Management committee formed to support Magic

Netball New Zealand (NNZ) has appointed a three-person management committee to oversee the Splice Construction Magic’s recruitment for the 2022 ANZ Premiership.

Former Olympian Alison Shanks, commercial property lawyer Scott Ratuki and senior commercial executive Andrew Gaze will form the new Magic management committee, starting immediately.

The committee was formed to support NNZ and interim Magic General Manager, Gary Dawson, to help develop and maintain positive commercial and funding partnerships.

But they will also be integral in overseeing the recruitment process for next year’s ANZ Premiership team as well as the appointment of Magic’s team management and staff.

NNZ Chief Executive Jennie Wyllie said the appointment of a Management Committee would allow the Magic to move forward in the process of building a team for the 2022 league.

“It is important to have a management committee in place for the Magic to enable an independent oversight into forming a team for next year’s ANZ Premiership,” she said.

“The Magic management committee will work closely with Gary Dawson and we feel that Alison, Scott and Andrew bring an excellent mix of skill sets to the role.”

Shanks is two-time Olympian (London 2012 and Beijing 2008) a former Olympian who turned to cycling after a career on the netball court where she played for the Otago Rebels. She is a world championship gold medallist on the bike and won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Since retiring from cycling she has taken on governance roles in the sports sector including High Performance Sport New Zealand, NZ Olympic Committee and internationally with Commonwealth Games Federation.

Ratuki is a partner for New Zealand law firm, Tompkins Wake, where he leads the commercial property practice. As a talented and accomplished musician, he also has a strong interest in events and venue related law.

Gaze, who most recently was Head of Sales and Marketing for global agri-tech company Datamars, brings strong commercial and sponsorship experience, having spent 13 years working for the adidas Group where he held a number of senior sales and marketing roles including the Global Head of Rugby where he was responsible for negotiating and commercialising adidas’ investment in NZ Rugby. In addition, Andrew brings governance experience having served as a board member at Hockey New Zealand and is a current board member of Kristin School in Auckland.