USA Judo Welcomes New Board Members

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – USA Judo is pleased to announce that six individuals have been selected to serve on the USA Judo Board of Directors beginning on Jan. 1, 2023. All six board members will serve four-year terms.

Gerry Navarro (Pembroke Pines, Fla. / YMCA Panther Judo Club) and Jeff LeForce (Dallas, Texas / Fort Worth Judo Club) were elected by USA Judo members ages 18 and older to at-large director positions on the board.

Navarro, who also serves as the chair of the Junior Athlete Performance Sub-Committee , will return to the board for a third term.

LeForce is an IJF Continental Referee who also has served on USA Judo committees and is a former president and current board member for Texas Judo.

USA Judo’s elite athletes had the opportunity to vote for two new athlete directors.

Two-time Olympian Colton Brown (Bridgewater, N.J. / Colton Brown Training Center) and Tokyo Paralympic silver medalist Ben Goodrich (Saint Paul, Minn.) secured the Athlete Director roles with Goodrich also being elected earlier this year as a member of the USA Judo Athlete Advisory Council.

USA Judo’s referees elected Joon Chi (Edina, Minn. / Saito Dojo), a referee at the 2000 Olympic Games and 1996 Paralympic Games and former member of the USA Judo Referees’ Commission, to the referee board member role.

In addition, Shannon Hondl (Irvine, Calif.) has been selected by the USA Judo Nominating Committee to an independent director position following a call for nominations to the judo community and Olympic family in August.

The chief development officer for Goodman North America, Hondl is responsible for leading the development and acquisition strategy for the property group that owns, develops and manages industrial real estate.

A graduate of Portland State University with a bachelor’s degree in geography, Hondl went on to earn a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Oregon and a second master’s in real estate development from the University of Southern California.

Full Results: 

At-Large Director
Jeff LeForce: 575
Gerry Navarro: 537
Heidi Moore: 370
Humberto Lopez: 186
Matthew Parker: 99
Omar Madan: 24

Referee Board Member
Joon Chi: 129
Barbara Houston-Shimizu: 47

Able-Bodied Athlete Director
Colton Brown: 38
Ari Berliner: 36
Leilani Akiyama: 27
Lisa Capriotti: 20
Angelica Delgado: 16
Ben Goodrich: 8
Christopher Round: 6
Savannah Stacey: 5

Para Athlete Director
Ben Goodrich: 49
Andre Watson: 16