World ParaVolley welcomes first female president

Lori Okimura of the United States becomes first woman to become Full-Time International Federation President for Sitting Volleyball and Beach ParaVolley

World ParaVolley, the international sport federation for sitting volleyball and beach paravolley, enters the year of the Paralympics with a new President and a commitment to improving communications and operations in many areas for the entirely volunteer organisation. Lori Okimura, of Los Angeles, California and Maui, Hawaii in the United States, entered into the full-time position of President on January 1, 2024 after the early retirement of previous President, Barry Couzner OAM of Australia, who led the organization successfully for ten years.

Okimura previously served as Vice President, elected in 2022, before being promoted via constitutional succession to President upon the announcement of Couzner’s early retirement. She was appointed previously as World ParaVolley’s first female Sport Director and served as a technical official since 2016 for sitting volleyball and beach paravolley. She was appointed an international technical official for the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

For more than 30 years, she has worked in the international sports industry in multiple areas from production and manufacturing to marketing and sales and most recently in non-profit governance and executive management. Her volunteer service through those years included serving as a Trustee of Safe Sport International, an advisor to the Foundation for Global Sport Development’s Athlete Helpline, as an Executive Board Member of Angel City Sports, a humanitarian and adaptive sports organization based in Los Angeles, California focused on providing opportunities through sport to adults, children and veterans with physical differences and impairments.

She served on the Board of Directors of USA Volleyball for 7 years, 5 years as Board Chair, until her final term ended in 2019. She served as a member of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) beach commission from 2016-2021, and as a technical delegate for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour since 2004. (Full bio on the World ParaVolley Website)

“I happily hand the reins over to Vice President Lori Okimura with great confidence that she is the best person to undertake the role of President. Lori has many decades of sport experience and with LA28 coming up, her amazing connections in the USA will potentially reap great financial and other benefits for…