Australian Sailing has announced that Alistair Murray AM will be its new President, and Shevaun Bruland the new Vice President after their election at the 2022 Annual General Meeting.

Murray has been the Vice President of the Board since 2019 after joining as a Director in 2016, whilst Bruland commenced her term in 2019.

“I am delighted and honoured to be leading the Board of Australian Sailing,” said Murray.

“Outside of my family, sailing has always been my one passion. I have built my life around the sport through my involvement at clubs, regattas and the sailing industry. I look forward to continuing the fine work done by the previous Boards of Australian Sailing and building on that legacy. We will stop at nothing to ensure there are more people on the water, in more ways, more often.”

Murray and Bruland will be charged with ensuring Australian Sailing delivers on its freshly minted 10-year strategy, Sailing 2032.

The Presidency became vacant after outgoing President Daniel Belcher finished his term at the AGM.  

To replace the vacancy on the Board created by the retirement of Belcher, Tasmania’s Heather McCallum was elected as the ninth member. With McCallum’s election, Australian Sailing has a greater than 50/50 female gender split on its Board for the first time in its 72-year history. McCallum and Bruland join Suzanne Davies, Joanne Keen and Jenni Maclean as the other females on the nine-person Board.

Incoming President Murray is the current Chair of Ronstan, an organisation he has been with for 46 years. During that time, he has established Ronstan as a world leader in the sailing industry. Along the way he served on the Committees and Boards of Sail Melbourne, Sail America, Volvo Ocean Race Stopover, Boating Industry Association of Victoria, Bayside Business Network and AIMEX. He is still an active racing sailor.

Bruland has been a member of the World Sailing Equipment Committee since 2020, and prior to her time on the Australian Sailing Board she spent five years on the board of Yachting South Australia, serving the last three years as President. She has raced keelboats and sports boats for many years, enjoying one-design racing, offshore racing and now racing in the kitefoil class since learning to kite a few years ago.

Murray will serve a two-year term as President before his term as a Director finishes in 2024.