Effective September 18th, board member Susan Smith will become interim President of Swimming Australia. Smith will be assuming the role on the heels of incumbent Michelle Gallen announcing her resignation to take over as CEO at the National Sports Tribunal (NST).
Smith says of her appointment, “I am honoured to be appointed as the interim President of Swimming Australia and look forward to commencing in the role.”
“My priority is building on the foundations that Michelle and the entire team have been working tirelessly on to update our constitution and governance structure, which is a requirement of being a member of World Aquatics (AQUA) and aligns us with the broader International Olympic Committee structure.”
“These changes are necessary and will modernise the way the sport is governed. Importantly, they will provide a broader voting base as we work together to secure the future success of swimming in Australia.”
Smith was the President of Swimming Victoria from 2019 to 2022, was the Deputy Chair of VicSport and a Director and Company Secretary for the Bendigo Highett Community Bank.
Smith has been a Board Member of Swimming Australia since October 2022.
As we reported, with Gallen’s departure, Swimming Australia will be looking for its fifth President in just the last three years. Additionally, the organization has had three CEOs in that same time span, with Leigh Russell, Alex Baumann and Eugenie Buckley all having vacated the position.
The news of Gallen’s departure comes at a tumultuous time for Swimming Australia, with World Aquatics threatening the removal of its membership due to multiple compliance issues.
Swimming Australia is in violation of multiple points within the World Aquatics Constitution, including a lack of athlete voting power on the Board, and the implementation of a Stabilization Committee, and even the expulsion of Swimming Australia’s membership within World Aquatics, would be the consequences if changes aren’t made in a timely manner.
There is a general meeting scheduled for October 20th whereby Swimming Australia will be voting on a revised constitution.
I can’t wait to see who it’s going to be next month!
So exciting.
They should just leave the position vacant until they can get their sh!t together .. all this changing is not helping the image of the sport in Australia