In October 2020, the Croquet New Zealand Council unanimously voted to adopt the new constitution. This changed the previous Executive Committee to a Board and provides provisions for independent Board members to be appointed.
The Board is made up of 7 positions. 4 are elected from the membership at the AGM and 3 are independently appointed by the Appointments Panel.
The current Board is:
Tony O’Donnell (Chair) Elected Member Elected – AGM 2021 Club: United Croquet Club Association: Canterbury | Tony worked as a Chemical Engineer where he developed expansion projects, firstly at a pulp mill and then NZ Steel before he moved into management. During the early stages of the Electricity sector reorganisation, Tony completed a Business Studies degree and became Divisional Manager of Retail. Tony progressed to an Executive at United Electricity where he was responsible for the gross margin, dealings with major suppliers and was Chairman of the Risk Management Committee. During this tenure, Tony was also an influential member of the MARIA Committee which developed the rules for trading electricity. Following his retirement, some twenty years ago, Tony took up croquet. First with golf croquet and then learning association croquet. Tony has held many roles during his croquet career including terms as the President and Treasurer for his club, United Croquet Club. Treasurer for the Canterbury Croquet Association, tournament manager at local, regional and national tournaments and is also an examining referee for golf croquet. Tony was elected Chair of the Croquet New Zealand Board in November 2021. |
| Dallas Cooke Elected Member Elected – AGM 2021 Club: Croquet Mt Maunganui Association: Bay of Plenty | Coming soon. |
Judith Hanratty CVO OBE Appointed Member Appointed: May 2021 Member of the Croquet Association | Judith’s early career was in law. She has been called to the Bar in England (Inner Temple); in the State of Victoria, in Australia; and in New Zealand where she was educated and spent the first twenty years of her career. She holds an LLB; LLM (Hons) and Hon LLD from Victoria University of Wellington, where she was a member of the Council and Non-Executive Treasurer for ten years until she relocated to the UK in 1986. In NZ she was also a member of the inaugural Board of Telecom NZ. She has lived in Heretaunga, near Wellington since her return to New Zealand in January 2020. Over a period of some 30 years, she was a member of the boards of companies listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges in the energy and insurance sectors and of UK statutory bodies including the Council of Lloyd’s of London (where she was Chairman of the Market Supervision Committee), the Gas and Electricity Markets’ Authority, the Competition Commission, and the Takeover Panel. She has represented NZ at golf and was a member of the Board of England Golf for five years following the merger of the men’s and women’s governing bodies. She is a member of the Croquet Association in the UK. In 2002 she was awarded the OBE for services to the oil and gas industry in the UK; and in 2007 she was appointed by HM The Queen to be a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. She is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. |
Michael Lulich Elected Member Seconded: May 2021 Elected: AGM October 2021 Club: Petone-Central Croquet Club Association: Wellington | Michael Lulich was seconded to the Croquet New Zealand Board in 2021. He is an active croquet player, committee member and patron of the Petone-Central Croquet Club. Currently he works for the New Zealand Defence Force. Michael’s governance experience includes City Councillor of Lower Hutt; Deputy Chair of the Petone Community Board; Eastbourne Community Board Member; Wellington Regional Historic Places Trust Member and Moera Community House Committee Member. Through his various governance experience, Michael has gained valuable knowledge and experience about boards and committees; the recreation and sport sector; media and public relations; planning and finance. Michael has completed a BA in Public Administration and Political Science (Victoria University), Diploma in Information System and Technology (Open Polytechnic) and a Certificate with Merit in Freelance Journalism (NZ Institute of Business Studies). |
Fiona Martin Appointed Member Appointed: March 2022 | Fiona Martin has a background in law and policy. Fiona has a keen interest in a number of sports and has worked for New Zealand Rugby for over 10 years. She served two terms as an elected Director for Toitu Poneke Community & Sports Centre – thehub, and is currently the Chair of Parents Centre Aotearoa. |
Dr. Michael Naylor Appointed Member Appointed: March 2022 | Michael Naylor is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Marketing at Auckland University of Technology. He is also the Head of Postgraduate Studies for students within the Sport Performance Research Institute of New Zealand (SPRINZ). He teaches an Advanced Sport Marketing course within AUT’s MBus program. Canadian by birth, Michael completed his PhD in sport marketing at Florida State University in 2011. Michael is co-lead of the National Sport Club Survey (NSCS), an annual project generating insights about NZ’s 7,500 community sport clubs. Michael has facilitated NSCS workshops in communities across the country, most recently with an explicit focus on women and girls. His other research (and that carried out by masters and PhD students he supervises) includes participant sport, sport fandom, community sport and officiating contexts. In early 2022, Michael was appointed to the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sport Management. Currently, Michael is a board member at the New Zealand Amateur Sport Association (NZASA). Previous governance roles have been with the Sport Management Association of Australia & New Zealand (SMAANZ), Squash Auckland, the Northern Football Federation and Auckland Ice Hockey Association. |
Darla Blake Elected Member Elected AGM October 2022 Club: Doubtless Bay Croquet Club Association: Northland | Darla comes to the Board with a wealth of experience in governance, strategic planning, and financial matters. She’s owned several successful businesses, in addition to holding various executive roles over 25 years in public service – providing advice and guidance to business owners, individuals, councillors, community boards in local government and guiding communities though their development processes. Darla has a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Management, Post Graduate Certification in Economic Development, as well as having qualified as a Business and Personal Coach. Now retired and settled in the Far North, she took up Golf Croquet at the Doubtless Bay Croquet Club over five years ago. Since that time, she’s held various Executive Committee positions at the club ranging from Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President. Currently she is their Club Captain/Treasurer. |
