FIS introduces new council members

At its general assembly in Cape Town on May 30, the 46th International Ski Congress elected three new members to the FIS Council. The new Council Members are: Alain Méthiaz (FRA), Giovanni Morzenti (ITA), and Werner Wörndle (AUT). They replaced their respective countrymen, Michel Vion (FRA), Gaetano Coppi (ITA) and Peter Schröcksnadel (AUT), who did not stand for re-election. For an introduction of the new Council Members, please see below for short biographies for each of them.
At its general assembly in Cape Town on May 30, the 46th International Ski Congress elected three new members to the FIS Council. The new Council Members are: Alain Méthiaz (FRA), Giovanni Morzenti (ITA), and Werner Wörndle (AUT). They replaced their respective countrymen, Michel Vion (FRA), Gaetano Coppi (ITA) and Peter Schröcksnadel (AUT), who did not stand for re-election. For an introduction of the new Council Members, please see below for short biographies for each of them.

Alain Méthiaz

Alain Méthiaz, 68, has served the sport of skiing in various roles in France since the early 1970s. As technical director of the National Nordic Skiing Center and as national technical director in the French Ski Association responsible for Nordic Skiing, he laid the groundwork for the sport's development in France. Méthiaz was appointed the first general director of the French Ski Association in 1982, a position he held until after the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville. Until his retirement he was working in the French Ministry of Sports as responsible for the ski and mountain sports matters. Upon retiring from the Ministry, he has served as president of the French Ski Association since October 2004. A native of Thonon Les Bains (Haute Savoie), Méthiaz is married with one son and lives in Sciez.

Giovanni Morzenti

Giovanni Morzenti, 57, is a native of Fossano in the province of Piedmont. He is a former manager at Fiat as well as a banker and publicist. Morzenti has served in several management roles at the different levels of Italian skiing, including as president of the Alpi Occidentali regional ski association, while managing the Limone Piemonte Ski Club and Sporting Riserva Bianca. Morzenti is married and has three children. He was elected president of the Italian Ski Association in April 2007.

Werner Wörndle

The president of the Austrian Ski Association, Peter Schröcksnadel, stood down as candidate for re-election into the FIS Council on May 29, just before the election by the 46th International Ski Congress on May 30. The Congress accepted the late nomination of Werner Wörndle as the Austrian candidate and elected him with 92 votes.

Wörndle is the director of the OeSV Ski Austria Academy in St. Christoph am Arlberg, a neighboring village to St. Anton am Arlberg. This skiing competence center was born when the Austrian Ski Association assumed control of the Bundessportheim St. Christoph in 1998. It maintains a central role in skiing education in Austria, from university training to its position as the official education of skiing instructors to offering courses ranging from special technical courses to fun "guided free riding." A native of Innsbruck, Tyrol, Wörndle was the Head of Alpine Skiing at the Austrian Ski Association for nine years from 1987 until 1996. He is a recognized expert on ski training and technique and a well-known speaker and teacher of ski-related topics.