Board of Directors

World Netball has a Board of Directors comprising of a President, Vice President, Finance Director, a Further Director and five elected regional representatives. The Board is responsible for the key decisions regarding the business of the Federation in between Congress, held every two years. The Board presides over the activity of the World Netball HQ and currently meets four times a year.

The World Netball Board works for netball and netballers around the world. The Board members share a passion for netball and have a huge depth and range of experience, in netball, sport and business. The President and Financial Director were elected at the 2019 Congress / Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England. The Vice President and Further Director will serve until Congress/Netball World Cup 2021.  The Regional Directors are elected by their regional federations.  The term of office for each of the Directors is four years.

Meet the Board

President Since 2019 Dame Liz Nicholl DBE	Dame Liz Nicholl DBE was elected as President at the World Netball Congress in 2019. Liz played netball for Wales and then transitioned into sports administration. Over the last 40 years, Liz has held a number of senior executive roles in sport including CEO of England Netball, Championship Director for the 1995 World Netball Championships and most recently CEO of UK Sport. During Liz’s career, she has played an integral part in transforming the prospects and achievements of British athletes on the world stage. Liz has extensive experience and knowledge of performance, major events, international relations and governance in the national and international sporting arena.
Vice-President Since 2021 Shirley Hooper	Shirley Hooper was appointed as Vice President during Congress 2021. She was previously World Netball’s Further Director from 2017-2021. Shirley has vast experience in governance and administration – both in sport and corporate roles. She was on the New Zealand Board from 2009-2018, as the Chair of Finance, Audit and Risk Committee and was the Chair of Netball New Zealand/Netball Australia’s joint venture, the ANZ Championships for 3 years. Between 1995-98, as General Manager – Marketing of state broadcaster, Television New Zealand, Shirley was a driving force behind airing netball on Free to Air television – a world first at the time. Prior to this in her role as Marketing Manager at Bendon, Shirley oversaw a sponsorship deal for the National Netball League in New Zealand, which at the time was the biggest sponsorship deal for any female sport in New Zealand. Shirley played netball from the age of 7, and at 18 became a New Zealand Umpire.
Independent Finance Director Since 2023 Suri Bartlett	Suri was appointed as the Independent Finance Director on the World Netball (WN) Board during the WN Congress 2023. Suri has over 45 years’ experience in Finance and Management Consulting and was the co-founder and currently joint Managing Director of Tenzing Limited. Suri has a Bachelor of Commerce degree majoring in Accounting and Information Systems, and a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. In sport Suri has a range of governance experience, both in netball specifically, where he sat on the Netball New Zealand Board for 9 years, and served as the Chair of their Audit, Finance and Risk Committee, as well as being a member of their Health and Safety subcommittee. Suri is currently on the Board of Sport New Zealand, Chairing the Audit, Finance and Risk committee.
“Athlete Director Since 2023 Stacey Francis-Bayman”	Stacey was appointed as the first Athlete Director on the World Netball (WN) Board at during the WN Congress 2023. Stacey was previously on the WN Voice of the Athlete Working Group, and is a recently retired England Rose who compete on the international stage for more than 16 years, amassing 85 caps for England, and has also played netball in all three of the top elite domestic leagues around the world: The UK’s Netball Super League, for a New Zealand franchise in the ANZ Premiership and Australia’s Suncorp Super Netball League. Stacey has Board experience already; having sat on the UK Netball Players Association Board, where she was the Player Representative Vice-Chair. Stacey is also a Trustee of ‘Switch the Play’, and a member of their athletes’ services advisory group.
Independent Director Since 2022 Rob Mills	Rob Mill was appointed as Independent Director at a Special Meeting of Congress in 2022. Mills is a founder of Tenka, a global sport and entertainment consultancy, and brings global expertise and organisational strategy experience with him to the World Netball Board, as well as over 20 years’ experience in the commercial sector. Through his earlier leadership roles at Gemba Group and Turnstile he led the project team responsible for the development of a commercial strategy for Netball Australia, and more recently, since relocating to London has worked with FIFA and World Rugby.
Director (Americas) Since 2023 Dr Bridget Adams	Dr Bridget Adams was appointed as Director of the Americas Region at Congress in 2023. Dr Adams first represented Trinidad & Tobago in Netball at the age of 15 and went on to compete in three World Cups: Singapore, Scotland, and Australia. As a coach, Dr Adams then also went on to lead Trinidad & Tobago at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Moving away from the court Bridget has continued to work to grow the sport, having previously sat on the World Netball Coaching Advisory Panel (CAP) and worked as the General Secretary for Americas Netball. Dr Adams holds an Executive Masters Degree in Sports Management, and currently works at the University of Trinidad and Tobago.
Director (Africa) Since 2019 Cecilia Molokwane	Cecilia Molokwane is currently President of Netball South Africa (NSA) after being elected in 2017 and has previously been the Director of Selection in the NSA National Executive set up.
Director (Asia) Since 2023 Victoria Lakshmi	Victoria Lakshmi was appointed as Director of the Asia Region at Congress in 2023. Victoria is also the President of the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka, a Member of WN in the Asia Region. Victoria has a dynamic background across the fields of sports, sports and public administration, banking, and finance. She is currently a Senior Manager at a state-owned commercial bank in Sri Lanka, and has previously served in the Sri Lanka Army as a Captain, where she also captained the army netball team.
Director (Europe) Since 2019 Lyn Carpenter	Lyn Carpenter was appointed Director of Europe region at Congress 2019. Lyn is an England Netball volunteer administrator and former National representative player. Lyn was an England Under-18 and Under-21 player and became a senior international in 1997. During her senior international career Lyn amassed 33 international caps winning bronze medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and the 1999 Netball World Championships in New Zealand. Lyn has served on the Board of England Netball from 2003, latterly as Vice Chairman until August 2014 and held the role of Chairman of Netball Europe from 2004-2019. With over 40 years’ involvement in netball Lyn has contributed as a player, coach, administrator and volunteer. In September 2011, Lyn was appointed to a new Biborough Executive Director role that also included the Royal Borough managing a range of complex universal services. In September 2015, Carpenter was appointed Chief Executive of Thurrock Council.
Director (Oceania) Since 2019 Wainikiti Bogidrau	Wainikiti was appointed Director of Oceania region at Congress 2019. Wainikiti has a vast experience in netball administration having served in various capacities in district and national level over the last 20 years. She has been President of Netball Fiji since 2010. Wainikiti holds a BA in Population Studies and Demography (University of the South Pacific), a MA in Pacific Island Studies and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Administration (both from the University of Hawaii at Manoa). She is the head of research and product development with the National Provident Fund, the only superannuation fund and largest financial institution in Fiji. She is also a director of several corporate/charitable/provincial organisations and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Directors. She played netball from primary/secondary school through to club competition and continues to play social netball through the masters and business house competitions.