New Appointment To National Greyhound Body
13 August, 2018
Greyhound
Experienced sports administrator Anne Marie Harrison has been appointed to the Greyhounds Australasia Chair effectively immediately.
The highly regarded Harrison brings 40 years’ experience to the roll including positions at national and state organisations and the Olympic movement.
Harrison has been Chief Executive Officer at the Victorian Institute of Sport since 2006 where she has driven performance improvement, recruited the world’s best staff and established positive working relationships with athletes, stakeholders, partners and national/international organisations.
Harrison’s international experience came as Executive Director of the Scottish Institute of Sport from 1999 to 2006 where she led the establishment of the organisation, recruited and managed a staff of 49 that looked after 280 athletes.
In Melbourne Harrison served as Executive Director of the Victorian Gymnastics Association and the Sports Federation of Victoria (Vicsport), where her responsibilities centred on the interests of 1.5 million registered participants and advocating for a greater share of government funding for sport.
Harrison has also contributed to a range of boards and committees including as current Vice President of the Association of Sports Performance Centres, is a past Chair of the National Elite Sports Council and past Vice President of the Victorian Olympic Council and was on the board of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.
Harrison said she was delighted to be given the opportunity to lead the national body at a vital and crucial juncture for the greyhound industry.
“I am excited by the challenge of helping this industry achieve long-term success,” Harrison said.
“GA’s role is to facilitate a uniform, responsive and binding decision making process and I will be working hard to generate outcomes which are in the best interests of all our members and of course for many thousands of owners, trainers, breeders and others who love their greyhounds and greyhound racing.”
Harrison said despite recent negative perceptions, she is confident of the long-term survival of the national greyhound industry.
“I am confident in the industry’s future. I have followed its recent progress and believe I have an understanding of the opportunities and challenges.
“I have taken this role because I have been impressed with the reform the industry has made in recent years and its capacity to change, but of course, there is much more to be done.
Harrison acknowledgers she has much to learn about the greyhound industry, but will meet as many industry participants in the coming weeks and months to build her body of knowledge.
“I have a lot to learn,” Harrison said.
“My role will be to absorb as much as I can for some time.
“I look forward to meeting as many administrators, owners, breeders and trainers as I can in the weeks and months ahead so I can benefit from a breadth of wonderful experience.”