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SPARC's Board

SPARC's nine-member board combines strong recreation, sporting and governance expertise. Nominations for the board are recommended to the Minister for Sport and Recreation by a nominations committee. New appointments are for a term of three years.

Board members
Chairman John Wells Chairman John Wells (Auckland) has extensive governance experience in business and sport.  He was on the Board of the NZ Sports Foundation and Chairman of the National Coordinating Committee reviewing the delivery of high performance sport, which resulted in the formation of the New Zealand Academy of Sport. John was a member of the RWC 2011 Bid Committee which was successful in gaining the hosting rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and is a Director of RNZ 2011 Limited. He is also a Director of Karapiro 2010 Limited. John is a merchant banker, and a founding shareholder and Chairman of the Bancorp Group. He holds a number of other directorships including Chairman of Sheffield Limited, Chairman of the Auckland City Property Enterprise Board, and an Advisory Board Member of Marsh Limited. John is a keen recreational cyclist and works out at the gym whenever possible.

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.

Sarah Sandley Sarah Sandley (Auckland) is currently General Manager Advertising Sales and Marketing of APN New Zealand National Publishing. She has a strong commercial background in the publishing sector as well as a long involvement in sports administration. In 1992 she was appointed Executive Director of Sport Waitakere, a position she held until 1995. She has also been a board member of NZ Table Tennis. Sarah represented England in table tennis at school-girl level, then in 1984 gained her first international caps at both U21 and senior level. In 1984 she captained the British Women’s team to the World Student Games. She was ranked number one in New Zealand from 1987-1989, winning five national titles. To keep fit, Sarah runs regularly and enjoys the occasional game of tennis.
Christopher Doig Christopher Doig OBE (Christchurch) has extensive governance experience within the arts sector. He has been a board member of Opera NZ and is patron to Canterbury Opera Friends and Canterbury Symphony Orchestra Friends. Christopher spent 13 years as a professional opera singer before becoming involved in the sport sector when he was appointed Chief Executive of New Zealand Cricket, a position he held for six years. Since then he has been involved in sports marketing and sponsorship and has recently found time to get back into concerts and opera.

Tina Karaitiana Tina Karaitiana (Gisborne) is the Marketing Manager at the Gisborne Herald and has been involved with newspapers for 16 years. She served seven years on the Board of Netball NZ and represented NZ and the Oceania region on the International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA) Members Council. Tina is of Tuhoe and Ngati Porou descent and received the Maori Administrator of the Year Award in 1998. She is a former member of Te Roopu Manaaki and a former trustee of Sport Gisborne and the Gisborne YMCA. She is the chair of Gisborne Girls High School Board of Trustees and a Trustee of Chelsea Private Hospital. Tina continues to actively participate in the sport of netball in umpiring as she is a current NZ badge holder and also enjoys playing a round of golf or two.
Rob Fisher Rob Fisher (Auckland) is Chairman of Simpson Grierson and specialises in leading large resource management oriented projects for a range of private and public sector developers. He is the Asia-Pacific Regional Vice-Chair of the Lex Mundi Environmental Law Group and is recommended as a leading lawyer in his field by the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers 2005. 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 a member of the NZ Business Roundtable. Rob walks up to six days a week and participated in the Waiheke Wharf-to-Wharf 25 km walk earlier this year
 

Alan Isaac has extensive experience in the field of corporate governance, corporate management and in commercial accounting. He retired as Chair of KPMG New Zealand in March 2006 after 35 years with the company. Mr Isaac is a Fellow of the College of Chartered Accountants and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and a member of the Institute of Directors. He is a member of the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Board and of the Board of Rugby New Zealand 2011 Limited (one of two government appointees to that board), and a trustee of the NZ Community Trust. He is currently a member of the New Zealand Cricket and Golf boards. He will not seek reappointment to the Golf Board and will resign from the NZ Cricket Board at the end of his current term.

 

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.

Updated | 13 Nov 2007.

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