Management Team

Dr. Mombi Thairu, Board Member

Dr. Mombi Thairu, International Sports Agent,
President of RKE Sports Management

Mombi’s interest in sports was born when she was a student at Southern California University of the Health Sciences. As a member of the Sports Injury Council she often accompanied and assisted team physicians in various sporting events such as High School Football Games, Swimming Competitions, Karate, Little League Soccer, and Track & Field.

During her clinical internship, she focused on treating athletic injuries. She also, at the same time started running 5K races. It was during the 5K races that she met middle and long distance runners from Kenya. When one of the athletes asked her to manage him, a career as a Sports Agent began.

Since founding RKE Sports Management, Mombi represents close to thirty athletes. Ten of them are elite marathoners who compete all over the world. The others are young and upcoming highly talented athletes with great potential that are currently competing in local races in preparation for the big stage.

Mombi has learnt a lot from seasoned figures in sports including Mal Whitfield, a two-time 800m Olympic Champion in 1948 and 1952, and arguably one of the greatest athletes in the world. Mal, the author of Beyond The Finish Line, and a former U.S. Sports Ambassador to Africa (1954-1989), is also considered the father of organized sports in Africa. Mal introduced Mombi to some of the best known names in the field of sports administration in Africa and beyond, among them Lamine Diack of Senegal who is the current President of the International Association of Athletics  Federations (IAAF),  Charles Mukora of Kenya, a former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Apart from athletics, Mombi is interested in soccer. She has started working on recruiting soccer players from Kenya where the sport is extremely popular.

Mombi went to UCLA for her undergraduate education, then to Southern California University of the Health Sciences for her Doctor of Chiropractic degree.