SPARC's Board

Board members

 

 

 

Paul Collins (Chairman)
Paul Collins has extensive governance experience in business and sport. He was a governor of the New Zealand Sports Foundation from 1986 to 1999 and was chairman for seven years (1992-1999). In 2005 he was a member of the Rugby 2011 World Cup Bid Committee which won the hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup. He is also chairman of the Wellington Regional Stadium Trust, chairman of the Hurricanes, and is a director of Wellington Rugby Ltd. The former chief executive of Brierley Investments has served on the board of more than 50 listed companies in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and London. He is executive director of the private investment company Active Equities Ltd, and is a non-executive director of Team Talk Limited and Masterpet Corporation Ltd.

Paul, who lives in Wellington, has a Bachelor of Arts degree and is a chartered accountant.

 

 

 

 

Bill Birnie
Based in Auckland, Bill Birnie is the Chairman and Managing Partner of private equity firm, Birnie Capital Partners Limited. Bill holds a Bachelor of Laws and is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand. In addition to being a Director of the Birnie Capital investment companies, Bill is a Trustee of the James Wallace Arts Trust and Deputy Chairman of the New Zealand Film Commission. He is a past Chairman and Director of New Zealand’s largest fruit exporter, ENZA and formerly held the positions of Director of the Screen Council of New Zealand, Director of New Zealand Equestrian Sports and Commissioner of the Hillary Commission. Bill was also a Founding Trustee of the Wellington Stadium Trust and was Deputy Chairman of the then government owned Post Office Bank, prior to its sale to the ANZ Banking Group

 

 

Katie Sadleir

Katie Sadleir is currently General Manager, Injury Prevention at ACC. Prior to moving to ACC, Katie had an extensive career as both a volunteer and professional in the sport and recreational sector. She competed for New Zealand at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and won a bronze medal in her sport of synchronised swimming at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. In 1994, she was deputy chef de mission for the New Zealand team at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria. She was a member of the NZ Olympic Committee Athletes Commission from 1993 to 1998. She has 17 years’ experience working within the private and public sector. While working at the New Zealand Sports Foundation, she led the establishment of the New Zealand Academy of Sport. She held senior leadership positions at both the Hillary Commission and SPARC.

Katie has a Master of Arts degree in sport and leisure studies and a diploma in sport and recreation.

 

Waimarama Taumaunu
Waimarama represented New Zealand in netball from 1981 to 1991, and was captain from 1989. In 1987 she was part of the World Championship winning team. She took up coaching netball and in 2008 was appointed assistant coach of the Silver Ferns. She held roles at the Hillary Commission relating to coaching and Maori sport, and then spent five years in the United Kingdom as the foundation director of the English Institute of Sport and as the All England Netball Association National Performance Director. When she returned to New Zealand, she took up a role with SPARC as Campaign Manager CoachForce. From 2004 until recently, she worked at the State Services Commission. Her board memberships have included with the Alcohol Liquor Advisory Council, Advertising Standards Authority, the Correspondence School, the Halberg Trust, and UK Sport Lottery Awards Panel. She has a history degree and a teaching diploma.

 

 

 

 

Paul Allison (Central Otago) is Chief Executive of the Central Lakes Trust based in Cromwell and has extensive background in the sport sector and the media. He was Chief Executive of Sport Otago from 1994 until 2007 and has over 20 years involvement with radio and television broadcasting. Paul was a former New Zealand marathon representative for eight years and won the Pacific Rim marathon title in 1993. He has been trustee of the Halberg Trust since 2000 and has served on various executive committees including the NZ Master Games and the FIFA Under 17 World championship Southern Region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Fisher (Auckland) is a barrister and specialises in leading large resource management oriented projects for a range of private and public sector developers.  He is currently the legal advisor to the Auckland Transition Agency.  Rob is recommended as a leading lawyer in his field by the International Who's Who of Business Lawyers 2007, and in the International Who's Who of Environmental Lawyers 2008, and in the Guide to the World's Leading Environment Lawyers 2007.  Rob was Chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union between 1997 and 1999 and is former Vice-Chairman of the International Rugby Board and former Director of the Rugby World Cup.  He is also an associate member of the NZ Business Roundtable.

 

 

 

 

Donald Stewart has been Managing Director for Skellerup since 1992, and was Chief Executive of Viking Pacific Holdings from 1999-2002. He previously held a number of management positions within Skellerup. He is also a director of Lyttleton Port Company, and has had close involvement with the Canterbury Rugby Union, providing him with an understanding of both high performance and amateur sport. He was a Director of the Union between 1998 and 1999 including one year as Chairman.

 

 

 

 

Nicki Turner is Head of the School of Sport at Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland.

Nicki played International Cricket for New Zealand for 10 years and during this time was also the NZWCC Coaching Co-ordinator. She was the Assistant Coaching Director for Canterbury (Mens) Cricket as well as running an extensive private coaching business. Nicki was one of two coaches to start the modified children’s cricket programme, Canta Cricket (later became Kiwi Cricket). In 1998 Nicki was awarded a Queens Honour for services to the community and cricket (MNZM).

Nicki has extensive sports administration, coaching and playing experience.

 

Don Mackinnon

Don is a partner at specialist employment law firm Swarbrick Beck Mackinnon. He has more than 22 years’ experience in employment law and industrial relations, in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Prior to the formation of Swarbrick Beck Mackinnon, Don was the principal of his own specialist employment law firm. Before then he was, for 10 years, a partner at Simpson Grierson in its Employment Law Team, and served as that firm’s Head of Litigation.

Don has acted in numerous leading employment law cases. He has a Master of Laws from the University of London, majoring in international labour law. He has co-authored various texts in employment and sports law and also acts for a number of major sporting bodies including Emirates Team New Zealand. He was a director of Netball New Zealand for nine years, the last three as chairman, and was part of the Independent Advisory Panel which recently conducted a major review of rugby league in New Zealand. He also assists the NZ Rugby Players Association.

Updated | 03 Feb 2010.

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