The Basketball New Zealand AGM was held today in Wellington where Amanda Cox and Lisa Whyte were elected to the BBNZ Board. Anna Gestro also joined the Board as an elected member.

Amanda Cox is the General Manager of WeAreTENZING, a talent and athlete management company specialising in social media. Prior to this, Cox was the GM of Partnerships at NZME. Cox is currently serving on the board of Auckland Rugby. She has also held positions on the boards of North Golf, Auckland Santa Parade and Auckland University Rugby Football Club.

Lisa Whyte comes from a finance background and 17 years in elected community leadership on Auckland’s North Shore. Whyte brings council governance, engagement and infrastructure delivery experience, and spoke of a drive to see positive outcomes in the sport and recreation space. Whyte’s experience working in the local council brings knowledge of the wider sporting landscape and the infrastructure funding challenges in the greater Auckland area.

Anna Gestro is an experienced sports marketer. She is currently managing a New Zealand export business called GoodnessMe. Gestro comes from a recent management role at New Zealand Cricket that saw her working closely on the NSO’s areas of marketing, communications, insights, fan engagement and broadcasting. She also held senior marketing roles for Fonterra and Lion.

Their appointments join current members Megan Compain, Belinda Edwards, Michael Zeno, Rob Gold (Deputy Chair) and Brian Yee (Chair).

Notably, five of the board members are female, which surpasses Sport NZ’s minimum requirement of 40% self-identified females in the drive to see improved diversity on Boards in the sporting sector.

Outgoing members Don Jefferies (member since April 2014) and Des Brennan (May 2017) were acknowledged with appreciative words for their service. Both spoke of the need for unity within basketball and thanked the community for their work.

During the AGM Jeff Olsen was elected as a life member of Basketball New Zealand.

Following the AGM, Dillon Boucher gave a presentation about the Sport New Zealand Balance is Better campaign. He gave a personal account of his experience in sport, both as a young person, an elite athlete, and now as a parent whose children play sport – not just basketball but many others. He spoke passionately about the importance of avoiding early specialisation and encouraging young people to enjoy a variety of sports.