Hamish Adams has been appointed the new CEO of Athletics Ireland, taking over from John Foley who is retiring after eight years in the role in April.
Adams will leave his role as CEO at Rowing Ireland where he has overseen significant success on the water in recent years. This culminated in the silver medals of Gary and Paul O’Donovan at the Rio Olympics and the subsequent European and World Championship performance of a procession of Irish stars.
Athletics is a bigger role with €887,000 in core funding in the 2018 Sport Ireland allocations and a further €790,000 towards high performance.
Those figures compare to €260,000 and €525,000 going towards Rowing Ireland for the same period.
Adams is a New Zealand native but has worked in Ireland for the past eighteen years. The last five of those have been as CEO of Rowing Ireland and before that, he had spells at IRUPA where he was responsible for the development of the welfare programme for professional players, and at Munster Rugby between 2004 and 2008 where he established the Munster Academy.
“I feel very privileged to take up the role of Chief Executive of Athletics Ireland,” said Adams.
“I look forward to engaging with all the Athletics Ireland stakeholders. Ireland has a proud history and tradition in athletics and I look forward to contributing to its continued growth at the commencement of my role as CEO in early May.”
“High Performance and coaching, as well as the national health agenda to increase physical activity levels, are areas I am especially passionate about and I plan to contribute significantly in these areas with the Athletics Ireland Team”.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with many great people at Rowing Ireland and I am very proud of all that we achieved during my time both in high performance and participation, from the delivery of an Olympic medal to the establishment of the Get Going…Get Rowing programme.”
“I am confident that with the robust governance structures established, Rowing Ireland will continue to deliver further success.”
“The board of Athletics Ireland is delighted to welcome Hamish as our new CEO,” said President Georgina Drumm.
“We were overwhelmed with the interest in the role which gave a positive reflection on how our sport is viewed.”
“We are pleased to have someone of Hamish’s calibre and experience to be joining our team”.
“I would like to thank John for the significant contribution he has made to every aspect of our sport over an eight-year period as CEO and he will continue to do so until his retirement in April 2018.”
Adams has a strong record of delivery and promises to be a good man to oversee the significant pipeline of talent coming through in Athletics from Gina Akpe Moses and Sarah Healy who have won Gold on a World stage at U20 and Youth Olympics in the past year as well as athletes like Thomas Barr, Ciara Mageean and Phil Healy who are already making a mark at the highest level.
This is the first of a number of key roles within Irish sports administration expected to be announced within the coming weeks.
The next is likely to be confirmation of the appointment of a new CEO for the Olympic Council of Ireland and that will be followed by the announcement of the new Director General of the GAA.
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