Susie O'Neill and Craig Bingham join Australian Olympic Committee Board

Susie O'Neill and Craig Bingham are the two new members joining the Australian Olympic Committee Board following elections at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting) held in Sydney on 3rd May.

Olympic champion swimmer O’Neill and AusCycling Chair Bingham will serve alongside five returning Executive members following voting by the AOC’s Members Sports.

President Ian Chesterman and Vice Presidents Evelyn Halls and Matt Allen return, elected unopposed, with IOC Member Jess Fox and AOC Athletes’ Commission Chair Brodie Summers also maintaining their place on the Executive.

The full Executive is:

• Ian Chesterman AM, President

• Evelyn Halls OAM OLY, Vice President

• Matt Allen AM, Vice President

• Craig Bingham

• Alisa Camplin-Warner AM OLY

• Craig Carracher AM

• Kitty Chiller AM OLY

• Michael Murphy OLY

• Susie O’Neill AM

• Elizabeth Scott (Weekes) OAM OLY

• Jess Fox OAM OLY

• Brodie Summers OLY

Chesterman said the election results meant the Executive would have a strong mix of fresh talent and experience leading into such an important time for the Olympic Movement in the country and noted “we have the opportunity to use the next seven-year runway into Brisbane 2032 to create a stronger Olympic Movement, to have the AOC and Olympic sports coming out of Brisbane 2032 better than ever.

“Everyone knows Susie O'Neill the swimmer, but she also has an extraordinary record in sports administration. She’s been an IOC Athletes’ Commission Member and IOC Member, she’s served on the AOC Executive, led an Australian Youth Olympic Team and was Deputy Chef de Mission in Tokyo. She knows the business and has an incredible ability to help us moving forward.

“Craig Bingham brings so much to the table, he's a very successful businessman, he does a lot of work in the philanthropy space. He’s really prepared to put his shoulder to the wheel to help with fundraising, that's going to be absolutely vital for us to find new ways of getting different sources of funding into the sports system.

“We’re really lucky that we had 13 strong candidates for the Board and I thank all the nominees for engaging in this process and offering their commitment to contributing to the Olympic Movement.

“I also want to thank outgoing Executive Member Cath Fettell. She's been a fantastic contributor to our Executive over the last seven years and has played a great role in promoting and achieving success across the Australian Olympic Committee.”

Incoming Executive member Susie O’Neill said she was looking forward contributing to the Olympic Movement at such a pivotal time and enthused “I’m passionate about the Olympics and the lead into Brisbane 2032 is really exciting.

“I want to be a part of it, I want to help athletes as much as I can, using my experience as an athlete and other things I’ve learned along the way.

“It’s a really exciting time to be involved in the Olympics, the Australian Olympic Team has been going really well performance wise, there’s a great feeling among athletes when I meet them.”

Craig Bingham, a Melbourne-based businessman, also said he was delighted to be elected by the AOC’s Member Sports and shared “It’s a great honour, I’m absolutely thrilled at the opportunity to engage with all our athletes and national sporting organisations, making sure those voices are heard.

“Business and sport really go hand in hand, it’s all about people and culture. How do we foster a great culture where everybody feels part of a high performing entity and that’s what I hope to bring,” he said.

The AGM also provided an opportunity for the organisation to honour some of the Australian Olympic Movement's most valuable contributors including Russell Withers who was recently awarded Life Membership of the AOC, outgoing Chief Executive Matt Carroll who was bestowed an Order of Merit, the AOC’s highest award, and journalist Tom Decent also took out the Harry Gordon CMG AM Memorial Award for Olympic Journalism.

Image top. Australian Olympic Committee Executive Board. Credit: AOC; Image below: Susie O'Neill. Credit: AOC