Surfing Australia announces new CEO
CASUARINA/NSW(August 24th/2018): Surfing Australia is proud to announce the appointment of Chris Mater as their new CEO. Chris replaces outgoing CEO Andrew Stark who has been in the role since 2009.
Chris has worked for Red Bull for the past 19 years and was with them on day one of their Australian launch. Based in the USA the last 14 years, he has held various roles including leading all sports marketing for six years and most recently as General Manager for the Red Bull North America region, responsible for over 600 Red Bull and partner employees with $400 million in annual revenue.
In this new role, he will be drawing on his extensive leadership, talent management, marketing, sales and media background with an excellent track record in both strategy and execution. Chris also has a deep passion for sport. He skied professionally as part of the Australian Ski Team in the 90’s and is a passionate life-long surfer, growing up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Layne Beachley AO, seven-time World Champion and Surfing Australia Chair, said: “I’m thrilled to have someone of Chris’s calibre join Surfing Australia. We have big plans for the sport over the next three years encompassing sports development through our current programs as well as making our Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020. It is an exciting time for surfing and Chris’s wealth of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm will lead us into our next phase of success. I’m really looking forward to working with him.”
“Our former CEO Andrew Stark has done an outstanding job over the last 10 years and we are forever grateful for his dedication and unwavering service to the organisation. We wish him continued success and happiness with his new and exciting role with the WSL and Kelly Slater Wave Co. Starky will be incredibly missed but always will be a spiritual member of the Surfing Australia team.”
Chris Mater, Surfing Australia’s new CEO, said: “It’s an incredible privilege and I am very humbled to be given the opportunity to work with the Surfing Australia team, board and partners. Surfing is such an important part of the culture, identity and way of life for many Australians. I am very much looking forward to leading Surfing Australia, sharing the stoke of surfing and supporting its mission.”
Chris will be starting with Surfing Australia on the 15th October and will be based at the recently expanded High Performance Centre at Casuarina, on the North NSW Coast.
Comments
well done Chris
Methamphetamine gives you wings
Who do 'Surfing Australia' benefit exactly?
Ummm....that's right.......the .03% or thereabouts of surfers that are into 'comp surfing'.
Another stellar example of our taxes being pissed up against the wall.
(Wonder what his salary is BTW???)
We get to try and emulate our competition Heros in the surf.
Hopefully Chris will see big wave surfers are equally as important as future elite comp surfers.
I hope Chris will see that regular surfers are far more important than big wave or elite comp surfers
Yeah not sure what Surfing Oz actually does however its goals and achievement matrix says:
"To create a healthier and happier Australia through surfing"
Hmmm, however the website is all comps, so perhaps it is really just a body who sets up and funds comps which is fine, however they should just say that.
Because that is the only language stupid politicians understand - Left wing feely good platitudes - and watch the tax payer get shaken down to line the CEO and his highly paid mates pockets on board positions.
Happiness and healthiness can only be obtained through comps.
You rich bastard, I wanna here your mission statement , your favourite board, your farouite surf site, you favourite politician.
I want stories, surfing specifically.
I entered a comp, I should have won.
Surfing does not need a CEO.
Surfing does not need corporatism.
(what next - board registrations, surfing licence, yearly safety and competence testing and taxes, ) That is what CEOs preside over.
Surfing does not need to grow it needs to shrink !
(Surfed Uluwatu or gold coast last few years guys ? - even Nias gets packed out)
Surfing is hugely over crowded with fewer waves as the weather dries out and worse to come.
If this guy is successful he will only bring more crowds to your local break and deliver less waves.
I am surprised how many people here are licking his balls with congratulations and have not thought this through.
This forum seems to be mostly posters who run surf shops or the business side trying to influence more surfing -
from what I can see there are eleven comments and only one person has said congratulations
Maybe you can help it shrink Logical by giving it up. One less bloke in the line-up.
What board shop do you run Matlock ?- as I said a forum of people destroying this great sport to make a lousy buck.
Soon all boards and gear will be bought online direct from Thailand. Then you will all be agreeing with my post.....
I don't own a surf shop Logical, and I don't shop in them except to by wax. All my boards since 1989 have been made by a local shaper who's father was local boat maker and pioneering board maker here. What pedigree do your boards have?
Chris Mater & Andrew Stork, probably great blokes, don't know them, never met 'em. But i do have a few friends that work in the surf competition bureaucracy, they are good blokes, never seen their balls.
Surfing Australia; great at running competitions, great at convincing 14 years olds they have a future as a pro, great at sucking off the public teat & getting government grants. What's their turnover? $6 million pa?
But Surfing Australia is all take, take, take.
Take our surf spots, fence off the surfing infrastructure, lock us out for days.
Take. But no give. What has Surfing Australia done to improve your local surf spot?
Nil.
Let's compare this to the local soccer club in my area, they will spend $300,000 per year re-turfing the grass. Dive Australia, well they spend money enhancing scuba trails. Swimming Australia - a lobbyist to build pools. Boating Australia, boat ramps. Cricket Australia, cricket pitches. It's all public money, enhancing public infrastructure. These organisations know to reinvest in their support base, for long term support.
There is a better way.
I think Surfing Tasmania backed that bloke in Tassie wanting to put in a reef a few years back. In spirit, if not in coin. Decades ago Surfing WA was behind the reef in Cables, in spirit, if not in coin.
Surfing Australia, what about giving back?
Was that an article or his resume ,, lost me at "based in the USA for the last 14 years"
Lost me at "has worked for Red Bull for the past 19 years "
Selling the kids speed. That's a blight, not a vitue.
Excellent points andrew pitt
"There is a better way.
I think Surfing Tasmania backed that bloke in Tassie wanting to put in a reef a few years back. In spirit, if not in coin........"
Surfing Tas had no connection with the local community whose beach that 'That Bloke' wanted to drive 250 chemically treated pylons into - but Surfing Tas backed 'That Bloke' primarily because of mateship bw Surfing Tas' staff and That Bloke - now this insider, self interest process usually works a treat in Tassie but in this instance the locals sent them packing.......so, even their Better Way stinks....just another snout heading for the trough...
Ok fozza thanks for the correction
The Swillnutters have spoken...
Fuck off Surfing Australia and everything you stand for. Give us back our tax dollars and we're all off on a fully funded around Oz road trip with a fresh new quiver.
Now that's money well spent.
Worry about the poor kids being terrorized by Beachley at the high performance torture center. Big wave surfing is far more important and interesting. Surfing at the Olympics sounds as exciting as the tennis and golf, but good on them. Apparently you can surf at night at Fukushima. An ideal contest site.
I'm with Crg
He's a marketing and creative sales guy, read "creative bullshit artist and a parasite" Surfing Oz is desperate for some $$$ before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, so they hire the biggest bullshit artist they can get, I bet he gets a percentage of the $$$ he raises.
What’s this new trend of using the word “humbling”, “humble” or “humbled” in the wrong way? You hear people use it all the time these days when they have a win in life. You are not being humbled you are getting an ego boost. It’s the opposite of how it should be used. Like when you have a bad wipeout, suffer a loss or learn a good lesson the hard way. Stop this nonsense. Words have meaning and the meaning is important.
Oh yeah and fuck Surfing Australia.
I would say surfing is not on its pat malone here. Cycling Aus is all about racing, I'm guessing <5% of the cycling population actually race.
Cycling Australia, yes perhaps their key focus is racing. But they also actively lobby for bike lanes and bike pathways, which benefits every cyclist.
Surfing Australia represents less than 1%? of surfers, but as far as government is concerned, when SA "speak" they "speak for 100% of us. That's influence.
Surfing Australia is on its pat malone in that sucks so much from the soul of an activity, yet provides no tangible benefits to majority that do that activity. Tangible, perceptible by touch.
It's almost the rort of the century.
Never has one organisation done so little for so many yet claimed itself as surfing's peak body (by benefiting the very, very few).
To be honest, while I think Surfing Australia does misrepresent itself at times by claiming to represent all surfers, I also think the government knows exactly what it is spending its money on ......... a couple of medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
Yes our lives are so pathetic people feel more motivated because some clown they do not know, will never know, winds a silly medal.
We are grown ups with the minds of 4 year olds.
Same with the amount of clowns that talk about the footy in the surf all the time. Praising guys they do not even know or have never met. Rupert Murdoch is laughing his tits off !!
Nationalism should NOT be about sport - it should be about making our own socks and undies and toasters, cars - ALL OF WHICH WE DON'T. ....but f**k all that, whats the score ?
Expect to see Chris at Caba soon, and probably the smaller days at Snapper.