Athlete and Coach with an impressive track record as both a competitor and coach. He won the Sydney 2000 Olympic Silver medal in Taekwondo and reached the Quarter Finals in the Athens 2004 Games. Under his coaching leadership Australia acquired Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at several WTF World Benchmark events and Opens, including the World Cup, World Qualification Event, German Open, Dutch Open, Korean Open and Spanish Open. Daniel devised a High Performance sports program for the AIS/Olympic Team in 2007 while serving as Head Coach for the Australian Institute of Sport. His responsibilities included stakeholder funding, budget management, hiring and managing staff, and policy creation for an all encompassing Taekwondo sports model. Daniel was on the Taekwondo Australia Board of Management in 2006-07 and has been a spokesperson for the Victorian Institute of Sport. He has also served on the Athletes Commission of the Australian Olympic Committee.
Manager, Sparring - Mr Graham Underwood, MIEAust. CPEng Graham Underwood has had over 25 years of management experience in multi-national companies as well as holding formal qualifications in Engineering and Business Management. For more than ten years he has held senior positions on Industry Associations. He has been involved with Taekwondo for more than 12 years (currently 4 th Dan) and has extensive experience in Taekwondo sports administration having held numerous state and national positions: High Performance Program Management TA - Manager, Junior High Performance Program (2002-2007) TA - High Performance Program Board (2003-2004) Beyond Beijing Athlete Program Board (2005-2007) Organisational Management TA - Board of Management (2001) TA - Executive Council (2000-2002) Taekwondo Victoria State Executive (2000-2002) Team Management Australian Junior Team (2000 2006) Australian Senior Team (2007) Australian Senior & Junior Teams (Oceania Championships 2008, 2010) As well as being a Board Member Graham is currently the Manager of the Junior and Development programs for STA.
Manager, Poomsae - Ms Anne Maling Anne Mailing is an International Taekwondo Poomsae Judge and Manager of the STA Poomsae program. The holder of a 7 th Dan Chung Do Kwan and a 5 th Dan Kukkiwon certificates, Anne was the Australian Team Manager at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 World Poomsae Championships, the 3 rd Commonwealth Championships, the 2008 Poomsae Oceania Championships and the 2007 WTF World Junior Championships. She served as Secretary General of Taekwondo Victoria for over three years and has also operated her own Taekwondo club. She has attained NCAS Level 1 and Coaching Principles Level 2 accreditation.
Chair, Athletes Commission Mr Ryan Carneli Ryan has been training in the sport of Taekwondo since 1993. His first international competition was in 2000 where he competed at the US Open in Hawaii. Since then he has travelled extensively around the world competing at all different competition with his eventual dream being to one day compete at the Olympic Games, he achieved this dream in 2008 where he finished in the top 8 at the Beijing Olympic Games. His other successes in competitions include: 2002 Junior World Championships (Greece)- Bronze 2006 World Cup (Thailand) Silver, Snr 2007 Korean Open (ChunCheong) Bronze 2007 Oceania Olympic Qualifications (New Caledonia) Gold 2008 German Open (Germany) Gold 2008 Olympic Games (Beijing) Quarter Finals Currently Ryan is a 3 rd year student at RMIT University, studying a degree in the Music Industry. He is also the Chair, of the STA Athletes Commission and an instructor, teaching sparring at Fighting Lyons Taekwondo Centre.
Strategic Development - Mr Benny Lui Benny is a management consultant at KPMG. During his time post Melbourne University, he has gained a wide range of skills in consulting, including strategic development, business analysis, Lean, process mapping, business architecture design, focus interviewing and business development. Benny is also a director of a events and promotions company Invasian Pty Ltd, who hold weekly club events for the youth of Melbourne. Benny holds a 1 st degree black belt in Taekwondo and is now training in Kyokushin Karate. VACANT BOARD POSITIONS - CURRENTLY TWO (2)