Moneghetti, Howes and Sellenger boost Athletics Australia Board

Athletics Australia (AA) is pleased to announce the appointments of four-time Olympian Steve Moneghetti, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Merrick Howes and former AA Board member Ben Sellenger to its Board of Directors.

The appointments were endorsed last week at a monthly Board meeting and come following the retirement of three Directors.

Athletics Australia President Jan Swinhoe said the trio bring unique and important skill sets to the Board at a transformational time for the organisation.

“We are delighted to welcome new Directors of such outstanding calibre to the Athletics Australia Board. They join a passionate Board, all striving to improve the sport we love, together with AA’s committed staff and partners,” Swinhoe said.

“We’re excited to welcome Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Steve Moneghetti back to the AA family, as well as Commonwealth Games silver medallist in rowing Merrick Howes, and Ben Sellenger, who returns to our Board after a three year period.

“While Steve, Merrick and Ben all have a background in high performance sport, each of them bring diverse and fresh perspectives to athletics, leaning on their experience from their professional careers. We are confident that their skills will enable our sport to move forward as we deliver our new strategy.”

One of Australia’s all-time greatest marathon runners, Moneghetti represented the country at four Olympic Games, four Commonwealth Games and six World Championships. He has run 22 marathons and finished 11^th place or higher in 20 of them, notably winning the iconic Berlin Marathon in 1990. Since retiring from competitive running, he has been steadily involved in Australian sport as an experienced board director. He was formerly the Chair of the Victorian Institute of Sport (2001-2010), and has sat on the Boards of the Australian Sports Commission (2015-2021) and Commonwealth Games Australia (2018 – present). He was the Chef de Mission for the Australian Commonwealth Games Team for the last three Games, and is a Life Member of Athletics Victoria and Ballarat YCW.

Now working in investment management, former Australian representative rower Merrick Howes has established himself as Director and Managing Director within the finance sector. Howes currently serves as Founder and Managing Partner of Aviron Investment Management, and over the past three decades has worked as a Managing Director at a number of blue-chip institutions including Goldman Sachs JBWere and Macquarie Bank. He has served as a Non-Executive Director at Rowing Australia for nine years, having chaired its Audit and Risk Committee from 2015-2022.

Well-credentialled in sport is Ben Sellenger, who returns to the Board of Athletics Australia after stepping down in 2019 due to his professional commitments with the Australian Football League. Outside of his work with the AFL, Sellenger has served as Chief Executive Officer to the of PGA Tour of Australasia and Global CEO of Australia’s largest privately held communications agency, Bastion Collective. He is currently the Managing Director for Align Sport & Media.

“In searching for our three new Board Directors, Athletics Australia received more than 90 applications, highlighting the growing interest and enthusiasm for our sport. In going through the process, we wanted to make sure we could bring different perspectives to better our organisation. We recognise the importance of this in ensuring that athletics stays accessible to everyone and for the sport to reach its full potential,” Swinhoe said.

“The appointment of these Directors will improve our ability to develop athletics at all levels and we’re excited to see what comes of our sport as we look ahead to the World Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games later this year as well as Paris, LA and Brisbane 2032 which are all on the horizon.”

By Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 21/3/2022