Matt Whitbread LLB, BA Comms.

President and Chair of the Board

Member – Finance & Audit Committee, Risk Committee, Remuneration & Nominations Committee

Elected – 2013

Matt was elected to the Board in 2013 and was elected Chair in 2020. Matt is a Senior Associate at one of Australia’s leading law firms and holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Technology, Sydney. Matt has been involved in the sport for more than 25 years as an athlete and a Committee member of Bankstown Sports Athletics Club, of which he is a Life Member. Matt was also instrumental in Bankstown establishing its Little Athletics program and its establishment as a One Athletics Club. He was one of the four founders of the Albie Thomas Mile and the NSW Milers Series and introduced live stream broadcasting to NSW athletics events. He was also the Co-Chair of the Local Organising Committee of the World Cross Country Championships held in Bathurst in 2023. 

Andrew Watson CA, B Comm.

Chair – Finance & Audit Committee

Member – Risk Committee

Elected – 2013

Andrew was elected to the Board in 2013 and has been the long-time Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee. Andrew is a Chartered Accountant with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales and is the Chief Financial Officer (Asia Pacific) of Colliers International, a multi-national diversified professional services and investment management company operating out of 65 countries. Andrew also brings a deep personal connection to sport, with a long-standing involvement as an athlete. He continues to compete in Masters competitions and has been an active member of the Balmain Athletics Club for many years. His contributions as a volunteer, including as an Age Manager in the club’s Little Athletics program, have been recognised through the awarding of Life Membership.

Lisa Thompson MBA, BIT, B. A. Sc.

Chair – Remuneration & Nominations Committee 

Elected – 2019

Lisa has led a distinguished professional career focussed on commercial contract management and property investment. Having founded and sold a successful start-up business, Lisa now primarily consults for some of Australia’s leading financial institutions and runs her own property investment and development business. Lisa holds a MBA, a Bachelor of IT and a Bachelor of Applied Sciences from the University of Ballarat. Lisa was elected to the ANSW Board in 2019 and has served on the Finance and Audit Committee and the Remuneration and Nominations Committee, which she currently Chairs. Lisa is also an accomplished middle distance runner, originally starting her career in Victoria, and currently resides in Byron Bay, providing the Board with another direct connection to regional NSW. 

Terry Manns 

Elected – 2017

Terry Manns is a stalwart of the Athletics community in NSW and has been for decades. A long-time President of Campbeltown Collegians Athletics Club – one of Australia’s first and most successful One Athletics Clubs with around 800 members – Terry has an intimate knowledge of the grassroots of the sport and how our Clubs operate. He is also a long-serving Technical Official and has been for decades, officiating at both Little Athletics and ANSW events at the highest levels. Terry has also recently retired after a long career in the printing industry and whilst based in Campbelltown, travels around NSW, providing the ANSW Board with a direct connection to country and regional NSW.

David Lewis LLM, LLB (Hons), BEc (Hons)

Member – Remuneration & Nominations Committee

Constitution Officer

Elected – 2020

David Lewis has had a distinguished career in law, risk and compliance with some of Australia’s leading institutions including the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority and the Reserve Bank of Australia, holding a Masters in Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as a Bachelor of Laws with honours and a Bachelor of Economics with honours from Macquarie University. He has been involved in Athletics all of his life as an athlete and as a volunteer, having been made a Life Member of Ryde Little Athletics and of Wests Track and Field for his service to those clubs. David continues to compete in masters athletics, having been a top-level open distance runner throughout his career holding a number of state and national records, some of which remain standing to this day. David is a member of the Remuneration & Nominations Committee and is the Constitution Officer. David also Co-Chairs the ANSW Competition Committee with Andrew Matthews and has led for the past two seasons our engagement with Clubs and other stakeholders in planning our competition offerings

Dr Peter Higgins BVSc, MRCVS, MBA, FAICD

Member – Risk Committee

Former President and Chair of the Board of Directors (2017-2020)

Former Director (2012-2020)

Elected – 2021

Peter is a veterinary surgeon and also a long-time Lecturer and demonstrator at the University of Sydney, where he gained his qualifications.  He has also had a long and successful career in marketing with companies such as Mars and Nestle.  He holds a MBA from the University of Technology, Sydney.  Peter is a former President and Chair of the Board of Directors of ANSW, was acting CEO, and has been a member of and chaired various Board Committees.  Peter has held numerous other roles for both ANSW and Athletics Australia, including establishing Run NSW, and an observer on the AA Board for 3 years.  He is currently the longest serving member of the Risk Committee of ANSW and has been involved with the sport more broadly as a Club administrator and as a Technical Official for many years.

Lexy Gilmour BMC 

Chair – Risk Committee 

Elected – 2022

Lexy Gilmour is a risk and compliance specialist with extensive experience in senior roles across some of Australia’s leading financial institutions, including Westpac, AMP, and BT Financial Group. She brings a strategic and practical approach to governance, risk, and regulatory oversight. Outside the corporate world, Lexy is an elite distance runner who represented Australia at the 2017 World Cross Country Championships in Kampala. Her background in high-performance sport gives her unique insight into the athlete experience and performance environment. As Chair of the Risk Committee at Athletics NSW, Lexy has been instrumental in reshaping the organisation’s approach to risk management, drawing on her professional expertise to strengthen governance and support safe and inclusive participation

Felicity Colbourne MBA, BA

Member – Finance & Audit Committee

Former Director (2020-2021)

Appointed – 2023

A Partner of KPMG, Felicity specialises in leading complex transformations focused on corporate and government energy transition and sporting sectors and holds an MBA from the Kaplan Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, Culture and Media from Coventry University. Felicity has held senior change transformation and management positions at APA Group, Ausgrid and in the sporting sector at Surf Life Saving Australia, British Gymnastics and Gymnastics NSW. Felicity was appointed to the Board in 2020 following the same extensive public recruitment process as Matt Baker and returned to the Board in 2023 after a brief absence to focus on her professional career.

Karen Cundasawmy MBA, B. A. Sc. 

Elected – 2022

Karen is an experienced and successful sales and marketing professional and currently runs her own business focussed on the pharmaceutical sector. Karen holds a MBA from the Melbourne Business School and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Sports Science) from Victoria University. Karen also has a long history with the sport in both Little Athletics and ANSW-level, having been President of South Eastern Little Athletics Centre from 2015 to 2021 and also a current Zone Coordinator. As well as being a successful club administrator, Karen is also a keen runner and marathoner herself.

CEO 

Christian Renford MBA, B. Soc. Sc., Dip. Ed.

Appointed – 2022

Christian Renford commenced in his role as CEO of Athletics NSW in May 2022 and has had a long and distinguished career in sports administration in Australia and overseas. Holding a MBA, a Bachelor of Social Science (Sports Management) and a Diploma of Education from Charles Sturt University and having grown up and studied in regional NSW, Christian has been a CEO at both national and state sporting organisations including Water Polo Australia, Swimming New Zealand, Rowing NSW and Rowing QLD – as well as national roles at Surf Life Saving Australia. He has also had experience outside of the sporting sector with roles at Macquarie University and in London. Christian has led the changes to the ANSW office since his appointment in 2022 and has been instrumental in working with the Board to develop and begin to implement ANSW’s Strategic Plan.