Executive Board

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Dr Stefan Kannewischer, Switzerland

President
Dr Stefan Kannewischer, Switzerland
President

After completing his MBA and Ph.D. in economic sciences at University St.Gallen (Switzerland), Dr. Stefan Kannewischer has worked for four years at strategy consultants Bain & Company in Zurich, Munich and London. In 2001, he became Managing Director of the Swiss family business Kannewischer Management AG that is since 1972 a specialist in consulting, technical design and operations of public swimming pools and thermal spas. Kannewischer Collection operates six thermal spas in Germany. Stefan became President of IAKS Switzerland in 2009 and since 2015 he is President of IAKS worldwide. In 2017, he was appointed by Thomas Bach to the IOC Sustainability and Legacy Commission.

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Tom Jones, United Kingdom

Vice President
Tom Jones, United Kingdom
Vice President

BArch (Dist), BSc (Hons) Arch, UWCC, RIBA

Tom is a Senior Principal in the London office of Populous and has a keen interest in how sports and entertainment buildings and events can enhance cities and communities. He has a great passion for sport and has been able to use this in the design and delivery of a number of high-profile projects around the world, including the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Emirates Stadium for Arsenal FC and the Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 Olympic Games.  He has also worked on other major sports events, including the ICC Cricket World Cup and NFL Super Bowl.

In addition to running major projects, Tom has co-authored the technical guide to Sports Facilities in the Metric Handbook and contributed to a series of international publications. He is a member of the IAKS Executive Board since 2017 and sits on the Sports Economy Sector Advisory Group for DIT (Department of Industry and Trade).  He has also spoken at a range of conferences and events around the world on the sustainability of sports and entertainment buildings.

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Yvette Audet, Australia

Vice President
Yvette Audet, Australia
Vice President

Yvette Audet has an extensive work experience over the last three decades in the Aquatic and Recreation Industry. Yvette’s diverse roles throughout her career underscore her deep understanding of the sector, from strategic development of programs and facilities to her significant contributions to current role as Business Development at Fluidra Commercial.

Her passion for the IAKS mission “Facilitating an Active World” has driven her to establish the IAKS Australia & New Zealand nonprofit company (IAKS Subsection).

Yvette’s drive and enthusiasm to share knowledge and encourage physical activity extends through her Sporting Mum blogs and current positions on several sport and recreation boards including IAKS (Vice President), IAKS ANZ (Director and Chairperson) and Western Suburbs Grade Cricket (Partnerships).

She is currently a member of Austswim, Sport NSW, Western Suburbs Rugby league club, Western Suburbs Grade Cricket Club, Parramatta Rugby League Club, Parks Leisure Australia and Western Sydney Moving Group.  

Yvette has been the Vice President of IAKS since 2021 and director and Chairperson for IAKS ANZ since 2022.

Managing Principal, HCMA, Canada

Darryl Condon, Canada

Vice President
Darryl Condon, Canada
Vice President

Managing Partner at HCMA Architecture + Design, Canada

In over 30 years of practice, Darryl has been responsible for the delivery of highly innovative and award-winning sports and recreation facilities across Canada, including the Curling Venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Currently he chairs the Infrastructure and Facilities Task Group of the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association and is Past-President of the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association.

Darryl is Past-President of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and chair of Future of Architecture Committee of the Ca-nadian Architectural Licensing Authorities.

He is an Adjunct Professor at the UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Holger

Holger Kortbek, Denmark

Treasurer
Holger Kortbek, Denmark
Treasurer

As Head of Sports Facilities Holger manages the sports facilities in the Municipality of Gladsaxe which is located in the east of Denmark. Gladsaxe has about 70,000 inhabitants and stretches over 25 km².

Previously he has been a part of the team at The Danish Foundation for Culture and Sports Facilities (LOA Fonden) working with innovation of the facilities for sports and leisure activities.

Holger is Vice President of the Danish Association for Sports Facilities bringing together owners, operators and managers of sports facilities in Denmark with the purpose of contributing to innovation in and the development and planning of sports facilities.

Since its founding in 2017, Holger sits on the board of IAKS Nordic.

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Klaus Meinel, Germany

Secretary General
Klaus Meinel, Germany
Secretary General

In 1997, Klaus joined the IAKS headquarters in Cologne as a scientific staff member and was appointed IAKS Managing Director in 2003. In 2015, Klaus became IAKS Secretary General.

Klaus holds a diploma in landscape architecture after having visited universities in Hanover (Germany) and Tours (France) from 1988 to 1995. From 1995 to 1997, he was a technical officer at the German Association of Landscape Architects in Bonn and Berlin.

Besides his general tasks for IAKS, Klaus is responsible for the programming of the biannual IAKS Congresses as well as for the IOC IPC IAKS Architecture Prizes.

Benjamin Flowers

Prof. PhD Benjamin Flowers, USA

Member
Prof. PhD Benjamin Flowers, USA
Member

Benjamin Flowers is a Professor of Architecture and the Associate Director of the Knowlton School. Prior to joining the Knowlton School in 2019, Dr. Flowers was a Professor of Architecture in the College of Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He is the author of several books including Beautiful Moves: Designing Stadia (LundHumphries, 2018), Sport and Architecture (Routledge, 2017) a global survey of the stadium and its socio-political significance, and Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), named a 2010 Outstanding Academic Title in Architecture by Choice Magazine. He is also the editor of Architecture in an Age of Uncertainty (Ashgate Press, 2014), an examination of the political economy of architecture during the 2008 global recession.

Dr. Flowers’ research has been recognized by Columbia University’s Buell Center for Architecture, Cornell University’s John Nolen Fellowship, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Hagley Museum and Library. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and his BA from Wesleyan University. Dr. Flowers grew up in Latin America and Eastern Europe.

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Steffen Strasser, Germany

Member
Steffen Strasser, Germany
Member

Owner and General Manager of PLAY-PARC, Germany

As Head of PLAYPARC, Steffen manages a family owned company, designing and producing playground and outdoor fitness equip-ment for urban environments.

Steffen is member of the board of the German Association of leisure-equipment producers BSFH and chairman of a working group taking care of developments in outdoor fitness.

He is Vice-chairman of a steering group and member and chairman of several working groups within DIN-NASport.

As chairman of CEN/TC136 Steffen is taking care of standardization around sport and leisure facilities in Europe.

He is German delegate within ISO/TC83 which is taking care of standardization around sport and leisure facilities worldwide.

Marc Riemann Porträt

Marc Riemann, Germany

President of IAKS Germany
Marc Riemann, Germany
President of IAKS Germany

As head of pool operations and authorised signatory for KölnBäder GmbH, Marc Riemann is responsible for personnel management and legally compliant pool operations. He devotes special attention to digitalisation.

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Roger Gut, Switzerland

President of IAKS Switzerland
Roger Gut, Switzerland
President of IAKS Switzerland

Roger Gut is the owner of Haller Gut Architekten in Berne, Switzerland, an architectural office specialising in schools and sports facility planning. Since 1976, Roger has been involved in many building projects for sports facilities, and mainly for sports halls, outdoor sports facilities and football pitches. Since 2016, he has been President of IAKS Switzerland.

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Harald Fux, Austria

President of IAKS Austria
Harald Fux, Austria
President of IAKS Austria

Harald Fux specialises in indoor and outdoor sports facilities as well as stadiums and gathering spaces. The CEO of the Vienna based architecture firm Raumkunst is President of IAKS Austria and member of the UIA Sports and Leisure work program and Expert Member for Sports Facilities Construction at the Austrian Standards Institute.

Riktig størrelse Andrè

André Flatner, Norway

President of IAKS Nordic
André Flatner, Norway
President of IAKS Nordic

Agency Manager for Active Lives at the City of Fredrikstad, Norway. His department is responsible for overall strategic planning and development, and facility construction. The goal is to enable citizens to engage in organized and self-organized sports, outdoor activities, daily physical activity and urban active living. The department manages public fundings and initiates programmes in accordance to overall strategic goals. The City of Fredrikstad has initiated a national pilot project on how the public sector - as a health preventive tool - can build longterm structures based on the citizens‘ opportunities to be more active. The programme was established in 2020, based upon the Global Action Plan on Physical activity 2018–2030 by WHO. Before joining the City of Fredrikstad in 2012, André has worked as university and high school lecturer and leader in sports and physical education.

He has been a member of the IAKS Nordic board since 2019. He sits on the board of Fredrikstad Elite (United Association formed by three elite teams in soccer, ice-hockey and handball in the City of Fredrikstad) and Olympiatoppen Region Østlandet (The organisation is part of Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports with responsibility for training Norwegian elite sport).

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Prof. Dr Takanori Fukuoka

President of IAKS Japan
Prof. Dr Takanori Fukuoka
President of IAKS Japan

Tokyo University of Agriculture, Dept. of Landscape Architecture Associate Professor, Ph.D, RLA

Directivo - Agustin Garcia Puga

Agustin Garcia Puga

President of IAKS LAC
Agustin Garcia Puga
President of IAKS LAC

First Vice-President of the Central Society of Architects of Argentina elected in 2016 with mandate until October 2019

Former Member of the Technical Evaluation Commission of Stadiums of the Argentinean Ministry of Security (2003 to 2015).

President of the Professional Practice Commission of the Central Society of Architects since November 2010

Professor of the postgraduate course "Design applied to sports architecture" - University of Buenos Aires - Faculty of Architecture FADU UBA

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Jesús del Barrio Díez, Spain

President of IAKS Spain
Jesús del Barrio Díez, Spain
President of IAKS Spain

Jesús del Barrio Díez graduated as an architect from ETSA Madrid in 1980 and worked as a freelance architect and in collaboration with engineers until 1985. He worked as an architect for the Treasury by open competition and developed his work in the DG of Cadastre.

In 1989 he was appointed Deputy Director of Sports Infrastructures of the Consejo Superior de Deportes. Initiating the construction of the CAR Sports, Sports Construction Plan for schoolchildren and neighbours, University Sports Facilities Plan, Subsidies for sports facilities for international events.

Code of Conduct

2023-IAKS Executive Board Code of Conduct.pdf
Code of Conduct for IAKS Executive Board Members
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