Falcons appoint new CEOMonday, February 19, 2018 - 1:22 PM

Former Athletics New Zealand CEO Linda Hamersley has been appointed as West Perth FC's new Chief Executive Officer.

Ms Hamersley recently resigned her position as CEO with Athletics New Zealand to relocate back to Perth to join her husband, Colin Batch, who is the Australian Men’s Hockey Coach. 

Linda held her role with Athletics New Zealand from 2014-2017 and oversaw a period of considerable business and membership growth in the organisation during her time.

The sporting organisation caters for more than 200 affiliated clubs with a membership of 25,000 people and 100,000 registered athletes. Prior to this, Linda was the Sports Services Manager for the New Zealand Olympic Committee and was also CEO of Hockey WA from 2004 – 2009.

In addition to her recent roles, Linda has also gained experience in sports management across a broad range of organisations that includes the Belgian Hockey Federation, WA Football Commission, Australian Confederation of Motor Sports and the Australian Rugby Union. 

Falcon’s President Scott Ballem welcomed the appointment of Linda and believes the Club has been fortunate to acquire the services of someone with such an accomplished sporting resume.

“Linda was selected from an extensive list of candidates and was the unanimous choice of our Board,” Ballem said.

“She has a proven track record within the sporting industry in the areas of business development, facility management, high performance athlete development and community and member engagement.

"It is very rare to find someone who is so extensively qualified across all of these important facets of a sporting organisation, so we feel fortunate to have acquired her services. Linda will also be a wonderful leader to the highly credentialed team of staff we have been assembling over the past few months.”

Incoming CEO Ms Hamersley is also excited at the opportunity to join West Perth at such an exciting time following the opening of the new venue at HBF Arena.

"I am excited to be offered the opportunity to lead the West Perth Football Club, a club with such a long and rich history," Ms Hamersley said.

"I feel privileged to have worked in a wide-range of sports and am now keen to get to fully understand the WA football industry.

"As with all sports, the life-blood of a club are their volunteers, players and past players and I'm looking forward to bringing everyone together to deliver fantastic results over the upcoming season and to optimise the commercial success of the redeveloped stadium."

Ms Hamersley will commence her role on Monday February 26, 2018.