Sarah Gnerre, MBA, CFRE
President; Chair, Fundraising and Membership Committee; Finance and Governance Committees 

Sarah Gnerre has been practicing yoga regularly for over 20 years. She began competing in the 50+ division in 2015. Since, her many influential teachers have included Sara Curry, Elizabeth Marshall, Glenn Brown, Louise Giordani, Ida Jo Pajunen, Scott Lamps, Joseph Encinia and many others to whom she is most grateful for their patience and wisdom. In 2018, Sarah completed her first teacher training, a Hatha yoga 500-hour training under Craig Villani. 

After a long career as a development executive in higher ed, healthcare, the arts and humane organizations, she now serves as a fundraising coach and strategist. She is an adjunct professor in the Nonprofit Leadership program at the University of New Hampshire and is a frequent speaker at professional development conferences. She holds a bachelor of science in business administration from UNH and earned an MBA in 2005. 

She is a grandmother and lives in Portsmouth, NH with her husband, Chris Mulligan.

Suzanne Elliott
Vice President; Governance Committee 

A leader in physical fitness and education for over forty years, Suzanne has had success coaching all levels of students from the injured and rehabilitating to world champions. She has coached Yoga sportsters since the inception of Yoga Championships, coaching in the first USA held yoga championships and thereafter. She has served as a Judge and Coach every year attending all events. She hosted Regionals in central FL for five years in a row and assisted others who hosted. She has been on the USA Yoga Board and Coaching Committees, currently serving as Coaching representative at the USA Yoga National events. She has several certifications in fitness and yoga styles teaching private lessons to classes of 500. She has lead several Classic 84 and USA Yoga Compulsory classes to assist athletes in training.She was the first “senior” to complete the two week Jedi Fight Club! Born with hip dysplasia, she postponed bilateral Total Hip Replacement using Yoga therapy. She coaches on-line, in-home or at her Yoga school at H.O.T. Yoga on the Island, Merritt Island, FL.  

Tim Mizerak
Treasurer; Governance Committee  

Tim started practicing yoga in 2013 as a supplement to his fitness regimen, which includes weight training and figure skating. He discovered skating in his late 20s, then started competing in his late 30s in both pairs and singles. He used yoga sporadically during that time to increase flexibility and improve his overall fitness. After about 10 years of competing he shifted his focus to part-time coaching, while also training to  keep up his skating skills. 

Tim increased his yoga training in 2018, and then in 2019 made the decision to start competing. He is current US National Men’s 50+ Champion and also won the gold medal in 2021. He has participated in several USA Yoga committees and in 2022 joined the Board of Directors. While still skating casually, he is mostly focused on his yoga, as well as weight training and calisthenics. He also enjoys spreading the word about yoga, and yoga sport, and is introducing other athletes to the idea of competing.

Rajashree Choudhury, CIAYT 
Founder; Fundraising and Communications Committee 

Born in Kolkata, India in 1965, Rajashree began her yoga training at age 4 under her parents’ encouragement at the B.C. Ghosh Training Institute and Mahila Bayam Kendra. She was a five-time Indian National Yoga Champion (1979-83) and won the Bishnu Charon Ghosh Cup in 1982. Rajashree is certified in Hatha Yoga Therapy for chronic conditions. In 1994, she co-founded the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training Program, and trained nearly 10,000 teachers from more than 100 countries. She authored a pioneering book on practicing yoga during pregnancy in 1995. To promote yoga practice and competitive yoga sport, in 2003 she founded both USA Yoga Federation and the International Yoga Sports Federation (IYSF). She served as its first president and continues to serve on its board.

With near 40 years of experience in the West, she focuses on the emotional aspects of yoga, its impact on the body-mind-soul connection, and on vibrant health. She conducts worldwide seminars and teaches her acclaimed pregnancy yoga classes.

Judy Lu
Chair, Coaches Training; Governance Committee  

Judy Lu moved from China to Canada and then to the United States where she found her true home by immersing herself in Bikram Yoga. She began her yoga practice in 2001. Judy believes that her world travels help her to better relate to her yoga students. Judy earned her Bikram yoga certification in 2008. After challenging students through teaching yoga, Judy ran her own Bikram yoga studio for four years in Orange County, California, with the goal of improving the lives of her students from the inside out. To further her love for the yoga practice, Judy has committed her time and energy to USA Yoga and has been a certified judge since 2015. Judy gives private lessons and coaches yoga athletes. After two decades of practice, Judy is a true believer in the vast benefits of a regular yoga practice for both mental and physical health. Judy truly believes in the multifactorial benefits of Bikram yoga and is a testament to its healing qualities. 

Erin Paulsen
Chair, Judges Committee   

Erin Paulsen has been practicing yoga since 2007, received her 500-hour Bikram Yoga Teacher certification in November of 2010, and studied intensely under Senior Teacher Lynn Whitlow from 2010 to 2015. She has taught at several Bikram Yoga studios across the country and is currently the owner of Radiant Yoga Ukiah in California.

Erin is a former yoga competitor, current judge and has been a yoga sport coach certified by USA Yoga since 2015. She is also certified as an A-level judge by International Yoga Sports Federation. Her focus is on strength, focus and determination.  

Kim Tang
Rules Review Committee    

Kim Tang has been a student, teacher, studio owner, presenter, demonstrator, five-time California State Champion, on the national stage six times, and nationally ranked, head coach and judge for USA Yoga and the International Yoga Sports Federation. She has coached countless yoga athletes comprehensively on regional, national and international Stages.  She has
 mentored and taught at Bikram Yoga Teacher Training as well as second generation trainings. She has demonstrated the advanced series alongside Bikram, Emmy Cleaves, international champions, and many others for the new graduates of seven trainings, each with an audience of 300 and up to more than 450 people. “Now Teacher of Teachers of Teachers, I have expanded far beyond the 26, or even the 84, inviting the Wisdom of the ages, the Wisdom of multiple disciplines, and the Wisdom of all limbs of yoga as well as extensive Spiritual Sources in to my practice, my Consciousness, and my Heart. I Teach from the Knowing in my Tissues and my direct experience of having created some of the deepest and most complex postures ‘from scratch.’ I understand how to use the modalities of the Mind and Connection to Breath to get there.”  

Libby Walunas, MA, C-IAYT, RYT 500, OHYA Level 3
Judges Committee    

Libby is a certified yoga therapist trained by S-VYASA USA (Houston) and The Minded Institute (London). She teaches online therapeutic yoga for MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) and is a private yoga therapist, breath coach, and embodiment coach online and in the Billings, Montana area. She began practicing yoga asana in 1996 and began teaching in 2005 with certifications in hatha/vinyasa (2005), Bikram (Spring 2006), yin (2017), and Ghosh (2019, 2023). Additionally, she has practiced power yoga, the Ashtanga primary series, restorative yoga, and Iyengar yoga. She is also committed to a traditional pranayama and meditation practice. 

As a former stage actor, Libby enjoys the performance aspect of asana championships. She competed in six regionals (2003-2009), twice placing as an alternate for the national team. She has served as an informal coach, a regional MC, a regional and national USA Yoga judge, and an international IYSF A-level judge. 

Libby is a medievalist by training and taught history at college and high school levels. She has been studying yoga history and Indic philosophy since 2017 and Sanskrit since 2019. She has a special interest in promoting the mental and spiritual aspects of yoga within the asana championship community. 

Lynn Whitlow
Secretary, Judges Committee and Fundraising and Membership Committee     

Lynn Whitlow brings deep experience in yoga teaching, judging, and championship development to the board of USA Yoga. In 2023, she began her second appointment to the board.

Lynn was among the first to be trained as a judge for the inaugural Bishnu Ghosh Hatha Yoga Competition. She has decades of experience organizing regional competitions throughout the U.S.  Lynn travels year-round to judge competitions and share her decades of experience with yoga communities around the planet.

Lynn has lead the judges committee of the Board of Directors of USA Yoga where she developed a system for training judges. Lynn rejoined the board in 2023.

USA Yoga is proud to be represented on the International Yoga Sports Federation Technical Committee by Lynn. With her help, IYSF oversees the continued evolution and development of the sport’s rules and guidelines — used at competitions worldwide. 

Cynthia Wehr
Coaches and Judges Committees      

Cynthia has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and became a Bikram Yoga Teacher in Spring 2003. She earned the USA Yoga Gold Medal in 2005 and 2007 and the World Yoga Champion Gold Medal in 2007. This gave her the opportunity to travel the world to teach and demonstrate. She spent time teaching in Tokyo, Japan for Bikram Yoga Japan and in Bikram Yoga San Jose, where she still teaches. There she leads weekly Yoga Athlete Practice sessions dedicated to Yoga Sport. Cynthia owned Bomitra Yoga for 9 years before it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2008, she has served as a judge at regional, national, and international competitions. Cynthia’s mission is to unite and elevate the global yoga community through Yoga Sport—cultivating not only athletic excellence, but also connection, inclusivity, and a shared dedication to the deeper roots of yoga.

She coaches competitors every year as well as being a part of bringing the Yoga community together by being involved in the social networks. The constant inspiration and change Cynthia has witnessed and experienced feeds her soul daily to keep teaching yoga forever. To bring yoga to children and children to yoga is the ultimate destination, the big step for truly creating a more peaceful, honest planet. By bringing yoga championships into the light, into everyone’s home, we can make this destination possible.