Medical doctor and former cycling champion Dr Bridie O’Donnell has been appointed to the board of AFL club, the Collingwood Magpies.
Dr O’Donnell replaces businessman Alex Waislitz, who joined the Collingwood board in 1998, and was the only board member to serve longer than recently departed president, Eddie McGuire.
Dr O’Donnell represented Australia in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 road cycling championships, and last year was part of the SBS broadcast team for the Tour de France.
She was the inaugural director of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, and is the executive director of the Victorian government’s public events team.
“Super excited to be joining the board of @CollingwoodFC,” Dr O’Donnell wrote on Twitter. “I hope to contribute my skills to a great group of people that’s seeking to help make a great club even better.”
“With a medical, public health and elite sporting background, Bridie offers expertise across a range of fields that are of importance to Collingwood,” Collingwood president Mark Korda said.
“Our nominations process, through which Neil Wilson was also recently appointed to the board, focussed on our future needs as a sports organisation at the forefront of male and female sport.
“My strong view is that in the 21st century the Collingwood board ought to reflect a greater gender balance, cultural diversity and a younger profile as well as the critical skills required to run a large and prominent sporting business.
“A club such as ours operates at the intersection of elite sport, business and community. Someone of Bridie’s calibre will help in all of those fields and enable us to picture, plan for and realise a future full of possibilities and opportunity.”
With Dr O’Donnell’s appointment, the Collingwood board now has three women on its seven-member board. She joins Jodie Sizer and former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate.
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