Member Biographies

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Chief Toke Aka, an engineer, is president of both the Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF) (since 2001) and Pan-Africa Scrabble Association (PASA) for the last three years. In addition, he's associated with other Scrabble groups, such as the Rivers State Scrabble Association which he's chaired since 2001, was chairman (1998-2000) of the Shell Club Scrabble Section and is a member of the management committee of the World English-language Scrabble Players Association (WESPA)

In December 2003, the government of Nigeria cited him for exemplary leadership of sporting federations with the Kenya Amateur Scrabble Association singling him out for a leadership award the following year. He has been instrumental in compiling the Nigeria Scrabble Players Dictionary and setting up an e-mail group and the NSF website.

Through Chief Toke’s initiatives, computerised tournament pairings, adjudication and national ratings were introduced. Over the past four years, he has enabled Nigerian delegations to compete in all major world and African championships.

Andrew Fisher, a chartered accountant and auditor, has been active in club and tournament playing for over 16 years and at or near the top of the ratings in Great Britain and Australia where he took up residence three years ago. He has competed in all but one World Scrabble Championship (WSC), with Melbourne and Las Vegas being his best placements to date: ranked fifth in both.

In the Association of British Scrabble Players (ABSP), he was the ratings officer and honorary auditor, becoming later the honorary auditor for the Australian Scrabble Players Association (ASPA), in Victoria, then last July appointed treasurer. For Wespa, he authored a financial and subscription report in January 2004, was appointed to the association’s interim committee last April and the following month drafted a membership rights document.

Andrew has also recruited and co-ordinated a website team for Wespa. How to Win at Scrabble is a book he co-authored with David Webb. He’s a regular contributor to newsletters and websites. At 40, he’s competed in several international competitions and organised various contests including the Australian Masters and this year’s State Challenge Trophy.

Cheah Siu Hean, a consultant to a pharmaceutical company, aged, 41,was elected president of the Scrabble Association, Singapore, two years ago, having been vice-president from 1999 to 2003. He chairs the organising committee for the annual Singapore National Championship (SNC).

Secretary of Wespa, he’s a life member of the Malaysian Scrabble Association and a member of the ASPA, Queensland. He was the Australian national champion in 2002 and ’04, was the Penang Open champion, was five times runner-up in the SNC as well as the Scrabble Association Millennium Club (’01, ’05). He was the drafter of large portions of the rules for the WSC ’03.

Llewellin Jegels is a web publisher, teacher, software developer, entrepreneur and certified estate agent. In South Africa, he’s ranked fourth after this year’s nationals (2005) but third in both the masters and the Collins Cup, the country’s biggest tournament. You can also play him on ISC under the handle 'agamemnon'

Ten years ago, he implemented the country’s ratings system. He’s helped to organise many national competitions as well as the Pan-African National Scrabble Association contest in 1998. At present, the 45-year-old is living and working in Germany.

Sam Kanthimathi, an aerospace engineering executive, is doubtless best known in the Scrabble world for his SamTimer, the game’s highly successful digital clock as well as other products for word games. He’s competed in many high-level tournaments in the US, the Philippines ($10,000 first prize) and Thailand (twice runner-up), taking first place in competitions in seven countries.

He’s been the contest director for chess and Scrabble including duplicate Scrabble tourneys and match director at the sixth African championships in Dar es Salaam. At 51, he’s a member of a number of professional societies. On the Wespa management committee, he’s also a member of the New York-based National Scrabble Association rules committee.

Roy Kietzman, 65, is a writer, editor and journalist, playing Scrabble since the 1960s. He also plays the game in French and German. Eighteen years ago he was named chairman of the Bahrain Scrabble League (founded in 1984).

Ten years ago, when the country’s sports authority recognised Scrabble, again, as a mind sport, he was appointed president of the governmental Bahrain Scrabble Committee. He spearheaded the organisation, in 1991, of the Gulf Scrabble Tournament which has been held in Bahrain annually since.

Roy has been competition director for over 50 contests, in Bahrain as well as in India and Oman. He handles press relations for the BSL and has written a dozen articles since 2003 about Wespa developments which have been transmitted to wire services, the Persian Gulf press and Scrabble newsletters and websites.

Joash Manyasa, a systems analyst-computer programmer with a state power company in Kenya, has been playing Scrabble in local tournaments for over 10 years, twice competing in Panasa and regional championships as well as taking part in a dozen competitions in neighbouring countries. Besides being an oganiser, he was a founder member and chairman of the Busia Scrabble Club (1995-98) and handled established fixtures for the Kenya Scrabble Association 1999-2001).

He has been involved in recruiting new players and been a guiding light behind forming national Scrabble bodies in Tanzania and Uganda. Moreover, Joash has been a founder member of the East Central and Southern Africa Championship as well as a member of both the organising committee and executive body for the Pan-African championships. He’s been a longtime member of several Scrabble e-mail groups to keep abreast of developments and exchange ideas.

Karen Richards, retired Management trainer, is a member of Australia ’s Rating Advisory Committee, and spent four years as National Rules Coordinator. Over the past ten years, she has played 3000+ tournament games, including in Britain , Malaysia , New Zealand , Singapore and Thailand . She has utilized her managerial and training experience to help others optimise the use of their talents, specifically by establishing two schools, where students learn at their own pace. Many of the students she worked with suffer Asperges (high-functioning autism) or similar conditions. Currently, she is involved in running Scrabble coaching clinics for young people, and is a member of the New South Wales Scrabble executive committee. Her best Scrabble moment may have been winning the “little old lady” award at Kings Cup 2006 (actually, there were two awards – best senior, and best female).

Allan Simmons, formerly an information-technology manager, is now a Scrabble consultant, mostly in media- and publishing-related projects. Having started to play the game 30 years ago, he’s since organised and directed many British events since.

Since 1985, he’s been the organiser and tutor of Scrabble game-improvement courses as well as the author of several Scrabble books and the publisher and compiler of the Scrabble calendar for Mattel territories. Both three times the British champion and the Scottish titleholder, the 40-year-old Scrabble consultant been the commentator for the British National Championships and three WSCs. He was chairman, 1980-88, of the United Kingdom Postal Scrabble Club, then was elected ABSP president from 1990 to 1998, becoming chairman three years ago. Two years ago, he was named Wespa chairman.