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Yachting New Zealand farewelled some familiar faces and welcomed some new ones to the team during the recent AGM held at the Worser Bay Boating Club.
After seven years on the board, and the last five as president and board chair, Greg Knowles has rotated off and been replaced by Ross Blackman.
In announcing his departure at the meeting, Greg said the governance of Yachting New Zealand continued to be in very good hands and thanked the entire team at Yachting New Zealand led by chief executive David Abercrombie, national sport development director Raynor Haagh and high performance director Ian Stewart.
He also paid special tribute to Dianne Logan, who is retiring in November after 21 years as accounting and HR manager.
Steve Reindler and Angus Haslett were also stepping down from the board after six and five years respectively. John Butcher was elected and Sarah Meikle and Viki Moore re-elected unopposed. Ross was elected as president and chair.
Ross addressed the meeting as new president, saying this was an opportunity for him to give back to a sport that had given him so much.
He had been involved with Team New Zealand since 1988, starting as a sailmaker and ending as chief executive. He had also sailed thousands of miles around the world and will soon start a figure-eight journey around New Zealand when he intends visiting a number of yacht clubs around the country.
Ross acknowledged Greg's contribution and said he had big shoes to fill (literally) and said he was looking forward to working with the new board and making good decisions for the benefit of the sport.
You can find the draft AGM minutes here.
