Founder of SHINBUDO and Shinbudo International Association is Dr. Ivica Zdravkovic. (Ivica - read as "E-we-tzah"). In Serbia he is running  Shinbukan school of martial arts and Serbian Budo Council. He is Jujutsu and Kenjutsu shihan, recognized by several international organizations, including Martial Arts International Federation (MAIF - HQ in USA), European Budo Council (EBC - HQ in Germany), International Sports Chanbara Association (ISCA - HQ in Japan), etc.    Dr. Ivica lives in Serbia. He is married, has two children and works as a physician, specialist of family medicine. Doctor's martial arts career includes intensive work on organizing national and international competitions in sport jujutsu, chanbara/sport kenjutsu, etc. He was successful organizer, coach, referee and competitor. Also, he wrote numerous articles for local, international and electronic martial arts magazines. All of this has resulted in many awards in Serbia, Europe and USA for his instructional work, refereeing, organizational and other activities in popularization of modern budo.

Dr. Ivica has 30 year experience in Japanese martial arts and sports. He begun as a judo practitioner in 1979, then started cross-training in karate (shotokan), weapons, aikido, full contact karate etc. He earned first black belt after 12 years of practice, back in 1991.  Currently, Dr. Ivica holds 6th Dan in Jujutsu and 5th Dan in Kenjutsu and Chanbara. Due to devaluation of Dan-grade system, founder of International Shinbudo Association prefers Menkyo license and sempai-sensei-shihan gradation. He is also internationally recognized  as judo and karate-do sensei and examiner (ranked 3rd Dan).   Beside traditional martial arts instruction, Dr. Ivica also proved himself as a contestant in various combat sport disciplines. As a child he competed in judo. On World Martial Arts Games held 2007 in Regensburg, Germany, he won Champion title in sword kata demonstration and Vice-champion title in jujutsu fights (heavyweight). On 3rd European Budo Games in Germany 2008 he placed 3rd in jujutsu fights. He also won champion titles in Jujutsu Kata (self-defense demonstration) on international competitions in Europe.   In 2005 he was 3rd in Choken Iai discipline on European Sports Chanbara Champion held in Russia. Next year 2006 he became European Sports Chanbara Vice-champion in Tanto discipline in Italy. In 2007 he placed 4th in Europe in Team Kihon Dosa kata competition in Ukraine. Finally, he took 5th place in Kihon Dosa on World Sports Chanbara Championship in Japan 2008, thus ending his competitive career.

Dr. Ivica is a founder and board member of several national and international martial arts organizations. He introduced JJIF and other sport jujutsu competitions to former Yugoslavian countries (except Slovenia). During his martial arts career he was a guest-instructor, referee and active participant on seminars and competitions in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, USA and Japan.