Led by CEO Ben Houston, Australian Sailing is undertaking a staff restructure which is aimed at better equipping the organisation to meet the strategic goals as per the recently announced 10-year strategic plan, SAILING 2032.

With the organisation transitioning to deliver on the three key strategic pillars of Support, Grow and Win, the new structure is designed to ensure Australian Sailing is best structured to support its Affiliated Clubs to thrive.

“Our three key strategic pillars of Support, Grow and Win aim to ensure that we are putting our clubs and classes at the centre of everything that we do,” said Houston.

“The new organisation structure has been designed to use the capability and capacity that we have in the organisation to meet our new strategic goals and ultimately get more people on the water, in more ways, more often.”

Former Queensland Regional Manager Ben Callard has been promoted to lead a new team under the crucial Support pillar. Ben’s role will involve the management of the Club Support (currently known as Club Services) team, who will continue to provide the critical front-line support to our Clubs and Training Centres. The shift for the team will be to take a more targeted approach to assisting our Clubs. Membership Services (currently known as Online Services) will move to Ben’s team and will be a vital support mechanism for our Clubs to grow their capability, participation and membership. 

Under the Grow pillar, to be lead by Sarah Ogilvie, a new group will form the development team that produces new offerings for Clubs and Centres to adopt and deliver. A key priority will be the workforce development, that will ensure Clubs have the trained personnel they need, to deliver sailing programs.

Above image: Australian Sailing’s new business structure, with teams built to deliver on the three key pillars of the Strategic Plan

“The intent of these changes is to ensure that we are best placed to support clubs through the delivery of our new strategic goals,” concluded Houston.

“It is their time to thrive, and we are here to help ensure that comes to fruition.”