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Senior Consolidated Press Holdings executive Sam McKay has been named as the new President of Gymnastics Australia.

Sam McKay, who is in charge of brands at CPH in his role as Managing Director- Consumer, will take the leadership role at the fast-growing sport from outgoing President Jacqui Briggs-Weatherill.

McKay was appointed to the Gymnastics Australia Board after an extensive search for a new member and was subsequently unanimously elected by the Board to the position of President.

He will chair his first Gymnastics Australia Board meeting in February.

Briggs-Weatherill will remain on the Board and has been elected to the council of gymnastics’ global governing body, the Federation of International Gymnastics (FIG). She will also continue to play a role in the development of Gymnastics in the Oceania region.

McKay said he was delighted to join Gymnastics Australia at a time of extraordinary growth in gymnastics across the nation, stating “our sport has over 180,000 registered participants - a rise of 150 percent since the Sydney Olympics. We need to build on that success and become a consistent contender for Olympic medals.

“Gymnastics in this country will soon be ready to announce a new growth strategy based on the findings of a comprehensive review of our high performance program for elite athletes commissioned by the GA board mid-year. We want to ensure that our elite gymnasts have the support they need to compete effectively on the international stage,”

McKay’s appointment also coincides with the roll out of the new strategic plan for Gymnastics in Australia, which was developed in conjunction with State and Territory associations, along with other key stakeholders in the sport.

Briggs-Weatherill  sees that the recruitment of McKay to the Gymnastics Australia presidency will provide further momentum to gymnastics’ growth in Australia, commenting “during my two and half years as president of GA, our Board’s focus was on governance and restructuring the high performance pathway for our sport’s emerging stars.

“Much of the building blocks for success are now in place and gymnastics is fortunate to have someone of Mr McKay’s business acumen to continue to grow the sport during the next four-year Olympic cycle.”

The Chairman of the Australian Sports Commission, John Wylie and the President of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates today both welcomed McKay’s appointment.

Along with his current professional role, McKay is also Chairman of kikki. K (since 2011), Director of the Packer Family Foundation (since 2014) and Member of the Salvation Army Eastern Territory Advisory Board (since 2013). He is also former Chief Executive of Jurlique International.

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