With increased momentum among RAFA members following the success of meetings held in Caracas, July 2001, São Paulo, October 2001 and Miami, January 2002, a small executive committee chaired by Dr. Victor Matsudo from Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul (CELAFISCS), was elected in January 2002. Persons of the executive committee were nominated from North, Central and South America and the English-speaking Caribbean and unanimously confirmed by all participants present. At the 2003 RAFA Annual Meeting in Bogota, Colombia, 9 members of the executive committee were elected in accord with formal RAFA procedures.