The Bureau

CIVL is run on a daily basis by the Bureau, which consists of the President, four Vice Presidents, the Treasurer and the Secretary. The secretary and the treasurer don’t have to be delegates to be elected.

It can be said that the Bureau is the CIVL elected Government.

The Plenary Meeting may delegate to the Bureau certain responsibilities. These shall be precisely defined by the Plenary Meeting and the decisions will be taken by majority agreement of Bureau members, except that, where the vote is equally divided, the President shall cast the deciding vote. Matters with a perspective beyond the next Plenary meeting shall be subject to subsequent ratification by the Plenary Meeting and may be modified or repealed by CIVL.

The Bureau is helped by various Subcommittees and Working Groups, covering all aspects of our sport.

The Bureau meets twice a year: once just before the Plenary, once at mid-term, in October or November. It doesn't mean that Bureau members meet only twice a year. In fact, they are in constant email and telephone contact throughout the year.

Flip Koetsier (Netherlands), President
Contact Flip Koetsier
Flip started flying hang gliders in 1977. He was a hang gliding instructor and competition pilot in the 80's but now prefers to fly only for recreation. Since 1987 he has been meet director and organiser of the Dutch hang gliding championships. He was for a long time the President of the Dutch hang gliding federation. He is also the team leader of the Dutch hang gliding team. Flip has been Dutch delegate at CIVL since 1993, and CIVL President since 2005. Flip has also been hang gliding meet director at the WAG in Turkey in 1997, CIVL steward and occasionally jury member.

John Aldridge (UK), Vice-president
Contact John Aldridge
John has been flying hang gliders since 1984 and also took up paragliding at the start of the new millennium. He has flown in many countries and competed for some years but his flying is now strictly recreational. He has organised and run British national hang gliding competitions since 1995 and serves on the BHPA's executive board. He is the UK delegate and was elected Vice President of CIVL at the 2002 Plenary meeting; he is also head of the Section 7 Subcommittee and the CIVL representative on CASI. He has been steward or a jury member at several CIVL sanctioned events. He is also a council member of the UK’s NAC, the Royal Aero Club..

Agust Gudmundsson (Iceland), Vice-president
Contact Agust Gudmundsson
Agúst has been flying hang gliders since 1986. In 2001 he started paragliding and has been flying both hang and paragliders in recent years. He also has a PPL licence since 1995. In 2003 he built a Skyranger ultralight and has been flying ultralights since then together with all other flying. For the last 15 years he has been organizing and running HG and PG competitions most of which have been FAI Cat2 competitions and also acting as an instructor. Agúst has 4 children, and most of the family are also flying paragliders (wife, two sons and his son's girlfriend). He has been working as a manager of a software house since 1981. Since 1997 Agúst has attended CIVL plenary meetings and in Guatemala 2005 he was elected as a Vice President. Agúst is also acting as a vice president of the Icelandic NAC.

Scott Torkelsen (Denmark), Vice-president
Contact Scott Torkelsen
Scott has been flying paragliders since 1987 including World, European and World Cup as well as National championships. He is still a very active pilot, however he only competes in National championships now. Has been a board member of the Danish NAC since 1995 as well as previous President of the Danish hang gliding and paragliding association (DHPU). He is still a delegate for CIVL and EHPU. He has maintained a full time chiropractic practice since 1987 and is an active lecturer throughout Europe on skeletal injury, biomechanics and rehabilitation to both humans and animals. He was first elected as a CIVL Vice President in 2004.

Leonard Grigorescu (Romania), Vice-president
Contact Leonard Grigorescu
Leonard started paragliding in 1993. In 1995 he was awarded his Instructor licence, and has been involved in teaching the sport ever since. In Romania, he is currently the Secretary of the Romanian Free Flying Association and organiser of Paragliding Instructor and Tandem Pilot courses at a national level. He has been Meet Director for several Romanian Open championships and a number of other FAI Cat 2 PG events. Leonard has also served as FAI Steward and Jury Member for many Cat 1 PG events. As the Romanian CIVL Delegate since 2000, Leonard has served as CIVL Bureau Vice President, Secretary, Jury & Steward database Co-ordinator and Chairman of the PG Subcommittee.

Louise Joselyn (UK), Secretary.
Contact Louise Joselyn
Louise learned to paraglide in 1995 in the UK, and since moving to France (near Laragne) in 2000, has vastly increased her airtime, predominantly flying cross-country. However, in the UK she flew Paragliding Accuracy competitions for several years, was Team Manager for the UK at the first World Championships in 2000 in the UK, and flew for the UK team in the 2003 and 2005 World Championships. She was Chairman of the CIVL Paragliding Accuracy Subcommittee from 2003 to 2008, helping organise Cat 2 competitions, and establishing a Judging training programme. In Laragne, she is a founder member of Chabre Vol Libre runs the annual 'Ozone Chabre Open' friendly paragliding cross-country competition, and is involved in the organisation of the 2009 World Hang Gliding Championships (Class 1).

Wayne Sayer (USA), CIVL Treasurer
Wayne began flying hang gliders in 1977, and dabbled in competitions from the early 90’s. He assisted as an instructor in a series of cross-country hang gliding clinics in Europe for 5 years, during which time he combined his love of travel with flying to reach many destinations around the world. However, the ease of traveling with a paraglider was too much to resist and he now flies them almost exclusively.

Originally based in the eastern US, after spending several years traveling in a small RV he has settled in California’s Owens Valley. He also holds a PPL, and flies a weight-shift microlight.

Paula Sayer(UK), CIVL coordinator
Contact Paula Sayer
Paula is not formally a member of the Bureau, but she is involved in every aspect of its work. She has been employed part time by CIVL since 2001 as one of the main points of contact for pilot queries as well as dealing with the sanctioning of competitions and the World Pilot Ranking Scheme. She has flown hang gliders since 1991 and has competed in National and World championships. She has flown an Atos since 2003 but following a move to the Owens Valley in the USA, she has taken up paragliding, and flies regularly amongst the 14,000ft peaks. She has been a steward at several meets, in the USA, Austria and Slovenia and will be steward at the HG Europeans and the Serbian PG Europeans in 2007 and 2008.

(photos: Malbos/CIVL)