TU WFE Governance Restructuring Presentation

The World Federation of Eating (“WFE”) is the governing body for competitive eating contests. Such contests are held all over the world. The organization has national governing bodies in over fifty countries. Although it is not part of the Olympic movement, it does have world championships every two years, with prize money that derives from a group of sponsors. The organization hosts tournaments in various weight classifications and is divided by sex.

The WFE has been led for two decades by Blat Seppler, who has run the organization with an iron hand. Although there is a board of directors, Seppler picked each of the members personally. The WFE Congress is composed of fifty-five delegates, one from each member country. Under Article V of the organization’s constitution, each delegate gets one vote. In reality, Seppler has been able to “persuade” delegates from certain countries by using the organization’s sponsorship money to give “gifts” to their competitive eating program. He has been re-elected by large margins and was serving his sixth four-year term when he was forced to resign after he and the entire board were indicted by U.S. authorities on charges of money laundering, wire fraud and other alleged criminal activities.

The WFE’s Congress has elected an acting president who is the former attorney general of the United States and board members who are new to the sport. With the blessing of the Congress, the acting president and the new board have announced a “major strategic plan” to restructure the organization—from top to bottom. No one and no division could be spared. The goal is to create an organization that is legal, transparent and represents the best of competitive eating. The powers of the president and others are open to change. In other words, everything is on the table.

Assignment
You are to create a new governing structure for the WFE. You will propose changes (or you may keep aspects of the present structure) involving such issues as elections of officials and the nature, duties and power of the WFE officials, any legislative body, its powers and its representatives. Terms of office and election procedures can also be included. You can discuss
– athlete representation (if any)
– changes in bidding procedures for future world championships
– allocations of resources between the WFE and the national governing bodies, the negotiations and the rights of sponsors and a code of ethics or general ethical procedures in the conduct of the WFE officials and representatives.
– Financial disclosure and other transparency rules can also be proposed.