PRESS RELEASE

DanceSport Australia New National Council

 

Eleven years after its inception DanceSport Australia has taken a new direction following the result of the Bi-Annual Postal Ballot and Election of new Board Members. This election coincided with the presentation and adoption of a new Constitution at the Annual General Meeting held in Sydney on Saturday 3^rd October 2009.

With the resignation of long term President Vince Bain, it was incumbent on the new Board to firstly elect a new President. As a result of that election the challenging job of taking DanceSport Australia on to this new phase has fallen on the shoulders of Sydney based studio proprietor and C.E.O. of the Federal Association of Teachers of Dancing Craig Wilson.

One aspect of the new constitution is that it has dramatically reduced the number of people required to administer DSA at both National and State levels and as a result the newly elected National Councillors and Directors of DanceSport Australia Limited now number just ten, all of whom have been duly elected in the various categories they represent on their respective State Boards. The previous mandatory appointment of personnel to a National Executive has also been removed from the new Constitution and the new Directors have democratically exercised their right to abstain from making any further appointments to the National Council in the immediate future, hence the ten elected directors will administer the organization forthwith.

They have however elected a Management Committee and as per the new Constitution this is made up of the President and four others. Those members of the new council elected to that Management Committee to join President Craig Wilson are Adele Hyland, Neil Rosenfeld, Don McRobert & Chris Sandison.

The remaining Directors are Andrew Howlett, Adam Blakey, Eamon McGrath, Peter Smith & Sharon Courts.

It was also necessary for this new Council to appoint a new Chief Executive Officer following the imminent retirement of long serving C.E.O. Derek Gatley. This position had been advertised both locally and internationally and from within the applicants N.S.W based Steve Edwards was appointed to this very important position. Steve brings with him a wealth of business experience from both within Australia and overseas and is well versed in the day to day administrative requirements of DSA as he is currently the Executive Officer of the NSW Branch. He will work in tandem with Derek Gatley for a period of three months as a transition period before taking over completely on the 1^st January 2010. The position of Chief Financial Officer was also required to be filled and this position has gone to Derek Gatley who will carry on the this role in the interim, a role he too is well versed with having actually carried out these duties when he was CEO, he too brings a wealth of experience which will be a valuable asset to this new Council.

It is the desire of this new board to be able to communicate with one another more readily and economically than in the past and in the short time since their first meeting they have already set-up a Directors Forum where they can confidentially express their views and opinions to one another on any number of topics that may have ramifications for DanceSport within Australia and it is also their intention to lift their profile as both individuals and a group to all of the DanceSport fraternity within Australia.

Peter S Smith

Director DanceSport Australia Ltd.