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Rich Bender elected to UWW Americas Executive Committee and appointed as its Vice-President

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by UWW, UWW Americas and USA Wrestling

USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender at the 2025 Senior Pan American Championships in Monterrey, Mexico (Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors)

MONTERREY, Mexico (May 8) – USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender was elected to serve as a member of UWW Americas Executive Committee and was selected by the organization to the position of Vice-President.

Francisco Lee of Guatemala will continue as the President of the UWW Pan-American Council after being re-elected on Wednesday. Lee has served in this leadership position since 2003.

The elections, held prior to the 2025 Senior Pan-American Championships in Monterrey, saw five members being re-elected and two elected as new members.

Re-elected members

Francisco LEE (GUA)

Guillermo DIAZ (MEX)

Fernando RITTNER(ARG)

Fanny ECHEVERRI (COL)

Manuel ESPINOZA (CHI)

Newly elected members

Rich BENDER (USA)

Jose BARRETO (VEN)

After the elections, the council's executive board elected the office bearers with Lee re-elected as the President.

Diaz was given the position of General Secretary of the council while Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director, was appointed as the Vice-President.

In addition to his position as USA Wrestling Executive Director, Bender also serves on the Board of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. He serves on the United World Wrestling Technical Commission, which creates recommendations and policies concerning the rules and procedures of wrestling at the international level.

Bender has been an employee of USA Wrestling since 1988, and has served as Executive Director since 2001, the longest serving Executive Director in the history of the organization. He has been elected as a Distinguished Member of the U.S. National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

About UWW Americas

At the end of the 1960s the leaders of the different National Wrestling Federations from the Pan American nations decided to organize a "Confederation", which, although it had no official recognition from the International Federation of Associated Wrestling -FILA- (called United World Wrestling since 2014) was the seed for the organization of the sport on the Continent. For additional information, visit the UWW Americas website at http://uwwamericas.org/

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