STAFF
Elyse Jenkins
CEO
Elyse (she/her) joins Vicsport after working in strategic policy and operational roles at the heart of government in the UK. Most recently working in No10 Downing Street as an adviser on crime, justice and sport, Elyse served four Prime Ministers and drove multiple initiatives directly impacting both community and professional sport. Elyse served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister whilst in the UK and led on both policy reform and funding of essential services as Head of Sexual Violence Policy and Commissioning in the Ministry of Justice.
She has always maintained a strong connection with sport and recreation. Growing up in Hobart, she played every sport on offer, competed in athletics at a national level and then dabbled in triathlon. Elyse learnt how to kick, mark and handball while playing AFL for the London Swans – enjoying the challenge of learning a new skill just as much as the community and connection that being part of a club can bring.
Elyse is a Director and Trustee of the Youth Sport Trust, a UK based charity working to ensure that every child can experience the life-changing benefits of sport and play. She previously volunteered on the AFL London Board as Head of Development for AFLW and channels her passion for running through volunteering as a guide runner for blind and visually impaired athletes.
Elyse holds a double degree in Law and Business and qualified as a legal practitioner in 2012. She’s looking forward to making the most of living in the sporting capital of Australia and is hoping to compete in her first 70.3 later this year.
Email:
elysej@vicsport.com.au
Phone:
+61 3 9698 8100
Andrew O'Loughlin
Manager - Strategic Projects
Andrew (he/him) brings over 25 years of experience in our industry, from grassroots to major events and professional sport. He began his career as an intern on NZ’s iconic Coast to Coast event and went on to be involved in global events such as the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, various World Championships and World Cups, to then set up and manage Limelight Sports – the agency of the active world – leading large-scale participation campaigns with global brands, sport and government organisations.
As a consultant and facilitator, Andrew has continued to work with national and state sporting bodies, major events, and community organisations, and as a lecturer at Victoria University.
As leader of strategic projects, Andrew is committed to helping build the capability and capacity of sports in Victoria to get as many people engaging in sport and physical activity as possible, and all the value that brings.
Email:
andrewo@vicsport.com.au
Phone:
+61 3 9698 8102
Michaela Cook - on maternity leave until Sept 2026
Participation and Inclusion Manager
LGBTIQ+ Ambassador
Michaela (she/her) is a passionate and experienced sports administrator with 7+ years of advocating, advising and delivering sporting environments and opportunities for people with diverse sexualities, genders, abilities, and background.
Before joining Vicsport in January 2022, Michaela served as the Inclusion and Diversity Manager at Hockey Victoria. In this role, she led inclusive practice, club development, inclusion and diversity, recruitment, and youth engagement. As the Participation and Inclusion Manager, Michaela is responsible for projects relating to LGBTIQ+ inclusion, inclusive practices and increasing participation in sport and active recreation. All LGBTIQ+ discussions will remain strictly confidential.
Email:
michaelac@vicsport.com.au
Phone:
+61 3 9698 8106
Grant Richardson
Marketing and Communications Manager
Joining Vicsport in July 2019, Grant (he/him) brings with him four years experience as Media Manager at Basketball Australia. There, he was involved in the 2015 Oceania Championships at Rod Laver Arena, several World Cup qualifiers in Melbourne and Adelaide and covered the 2016 Rio Olympics, 2018 women's World Cup and 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
A dedicated Richmond Tigers supporter, Grant also loves following local and international sports across all disciplines.
As the Marketing and Communications Manager, Grant is responsible for promoting and supporting Vicsport's events, the initiatives of Vicsport's stakeholders and members as well as informing the greater Victorian sporting network of current and upcoming projects.
Email:
grantr@vicsport.com.au
Phone:
+61 3 9698 8102
Ebony McQuinn
Events and Membership Coordinator
Ebony (she/her) is a La Trobe University graduate with a Bachelor of Business (Sport Management). Despite being early in her career, she has built a strong foundation across major sporting organisations, including roles with Chief Racing with Cam Waters, Tickford Racing, NRL Victoria, the Melbourne Rebels and Rugby Australia—supporting social media efforts, match day operations and international test events.
Before joining Vicsport, Ebony returned to NRL Victoria as Events Coordinator, contributing to the delivery of key statewide events.
Beyond work, she is an enthusiastic sports participant and supporter. She has played three seasons with Bonbeach FNC’s Senior Women’s team and serves on the club committee in Women’s Football Operations. She’s also a dedicated St Kilda fan and follows Ford in the Supercars series.
Ebony is driven by a belief in sport’s power to unite and strengthen communities.
Email:
admin@vicsport.com.au
Phone:
+61 3 9698 8100
Maryanne Cabral
Bookkeeper
Maryanne (she/her) commenced work at Vicsport in November 2013 as a return to work mum.
Her role is responsible for invoicing, debt collection, accounts payable, reconciliations and payroll.
Maryanne studied at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn and has a Bachelor of Business in Accountancy.
Her highlight of working at Vicsport was attending the 2013 Annual Vicsport Awards night at the MCG. It was an honour to be in a room full of elite sports people that are so dedicated to their individual sports, train hard and most of all enjoy what they do. It was great to see the buzz in the office in preparation for the Awards night and really wonderful to see these Sports People get the recognition they deserve.
Maryanne attempts to get fit by attending Pilates or spin, box, circuit classes but most of her running around is done trying to keep up with her young son.
Email:
accounts@vicsport.com.au
Phone:
+61 3 9698 8107
BOARD MEMBERS
Jason Hellwig (Chair)
Gaining experience with stints at Basketball NT and Athletics NT, Jason (he/him) spent seven years at Athletics Australia where he progressed from Development Officer to Development Manager and ultimately General Manager.
He then moved to the Australian Paralympic Committee, working as the Director of Sport and then CEO for five years where he led the move for sports to lead and manage their own Paralympic programs.
The Head of Sport for six Summer and Winter Paralympic Games, Jason was also appointed as the Chef de Mission for the Australian Paralympic Team during the London 2012 Games while on the commercial side, he managed the realisation of broadcast rights value for the Paralympic Games from the ABC to Channel 7.
Since 2016, Jason has served as the CEO of Swimming Victoria (SV) where he has focused on moving the sport forward with stronger governance and a more relevant member proposition. He has also overseen an emphasis on innovation and technology which has included SV partnering with Sony Hawk-Eye to develop officiating technology that was used for the first time at an Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Currently residing in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne he is a father of two teenage boys and is currently in a stressed relationship with the Carlton Football Club and more optimistically the Liverpool Football Club.
Rochelle Eime (Deputy Chair)
Rochelle (BAppSci Hons, DipPM, PhD) is a Professor of Sport Science at Federation University as well as a Behavioural Epidemiologist with over 20 years research experience in community-level sport participation.
As Director of PASI Physical Activity and Sport Insights (https://pasiglobal.com), Rochelle leads a research program investigating sport and recreation participation, facilities and health for evidence-based decision making. She is internationally renowned as a leader in community-based sport participation. Locally, her research includes the development and implementation of analysis and reporting of over 1 million Victorian sport participation records annually for the past ten years and her research is driving strategic investments and policies in sport.
Rochelle’s research involves partnerships with a range of sports organisations including The Commonwealth Secretariat – Sport for Development, Sport Australia, Vicsport, Sport and Recreation Victoria, VicHealth, as well as various NSOs, SSAs and LGAs. In the sport and recreation sector, Rochelle has experience as a tennis coach and personal trainer while she is a current tennis player and golfer.
She is also a mother of twins playing football and tennis with one son playing tennis internationally. Rochelle lives in regional Victoria and was previously a board member of Sport Central, a Victorian RSA, for ten years. Rochelle joined the Vicsport Board in November 2020.
Rayoni Nelson OLY
Rayoni is currently the Chief Executive Officer of School Sport Victoria, as part of the Department of Education, where she leads a team to provide an extensive school sport program to primary and secondary schools across Victoria. In this role she led the development of a ten year strategy, School Sport Victoria Strategic Directions 2020 to 2030, to provide a clear future purpose and strategies for School Sport Victoria to engage more Victorian students in school sport, including through competitive and non-competitive sport.
She was previously the Head of Program Strategy and Research at the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, where she led the design and delivery of Change Our Game program and research initiatives, to level the playing field for women and girls across all roles in sport and active recreation.
With over 20 years’ experience working across government, sport, health, education and transport sectors, Rayoni’s career has included management roles in a broad range of areas including sport, physical activity, active transport, road safety and customer service and communications, including a focus on strategy development and implementation.
She has experience working with SSAs, RSAs, elite sporting teams, community sporting clubs and local governments and has had previous roles at VicHealth and Sport and Recreation Victoria.
As a resident of regional Victoria, Rayoni understands the importance of community sport to regional communities, including young people. Rayoni earned a Bachelor of Management and a Masters in Sport Management and has represented Australia in badminton at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. She is currently on the Board of Badminton Australia, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) and School Sport Australia and joined the Vicsport Board in November 2020.
Adam Crameri
Currently General Manager, Water and Climate Strategy at Coliban Water, Adam’s career spans 20 years in various executive and senior leadership positions. Working across Sports Administration, Government, and Health sectors, Adam’s career has included a broad range of management roles.
As CEO of Tennis Victoria having overseen the development of the TV strategy to 2024, he led a strong participation base of 400,000 players across 800 affiliated clubs, catering for all ages, genders, abilities and people from varied backgrounds. As an authentic and inclusive leader, Adam has demonstrated a strong capability to lead and facilitate a range of strategic priorities to ensure successful organisational outcomes.
Working with boards, audit and risk, nominations committees and board sub-committees Adam has demonstrated an experience and understanding on applying good governance practises as well as building organisational strategies and vision to deliver business objectives. He has experience in developing key working relationships across a variety of sectors such as SSA’s, RSA’s, Government, Health and Education sectors.
Having grown up and currently residing in Regional Victoria, Adam understands the important role that community sport plays in local communities. Adam is an avid sport enthusiast having participated and continuing to participate in several sports, he is also a father of two children who are also participating in several sports. He is looking forward to contributing to the community sport and recreation sector in his role on the Board.
Ruth Holdaway MBE
As CEO of Women in Sport in the UK for six years, Ruth led the formation of a coalition of sports that secured a commitment from Government to mandate a 30% women on boards quota across all publicly funded sports organisations.
Ruth served on the Board of the English Sports Development Trust which oversaw the This Girl Can Campaign, an initiative that inspired 2m women in the UK to reconnect with sport. Ruth was awarded the MBE for her contribution to gender equality in sport.
As CEO of Tennis Victoria between 2019-2021, she steered the organisation through the COVID-19 pandemic, led the roll out of a program to bring lapsed players back to the sport and secured vital government funding.
Previously a Director of the London Football Association, Ruth is currently on the board of Women Sport Australia and is the CEO of St Kilda, Geelong and Eureka Mums.
Allana Sharman
Allana is an experienced sports administrator with Australian and international experience across professional and community sport, sports consultancy, government advocacy, strategic communications, partnership development and leisure planning sectors. In her current role at Netball Victoria, Allana leads the government, industry engagement and business development portfolios. She also is the director of her own company Ocio Sport and Leisure Solutions, a boutique sport and recreation consultancy. Ocio’s primary work is in the areas of infrastructure development planning, advocacy, and strategic communications management.
Allana has a Master of Business Administration, Graduate Certificate in Business, Bachelor of Health Science and Certificate IV in Government / Management. She has spent 15 years working across various levels of government. With most time spent in the sport and recreation areas of northern Melbourne Councils including Meri Bek, Darebin and Whittlesea.
Allana is a very passionate sports person, and still enjoys getting out on the netball court weekly with her fellow ‘masters’ teammates. She also enjoys playing and watching a range of other sports and is an avid snow skier. On a mission to ski as many of the winter Olympic downhill runs across the world in her lifetime (3 to date). Hailing from Macedon Ranges, about an hour north of from Melbourne, Allana maintains a good appreciation of regional and metropolitan sporting contexts. These days she lives in Panton Hill in the Yarra Valley with her husband, two young daughters and a Hungarian Vizsla called Sabah.
Her motivation for joining the VicSport board was to give back to the sporting sector, to meet a range of inspiring people from across all sports and to be part of a network that promotes innovation and a strategic outlook.
Andrew Skillern
Andrew is the CEO of Hockey Victoria, a role he has held for over ten years. During his tenure at Hockey Victoria, Andrew has also been seconded to Hockey Australia to develop the Hockey One League (Australia’s Premier Field Hockey Competition) in 2017-2018 and then CEO of Hockey South Australia in 2020 & 2021.
Prior to working at Hockey Victoria, Andrew worked for close to six years at Life Saving Victoria where he worked across education and training, sport and club development.
During Andrew’s time at Hockey Victoria, he has developed a range of community, inclusion and commercial programs, events and products. All of these have served Hockey Victoria well, achieving strong stability at Board & Staff.
Andrew has recently joined the Australia India Business Council – Victorian Brand where he is strongly advocating for the sports sectors role in driving a positive bi-lateral relationship between our two passionate sporting nations.
Andrew is highly motivated by working in the sports sector, in particular the value the industry provides the community more broadly. He believes in the strategic link between the different levels and aspects of sport and is motivated to deliver against these links as a sector as part of his role as a Director of Vicsport.
In his private life, Andrew is a father of three children who all enjoy sport & recreation across a variety of sports and his wife is an Osteopath. Andrew is a Leeds United, St Kilda & Melbourne Renegades supporter, so fair to say a rollercoaster experience as a sports fan.
Molina Asthana
Molina joins Vicsport with extensive board experience, having served as Chair of Gymnastics Victoria and Chair of the AFL South East Regional Advisory Council while she currently holds the position of Chair of Handball Victoria and Deputy Chair of Table Tennis Victoria.
As founder of Multicultural Women in Sport, Molina champions increased participation and empowerment of women from diverse backgrounds while she also holds ambassadorial roles covering Cricket Australia, AFL, Commonwealth Games and the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup.
Molina also contributes at a national level as a member of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Play Well Leadership Group and, formerly as part of the ASC Sport Volunteer Coalition. Her legal background includes running her own commercial law practice and holding senior roles at the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office and leading firms Clayton Utz and Minter Ellison.
She also serves on other non-sport boards including Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, Moyne Heath and the Graduate House of the University of Melbourne.
Understanding the health and wellbeing needs of diverse communities, Molina has seen first-hand how sport can be used to address social issues such as family violence, discrimination and social cohesion.
An avid runner, Molina has completed several half-marathons.
Matthew Duck
Leading three distinct sporting organisations over the past 11 years, Matt was CEO of Diving Victoria from May 2015-December 2016, CEO of the Western Football Netball League for almost six years between 2016-2022 and is currently CEO of Athletics Victoria.
Since taking the role in October 2022, he has led several priority initiatives including a 760% uplift to the organisation’s balance sheet which was fuelled by a 570% increase in commercial revenue.
With a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from La Trobe University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business (Sport and Leisure Management), Matthew is keen to develop Vicsport’s capacity to serve as a conduit for cross-sport connection. He aims to help build collegiality among industry leaders, particularly those who can feel a degree of isolation within their own sports.
Matt grew up in regional Victoria just outside of Moe, and now lives in Sandringham with his wife and three children – a daughter and a son & daughter (twins).
Melinda Jacobsen
Melinda’s 20 years’ experience in the sector includes for-purpose start-ups, national membership organisations and statutory authorities. Currently a Senior Consultant with MosaicLab, she partners with state and local government agencies to design and facilitate community conversations that support them to thrive in complex environments, often bringing disparate groups together to achieve a shared goal.
During her time as Executive Officer at Sports Dietitians Australia, Melinda strengthened governance systems and grew membership and revenue while in the Innovation office at VicHealth, she led cross-sector collaborations focused on gender equality in sport. Melinda also helped establish one of Australia’s most recognised road safety advocacy bodies as the inaugural General Manager of the Amy Gillett Foundation.
Her previous experience on boards includes a tenure with Cycling Victoria and as President of the St Kilda Cycling Club where she championed greater inclusion and participation for women in sport.
Melinda is a Brisbane Lions supporter (sorry, not sorry!), mum to a teenage daughter who loves basketball and wife to a Danish husband, and stays active running, cycling, swimming and walking their cocker spaniel.