EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Pine I meeting room, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Incheon, Korea Thursday 13th December 2018 Minutes 1. Welcome and Opening 1.1 President’s opening remarks The President, Mr Thomas Weikert, welcomed everyone and thanked the Korea Table Tennis Association (KTTA) for the hospitality, praising the hard work done by the Vice-President of the KTTA and IOC member, Mr Ryu Seungmin. Mr Weikert also welcomed and congratulated the new Chair of the Athletes Commission (AC), Mr Zoran Primorac. 1.2 Local organizers welcome The Vice-President of the KTTA, Mr Ryu Seungmin, welcomed everyone, wished all the participants a good time in Incheon and apologized on behalf of the KTTA President, Mr Cho Yang Ho, for missing the event due to health issues. Mr Ryu Seungmin thanked everyone for the opportunity and congratulated the ITTF for the all the achievements accomplished during 2018, among them, the establishment of the ITTF Foundation. He also expressed his gratitude for ITTF’s contribution towards the development of the sport in the Korean peninsula, as well as for the strong support towards the Unified Korean team and improvement of the relations between North and South Korea through table tennis. Mr Ryu Seungmin also congratulated the new Chair of the AC, Mr Zoran Primorac. 1.3 Roll call Thomas Weikert President Khalil Al-Mohannadi Deputy President Petra Sörling Executive Vice-President Bruce Burton Executive Vice-President Masahiro Maehara Executive Vice-President Shi Zhihao Executive Vice-President Alaa Meshref Executive Vice-President James Morris Executive Vice-President Nestor Tenca Executive Vice-President Zoran Primorac Athletes Commission Chair In attendance Steve Dainton CEO Raul Calin Secretary General Iulia Necula Executive Assistant & Athletes Manager Ryu Seungmin KTTA Vice-president – only for the Welcome part Claudia Herweg Equipment Manager – only for the Equipment part Michael Brown CFO – only for the Financial part Matt Pound Marketing Director – only for the Marketing part Vicky Eleftheriade Competition Director – only for the Competition part Polona Cehovin HPD Director – only for the HPD part Leandro Olvech Foundation Director – only for the ITTF Foundation part ITTF Executive Committee meeting minutes, 13th December 2018, Incheon, Korea Republic Page 1 epublic Republic 1.4 Adoption of the agenda The Agenda was adopted with the following additions: 4.2 Terms of Reference of the Athletes Commission 2. Minutes of the previous Executive Committee meeting 2.1 Adoption of the Minutes of the previous meeting (17th and 18th of August 2018) The minutes of the previous meetings were approved and signed by the President, Mr Thomas Weikert. 2.2 Business arising from the Minutes The Secretary General, Mr Raul Calin, informed the group that no other business arose from the previous Minutes not being covered in the current agenda. 3. CEO Update 3.1 Staff update The CEO, Mr Steve Dainton, updated the EC on the new Staff Chart, stating that it was a very active period in terms recruitment, the fastest growing in the history of ITTF. The CEO informed the EC about the hiring of the following staff: Equipment • Ms Claudia Herweg as the new Equipment Manager Development Department • Mr Massimo Costantini, as High-Performance Manager • Ms Katarzyna Kubas, as Continental Development Manager • Mrs Yelena Druzhkova, as Asia Development Manager • Mr Carlos Esnard, as Pan America Development Manager Marketing Department • Mr Raphael Chen, as Asia Pacific Marketing Manager • Mr James Francis, as Content Manager The ITTF Foundation is also expanding with the addition of Ms Karine Teow and will soon be announcing the opening of a small central office in Leipzig, Germany. The CEO also stated that it will be necessary to redo the hiring process for the position of Technical Officials Manager, explaining that by the end of the previous process, the targeted candidate was no longer available for the job. The EVP, Mrs Petra Sörling, requested the development of a Human Resources Plan with an informative role for the ITTF Officials, as well as an introductory and onboarding Plan, which will serve as an introduction tool of the new staff to the ITTF and table tennis family. The CEO informed that Mr Michael Brown, in his capacity of Human Resource responsible, is currently working on the development of an onboarding process and procedures. ITTF Executive Committee meeting minutes, 13th December 2018, Incheon, Korea Republic Page 2 epublic Republic The ITTF decided not to renew the contracts of the following staff: • Mr Didier Leroy • Mr Dejan Papic The CEO highlighted that the Competition Department is one of the areas that urgently needs new recruitments. The EVP, Mr Bruce Burton, stated that with the hire of the new Competition Managers it is necessary to ensure that the ITTF staff is working together as a team in the best interest of the ITTF, and aligned with the Strategic Plan goals. The CEO, Mr Steve Dainton, explained that with the ITTF growing bigger and bigger, more of the HR procedures will become more professional and Exit interviews will become part of the general process. The EVP, Mrs Petra Sörling, stated that although traditionally, everything related to the HR process was shared with the EC, given the growing size and professionalization of the organization, the decisions regarding the future hiring’s and terminations should be done by the CEO, and he should only present an informative report of the relevant aspects to the EC. 3.1.1 Senior Management Meeting update The CEO, Mr Steve Dainton, updated the EC on the last Senior Management Meeting held on 13th-15th of November in Singapore. Mr Dainton reported that the process is improving, noting that it is much more efficient and productive to have the Senior Staff report a month in advance and eventually present the outcome to the EC meeting. 3.2 Strategic Plan update The CEO updated the EC on the Operational Plan implementation, which is going according to the schedule, and with the aim to be ready before the 2019 WTTC in Budapest. Mr Dainton also informed that, following the guidelines of the Strategic Plan, Mr Michael Brown is coordinating with the Senior Staff (“the Champions”) the establishment of the systematic steps of each of the areas. He also stated that the general feeling is that the Strategic Plan was overall well received, being considered professional and very collaborative in terms of the development. Since Halmstad, many National Associations also showed their interest towards professionalization starting to develop their own Strategic Plan. The EVP, Mr James Morris, stated that the Strategic Plan is a living and breathing document which should be reviewed periodically. He also wanted to use the opportunity to thank all the “Champions” for the work developed around the Operational Plan. 3.3 Future Events Working Group (FEWG) The CEO informed that Deloitte was asked to assist in the development of a new WTTC event structure that will ensure the inclusion of the 100% of the ITTF members. ITTF Executive Committee meeting minutes, 13th December 2018, Incheon, Korea Republic Page 3 epublic Republic 3.4 Boosting Working Group The Equipment Manager, Mrs Claudia Herweg, updated the EC on the work done in the past weeks and presented the report conducted by the members of the boosting working group. Mrs Herweg informed about the considerations and the final conclusion of the report, of not allowing any after treatment (boosting) of the rubbers. The Equipment Manager reported that further tests will be conducted in the intention of defining a pilot phase that includes the dismantling the rubbers from the players’ Rackets, immediately after the end of a competition. The Athletes Commission Chair, Mr Zoran Primorac, expressed some of the concerns and possible issues that might arise from the players and events perspective. The President, Mr Thomas Weikert, asked the AC Chair, Mr Zoran Primorac, to discuss with the Athletes Commission members and with the players and present a report in regard to this topic at the next EC meeting in February. The EC acknowledged the importance of this matter and recommended the establishment of special rules that allow the dismantling of the rubbers at major events, after the competition ends. Further discussions should be continued under the leadership of the Equipment Department with regularly reports to the EC. 3.5 Future of the Continental Structures / Bodies The CEO, informed the EC that the fact that the Continental Federations are not officially linked to the ITTF Constitution, creates some disconnections between each other. The CEO admitted that there were several debates in the last few months on this topic and ensured with the professionalization, as the resources and finances grow, the ITTF has more possibilities to invest and support different regions of the world in terms of development and at competition level. The correct strategy in the future would be to re-evaluate the organizational system and governance structure and reconsider a more collaborative approach that better connects ITTF with all the major table tennis stakeholders, especially the ITTF members. 3.6 ITTF Regional Offices The CEO proposed that in the future ITTF should establish more Regional Offices to service the global needs of the sport. To start, the ITTF will look in the near future for some pilot testing in different regions around the world. The CEO mentioned there were current discussions in setting up such an office in North America, which would soon be followed up with Latin America. 3.7 Information & Technology The CEO reminded the EC about the difficulties faced during the transition period but now everything seemed to be on track. The EC members expressed their satisfaction with the fact that most of the issues were solved and the IT system improved a lot in the last months ITTF Executive Committee meeting minutes, 13th December 2018, Incheon, Korea Republic Page 4 epublic Republic 4.