From The Chair - ANSW CEO & Senior Leadership Team Announcement

Now that the summer season is coming towards a close with what promises to be a sensational Australian Track and Field Championships in Sydney, I wanted to provide an update to our members about some recent changes at ANSW and what is an exciting path forward for our sport. 
  
First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the difficulties which both ANSW and the athletics community have faced since the Omicron outbreak shut down the sport mid-way through the 2021 winter season. Unfortunately, a combination of factors both delayed the commencement of the 2021/22 summer season and also prevented us from being in a position to deliver the extent of the season that we would have liked. It has also caused some delays in implementing a number of improvements to our processes in other areas of our business, such as club affiliation and the support we provide to our member clubs. Notwithstanding the difficulties presented by COVID, the responsibility for any areas where we have fallen somewhat short lies with the Board and myself and I’d like to thank our staff and the membership for their perseverance during what has been a difficult period. 
 
Now that we are largely through that difficult phase and returning to a period of some normality, the Board has approved a number of initiatives to significantly improve what we deliver for our members in 2022/23. In particular, a number of those initiatives are focussed on significantly increasing the engagement and collaboration that we have with all members of the athletics community – from club administrators to coaches, athletes and officials. In that regard, I have set out below the active steps that the Board and staff are taking together to ensure that occurs this winter and into the summer of 2022/23. 
 
ANSW CEO, Leadership Team and Staff
 
I am thrilled to announce to our members that the Board has appointed Christian Renford as the new CEO of ANSW. Christian comes to ANSW as an experienced executive who has served as CEO of sporting organisations at both national and state levels in Australia and overseas. As a former CEO of Water Polo Australia, Swimming New Zealand, Rowing NSW and Rowing Queensland with bachelor and postgraduate degrees in sports management and business administration, Christian has a history of leading the transformation of sporting organisations large and small in collaboration with their members and stakeholders. 
 
In Christian, the Board has selected a CEO whose skillset is perfectly suited to the next phase for ANSW - one targeted at improving our competition, pathways and support offering to our existing clubs and members, as well as moving to significantly expand the reach and offering of ANSW beyond our current membership. In doing this, our focus will be to build from our existing strengths; we will not be making changes for change sake.
 
Equally important to the CEO role is the team of staff that the CEO leads. To that end, I am also pleased to announce that Andrew Matthews has been appointed to the permanent role of General Manager - Sport Delivery and Pathways, as part of a restructured staffing team. Andrew will be known to most of our clubs and members as a respected leader with a speciality in athletics operations and competition, as well as event delivery. As part of his role and in collaboration with the Board, Christian and our clubs, members and officials, Andrew will lead the development and implementation of the ANSW competition strategy from 2022/23 onwards. 
 
Joining Christian and Andrew in the newly formed ANSW Senior Leadership Team (SLT) will also be:
 
- James Constantine as General Manager – Marketing, Communications & Emerging Markets; and 
- Maddy Smith as General Manager – Community.
 
James will be well known to almost all of our members as a dedicated and outstanding leader of ANSW's communications with our athletics community. James will take on an expanded role helping to lead ANSW's participation and growth strategy. 
 
Maddy also joins ANSW to lead our community and clubs engagement and support initiatives, which is a focus area for the Board. Maddy brings a wealth of experience from her time with athletics in the United Kingdom, as well as being a club administrator with Hornsby Athletics. Maddy has already begun the significant work of improving our club affiliation processes and improving the support we provide to our club administrators. 
 
ANSW is also pleased to welcome to our team: 
 
- Rob Marks, who joins our team as the State Teams and Pathways Coordinator with the benefit of an extensive background in coaching and high-performance athletics; and 
- Mary Macaluso, who returns to ANSW after about a decade away to fill the role of Workforce Coordinator and to work with our wonderfully dedicated ANSW officials, many of whom will remember Mary from her first stint at ANSW. 
 
Ben Jaworski will also continue and expand his contribution to ANSW in the new role of Event and Operations Manager, while David Tarbotton also continues his usual exemplary work covering our sport and its athletes. 
 
The Board is confident that the new ANSW office, under the leadership of Christian and the SLT, is structured to deliver a new standard of service for and collaboration with our members and to lead the implementation of the revised strategic plan currently being finalised by the Board. In the next couple of weeks, our Club Administrators, Coaches and Officials will all be invited to various opportunities to meet Christian and the SLT, which will be the first in a series of new initiatives to ensure that we are fully engaging with the people who help us deliver athletics in NSW. 
 
Competition Strategy & Officials
 
As well as introducing the new ANSW staffing team who will be working with the Board to lead the sport forward, the Board has also approved the implementation of the below initiatives to ensure that we recommit to engaging with our clubs, coaches, athletes and officials:
 
- Competition Strategy Working Group (CSWG) – The establishment of this group, reporting to the CEO, which will comprise representatives from the Board, staff, club administrators, coaches and members, will be responsible for helping to develop the ANSW competition strategy – both for the short-term 12-month cycle, as well as the longer-term strategy. The CSWG will be Co-Chaired by Andrew Matthews and ANSW Director David Lewis, with representatives of the above stakeholder groups to be invited to join. Importantly, this group will ensure that the views of the key stakeholders in our sport are heard in shaping our competition offering.
 
- Competition Focus Groups – There will be four Competition Focus Groups which will sit under the CSWG, being Sprints/Hurdles, Distance/Walks, Field/Multi-Events and Winter Harriers. These groups will also include representatives from the club administrator, coach and athlete (both able-bodied and para) communities and be responsible for providing expert input into the competition strategy and planning which relate specifically to those groups. This will ensure that those from our community who know their events best will have a voice in ensuring that the ANSW competition offering caters for all participants of our sport. 
 
- ANSW Officials Advisory Panel – This Committee will be expanded to not only advise the staff on matters critical to the officiating cohort, but will also have central role in competition planning and delivery. We are conscious of the feedback that we have received from Officials looking for a greater role in competition structure planning and delivery and this Committee will ensure that the unique expertise of this group is best put to use by the sport. They will work hand in hand with the Education Committee to ensure that matters of recruitment and education are of a high priority to the organisation.
 
The Board is confident that these groups will ensure that the members of the athletics community from all groups have a central role in planning how our sport is delivered, in collaboration with the ANSW staff and Board. 
 
Path Forward 
 
We are confident that the combination of our new CEO and staffing team, as well as the initiatives set out above, will significantly improve the way ANSW collaborates both internally and with the athletics community. 
 
The Board and I are committed to leading ANSW into the next phase of its development and we believe that we have assembled a team capable of delivering great things for the sport. We believe that this team, combined with the new strategic plan being finalised and the very strong financial management of ANSW throughout COVID, has given ANSW the foundation and opportunity to achieve unprecedented success in the next few years. 
 
I thank the membership for their patience while we have worked through this process and look forward to working with you as we move beyond the pandemic and what has been a difficult time for everyone. I hope you enjoy the Australian Championships and look forward to seeing you around SOPAC next week. 
 
Yours in athletics, 



Matt Whitbread
Chair
Athletics NSW