vicsport Board
Ian Buckingham - Chair
Ian Buckingham
Ian has held a range of high level positions including Managing Director Panaegis Gold Mines. Ian has sat on various committees and boards including Anderson Schwab Australia, MCC Sporting Selection Committee, Melbourne Baseball Club and is a Junior Coach with the Balwyn, Knox & Melbourne Baseball Clubs. Ian has completed a FRMIT, B App Sc, MBA and is a member of MPESA and MAAPG.
Cheryl McKinna
Cheryl is the Founder, Managing Director and Principal Consultant for “Value in People” which uses her significant work experience and specialises in change management. Cheryl’s experience includes:
30 years as a Senior Executive in businesses in service industries including health, education, sport and recreation, print and logistics in Australia and New Zealand
Cheryl is the program leader for “Xcelr8 – the business of caring” a major culture change project for the Canterbury District Health Board
Cheryl is a member of Melbourne’s Olympic Park Board of Management, Vice President for the Melbourne University Sports Association and was appointed by the Victorian Government as a Commissioner for Victoria’s Alpine Resorts.
Cheryl has tertiary qualifications from the University of Melbourne in: Business Aadministration (MBA), Education (M Ed, Phys Ed, Teaching), Criminology (MA), Psychology (registered Psychologist in the state of Victoria)
Cheryl is a also a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors
Ron Bongetti
Ron is one of Victoria’s longest serving sports administrators having worked in the sector for the past 20 years in a range of roles. Initially Ron worked in professional basketball managing the Brisbane Bullets and North Melbourne Giants during a period when these clubs collected a total of three Championships between them. Ron spent a total of 13 years as Executive Director of Swimming Victoria working in the role on two separate occasions. Between roles at Swimming Vic Ron worked for a brief period at Footscray Football Club where he established the E. J. Whitten Foundation raising funds for research into Prostate Cancer through the creation of the E. J. Whitten Legends Game.
Ron has served on a number of committees and task forces in the past and was awarded the vicsport Eunice Gill Sports Administrator’s Award in 1985. Ron is now a consultant working with sports, governments and sports industry contractors.
Martin Doulton
Martin has a wide range of experiences gleaned by over thirty years of involvement in the Sport industry. Martin has been paid to play a sport at the highest level and also represented England in two sports. His work experiences have ranged from working in inner city sport in the UK to delivering sport programs across rural Australia.
Currently Martin is Director of Sport at Monash University a role which covers a portfolio of over sixty discrete sporting facilities, involving participation of many thousand’s of individuals from all walks of life across eight campuses on three continents as well as a responsibility to build bridges between industry and academia. Martin also has had significant experience in advocating to all levels of Government about the role of Sport in ‘building’ and ‘gluing’ communities together having been National President Parks and Leisure Australia, Chairman of the Community Recreation Council of Australia as well as a member of in-numerable sporting advisory and award bodies both here in Australia and globally.
In addition to his vicsport Board role Martin is currently on the board of Australian University Sport and a member of the Kinect Australia Registration Advisory Group
Margot Foster
Margot Foster is a lawyer with over 25 years experience in sports administration. She has held board and committee positions in sport with a variety of organisations including the Australian Olympic Committee, Melbourne’s 1996 Olympic Bid Committee, Rowing Australia, Rowing Victoria, Melbourne University Boat Club, Australian & New Zealand Sports Law Association, the inaugural Melbourne (now Victorian) Major Events Company, Womensport Victoria (which she founded) and Womensport Australia, Sport & Physical Recreation Committee of the University of Melbourne and many others. Margot has been a board member of the Australian Sports Commission and the New Zealand equivalent SPARC.
Margot has also been involved in a variety of other non-sport bodies including National Parks Advisory Council, Victorian Women’s Consultative Council, Presbyterian Ladies’ College School Council. Trinity College board of management at the University of Melbourne, Victorian Women’s Trust.
Presently Margot serves on the boards of Vicsport, Gymnastics Australia, Women of the Melbourne Cricket Club, Australian Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association, Olympians Club of Victoria and committees of Australian University Sport.
Margot represented Australia at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 in the women’s coxed four rowing event winning bronze and at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh winning gold in the women’s eights. She also competed in several rowing world championships.
Naomi Paton
Naomi joins the VicSport board with a local government background in community sport and recreation in Australia and England.
She has worked in sports development in London’s east end, host of the 2012 games, and has held key leisure and recreation planning, facility management and community development roles in Melbourne.
Naomi is currently the Leisure and Recreation Coordinator for Bayside City Council. She has recently delivered some significant long-term sports and facility development plans for the municipality to support the sustainable provision of recreation facilities, services and programs.
Naomi recently retired from playing hockey at state league level for the Melbourne Cricket Club but continues her involvement in junior development.
Nicholas Mooney
Nick has a wide range of experience in both the education and sporting administration sectors. He is an accredited leading teacher having worked in large Victorian Secondary Schools as well as various stints as Head of Sport at Gordonstoun School in the Scottish Highlands and at London Nautical School whilst living on a yacht on the Thames. Nick is currently the Manager – Organisational Strategy for School Sport Victoria.
His sporting administration roles include National Training Manager with the Professional Golfers Association of Australia (PGA), the Victorian Golf Association (VGA) and as State Manager of Touch Football Victoria. He has also worked a s a Professional Development Manager for the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER).
Nick’s sporting highlights include playing junior and senior pennant for Huntingdale golf club, being a member country and state golf squads including winning country week. He is a veteran of ten “Around the Bay in a Day” cycling events as well as having volunteered for Bicycle Victoria on numerous occasions and racing on the road for Blackburn cycling club.
Nick is a current Touch Football enthusiast and enjoys the social aspect of this sport.
Stuart Craig
Stuart is currently the Business Manager of Sports Focus, a Regional Sports Assembly. Incorporated into his role at Sports Focus is Club Development in areas such as Governance, Fundraising, Volunteerism, Mentoring, Event Management and Safe Environments. Prior to Sports Focus, Stuart had worked in both the corporate and public sectors and in doing so has gained a broader perspective on business.
Stuart has played basketball for 37 years. He also plays tennis and enjoys watching football and cricket despite no longer competing in these sports. Throughout his playing involvement in local clubs Stuart has also served on a wide variety of committees covering several sports.
One of Stuart’s motivations for joining the vicsport Board was to provide a regional perspective that represents the 1.4 million people and 8,500 sporting clubs that are in the Regional Sports Network Victoria.