Andy Barth

Andrew Barth

Founder & Chairman of the Board

Andrew F. Barth, is the founder of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, which supports Senior-level athletes in men’s and women’s freestyle as well as supporting wrestling on the local level in California. The Titan Mercury WC is the reining 10x US Open National Champions.

Mr. Barth also helped found the Beat the Streets Los Angeles organization, for which he serves as the President of the Board of Directors. Included in the mission of Beat the Streets Los Angeles is the provide wrestling opportunities “to cultivate and support youth development programs in underserved communities in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.” In just its first full year, BTS-Los Angeles is already making an impact on the lives of young people in the community.

In June of 2012, Barth received the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s Outstanding American honor, the 48th recipient of this prestigious award. This honor demonstrates wrestling’s pride in those who have used the disciplines of the sport to launch notable careers in other walks of life, such as science and technology, business and industry, government and the military, and the arts and humanities.

Barth and his wife Avery, made the largest charitable gift in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s 36-year history with a $1 million multi-year pledge for the organization’s Wrestling Beyond the Walls Campaign. He was also instrumental in obtaining a replica of an ancient training manual on wrestling for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

As Columbia University’s top wrestling supporter, his major gift in 2004 endowed the Lion wrestling program and helped renovate its wrestling room, later named in his honor. In 2005, Columbia announced the endowment of its head wrestling coach post with the title of Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of Wrestling.

Andy Barth was a member of Columbia University’s varsity wrestling team from 1979-83 and was a team captain as a senior in 1982-83. The Lions won three consecutive Ivy League titles in his first three years on the team. Barth competed in the 177-pound class as a walk-on first-year in 1979-80 and bumped up to 190 pounds as a sophomore the following year. He earned All-Ivy League honors (honorable mention) in his junior year, 1981-82, when he played a key role in helping Columbia to its third straight conference title.

Barth also represented the New York Athletic Club in Greco-Roman and freestyle events from 1980-85 and in 1985 he won the New York State Greco-Roman title, the Eastern AAU Greco-Roman title and placed sixth at the Andre Guerin International in France.

Barth graduated summa cum laude with a degree in economics from Columbia College in 1983. Upon graduation from Columbia Business School in 1985, Andy moved to Los Angeles to work as a financial analyst for The Capital Group, a global financial investment firm. Over the past two decades he has risen through a series of executive and investment roles to become the Chairman of Capital Guardian Trust Company and Capital International Limited. His leadership led to the growth of Capital Group from $25 billion dollars in assets in 1985 to $1.2 trillion dollars in assets in 2011.

As civic contributor, Andy was twice elected to the Board of Governors of the San Marino Unified School District from 1997-2005. Among his honors include the John Jay Award from Columbia in 2011, the International Medical Corporation Global Humanitarian Award in 2011 and the Golden Apple Award in 2006.

Martin Flores

Board Member & TMWC Youth Director
Carl Fronhofer

Carl Fronhofer

Board Member

Carl has served as a member of the board since 2019 and brings a wealth of experience to TMWC from both the wrestling world and the private business sector. Most recently, Carl held the Director of Operations position at RKS Design. RKS is a globally recognized and award-winning product development firm. In his role at RKS, Carl was responsible for the program management for all projects at the firm.

Before his time at RKS Design, Carl was a collegiate wrestling coach for 13 seasons. His last stop as a college coach was at Columbia University where he served as the Andrew F. Barth Head Coach of wrestling for five seasons. Under his leadership, the Columbia wrestling team produced multiple NCAA Division 1 National qualifiers, All IVY selections, EIWA Place winners and Champions, as well as the highest NCAA place-winner in program history. Along with the success the athletes found on the mat, Carl also helped fundraise for the program, which included the creation of the David and Michael Barry and the John Huemer endowments for both full-time assistant coaches.

Carl is married to Dr. Claire Azzam, they have three sons, Xander, Wolfgang, and Hendrix.

Afsoon Johnston

Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston

Board Member

Afsoon holds the historic first World Medal for the United States in Women’s Freestyle Wrestling. She is a multiple National Champion and a 2x world medalist.

Afsoon earned her undergraduate degree at UC Davis while being the only female on a male collegiate wrestling team. During her undergraduate years, Afsoon competed for the United States National Team and at numerous International competitions. She is the first female to referee an NCAA collegiate men’s wrestling match.

Afsoon completed her graduate degree in Physical Therapy at Arizona School of Health Sciences in 2000. While earning her Master’s degree in Physical Therapy, Afsoon represented the United States in women’s wrestling. Women’s wrestling later debuted as an Olympic sport in 2004.

As a coach, Afsoon coached the U.S. Women at the 2014 World Championships and was awarded Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling that same year.

Afsoon was also an Olympic coach for Team USA in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Afsoon was inducted into the California Wrestling Hall of Fame and has received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Afsoon’s biography was published in a book by Craig Sesker, titled:  “Afsoon” Iranian Girl Overcomes Adversity to Become American Success Story. The book can be purchased at www.afsoonwrestling.com.

Afsoon currently resides in San Diego, CA with her husband and three children.

Kerry McCoy

Kerry McCoy

Board Member

Executive Director and Head Coach of the Lehigh Valley Athletic Club.

Kerry is a two-time US Olympian, 2008 Olympic Coach, two-time NCAA Division 1 National Champion and has over 20 years of Division 1 coaching experience. He was the Head Wrestling coach at the University of Maryland and Stanford University as well as an assistant coach at Lehigh University and Penn State University. In addition to coaching the 2008 Olympic Team, he has also coached numerous international teams for the United States.

McCoy’s senior level athletic accomplishments include representing the United States in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, placing fifth and seventh, respectively. He is a 2003 World silver medalist and a five-time U.S. Open champion.

During his coaching career, McCoy dedicated his time to the development and mentoring of young men and women, largely through the platform of wrestling. He helped produce four NCAA Champions and over 40 individual NCAA All-Americans along with over 15 top 25 team finishes at the NCAA Championships.

In addition to his commitment to wrestling at the collegiate and international levels, McCoy has worked with the Beat the Streets organization to provide opportunities to inner-city kids through wrestling clinics and camps.

McCoy currently serves as Vice President of Black Wrestling Association, Secretary of USA Wrestling Board of Directors as well as on the USA Wrestling Executive Committee. He has also served on both the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee and USA Wrestling’s Athlete Advisory Committee, as well as a few other committees with the USOPC. He also served on the Committee for the Preservation of Olympic Wrestling; a committee formed in response to the proposed drop of wrestling as a core sport of the Olympic Games.

McCoy was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014 and recognized as a Penn State University Distinguished Alumni in 2018.

McCoy currently lives in Coopersburg, PA with his wife, Abbie, and their children, Gabriel and Amelia.

Rich Puleo

Non-Voting Board Member - Serving as Legal Counsel to the Board

Mr. Puleo obtained a B.A. from Penn State University in 1977, where he also received a Varsity Letter in Wrestling. He earned his law degree in 1981 from California Western School of Law in San Diego, CA. After graduating from Law School, Mr. Puleo accepted a position with Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. in the Disclosure Litigation Division. While working at the IRS he obtained a Masters of Law in Taxation from Georgetown Law School in 1983. He graduated in the top 10% of his class at all three colleges.

After leaving the IRS, in 1985, Mr. Puleo represented professional athletes and had the pleasure of representing two first round draft picks to the NFL and other players from Penn State’s 1986 National Championship Football team.

Currently, he is a partner in a private law practice that he started in Chester County, Pennsylvania (Puleo & Gimpel ). The firm handles primarily cases related to personal estates, real estate, business transactions and legal malpractice.  Mr. Puleo has represented companies and individuals in all stages of the real estate cycle, residential and commercial, sales and leasing. He has acted as counsel for a privately owned companies whose sales have exceeded ten billion.

He is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is a licensed Real Estate Broker in Pennsylvania. He also was on the Board of Directors of First Cornerstone Bank, which he co-founded in 2001 and served as Chairman for 4 years before stepping down in 2011.

Mr. Puleo currently resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with his wife, two daughters, Marissa 18 and Madison 16. Currently he is the assistant Wrestling Coach at Lampeter-Strasburg High School and has front row seats for all Penn State home Wrestling matches.

Mike Savini

Mike Savini

Board Member

Michael Savini is a highly regarded banking executive and has an extensive and unique background covering that last 25 years on Wall Street, from commercial banking to senior divisional management of large international investment banks to CEO. Michael has been the Owner & Chief Executive Officer,  Managing Principal of 303 Capital Markets for the past 7 years, strategically driving both deal execution success and next-generation banking leadership solutions. He actively manages virtually every aspect of critical business operations and client servicing – from customized client focused deal generation, capital structuring, valuation and ultimately successful international market underwriting and capital raising.

In wrestling, Michael had great success on all levels as an all state high school wrestler and an All American freestyle wrestler and four year starter in college. He has coached every level for the past 20 years and has been on the board of Titan Mercury since 2019. He holds an MBA in Strategic Management & Finance from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Economics from Columbia University.

Katherine Shai

Board Member

Katherine Shai is a 7x National Team Member for Team USA, and competed for the Titan Mercury WC from 2019 to 2021. Throughout her long career she was top 10 in the world, a multi-time international medalist, University World Champion, Dave Schultz International Champion, 2x College National Champion, US Open Champion, and was 3rd at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Team Trials and 2nd in the mini tournament for the 2021 Olympic Team Trials.

Katherine is currently mentoring and coaching athletes all over the country, as well as speaking on her experiences as a professional athlete in the challenging sport of wrestling. She started the athlete, parent, and coaching resource LuchaFIT. She aims to help more athletes and coaches grow in the sport of wrestling through her story and leadership. She serves as a Board Member of USA Wrestling, and was a founding Board Member for Wrestle Like a Girl. She is a mother of 2 and resides in Denver, CO.

Hooman ‘Mo’ Tavakolian

Hooman ‘Mo’ Tavakolian

Board Member

Hooman ‘Mo’ Tavakolian is an athlete-turned-sports diplomat, eBook author, Co- author,  Chief Compliance Officer at a NYC & London based hedge fund,  Founder of Hoomanties, a sport & gender equality focused charity, Founder & President of Tavak Partners, a unique sports management, sports diplomacy and consulting firm, representing causes and clients worldwide.  Through Tavak Partners, he is an advocate of gender equality in sports and empowering female athletes from the Middle East & around the world.

Mr. Tavakolian received a BA in Psychology from Hunter College where he was conference runner up and NY Collegiate States place winner.  Hooman wrestled for Hofstra University and Hunter College.  Post-graduation, Hooman was the Assistant Coach at Hunter College for two seasons. He received an MBA from Long Island University and his Master in Science of Law from Thomas Jefferson School of Law.  He is a two-time Veteran National Champion.  He is the former Vice President of the New York Athletic Club Wrestling Club and Director of the infamous NYAC International Tournament.

Mr. Tavakolian is also the founder of the Become Your Own Dream Scholarship, a scholarship fund that partners with Beat the Street.  He is also on the board of Beat the Streets NY and Beat the Streets National organization. In April 2017 Hooman was inducted into the USA Wrestling National Hall of Fame. He was also a runner up in 2017 for the prestigious World Peace & Sports Diplomatic Action of the Year’ award.

Mr. Tavakolian is a member of United World Wrestling (“UWW”) Sports for all Commission. He is also a member of UWW Asia Development.

Hooman is an ambassador to wrestling and liaises with the Iranian wrestling federation and other international federations. He was the USA freestyle team leader for the 2017 USA National team world cup tournament in Iran.

In 2017, Tavak Partners was nominated for a Peace & Sports Diplomatic Action of the Year Award for playing a key role during the 2017 Freestyle World Cup in Iran, persuading the Iranian Ministry of Sport to reverse its decision during the travel ban imposed by the Trump administration that would allow Team USA to participate in the event. That same year, Tavak Partners was able to bring an Iranian female motorcyclist from Iran to the US to train.

Hooman has a wrestling outreach and mentoring program where he donates wrestling shoes and gear to kids in need around the world.  He has helped rebuild and refurnish wrestling gyms and mats in remote poor neighborhoods around the world.

In 2018, he created a non-profit organization called HOOMANITIES.  With assistance from private donors, corporations, family and friends, he hopes to reinstate hope in humanity through sports. HOOMANITIES will continue Mr. Tavakolian’s wrestling outreach and mentoring program all over the world. In September 2018, after ISIS bombed a wrestling gym in Kabul Afghanistan, Hooman jumped into action with the help of the USA Wrestling community and created a GoFundMe campaign. The gym was rebuilt and reopened in early December of that same year.

In 2019, Hooman joined USA Wrestling International Relations Committee, where he will be Assisting inbuilding relationships and promoting USAW and athletes internationally.

In 2019, he was also asked to lead the United World Wrestling Americas, as their lead consultant in International Relations and Marketing.

In 2019, he was also asked to join the United World Wrestling Asia, in assisting with development of ports and youth in the continent.

In 2019, Hooman also joined the board of directors of Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, which is the major club in the USA that has 90% of the US national team.

In 2020, Hooman joined Rasoul Khadem and their local charity to build schools by the border region of Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Iran. He successfully built 2 schools and assisted with supplying essential needs for the Covid pandemic.

In 2020, “Hooman’s Hope”, a book which Hooman co-authored was printed and is now on sale. Proceeds from the sales will go to help development of youth through sports.

 

Yero Washington

Yero Washington

Board Member

Yero Washington started wrestling as a freshman in high school while living in Porterville, CA. By his senior year of high school, won a California High School State Championship.

Mr. Washington continued wrestling after high school, attending Fresno City College, where he won a CA Junior College State Title. He then went on to attend Fresno State University, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree and becoming a Two-Time NCAA Division I All-American, placing sixth and third at the NCAA Championships.

After his time at Fresno State University, Yero was accepted as a resident-athlete at the Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs, CO. During this time, he made the US Men’s Freestyle National Team, traveling and competing in the United States and throughout the world.

Once his competitive days concluded, Yero spent nearly a decade coaching college wrestling at Columbia University and Iowa State University.

Currently, Yero is the Executive Director of Beat the Streets Los Angeles, a position he has held since the organization’s founding in 2012. He is also on the Beat the Streets National Executive Board and Chairs the Fundraising and Strategic Partnerships Committee for this fast growing national organization.