Surfing Australia Organisational Chart
Andrew Stark
CEO
Andrew Stark is the Chief Executive Officer of Surfing Australia. Andrew has been in this role since March 2009 and accepted the position after 9 years at Surfing Queensland as their CEO. Andrew has a Bachelor of Business Management degree from the Queensland University of Technology and has over 10 years experience in sport management and the surfing industry. Prior to becoming involved in the sporting industry Andrew worked in the advertising and marketing industry. Andrew was a board member for the Sport Federation of Queensland for 5 years (2005-09) and was a Board member of the Gold Coast Sport Business Task Force for 4 years (2006–09).
Andrew has extensive experience in sport development programming and has internationally recognised knowledge and experience in the management of multi-million dollar budget events. Andrew has been involved in the staging of over 200 events throughout 8 countries over the past 10 years. Andrew has lectured at Bond University in the business faculty in event management and sponsorship acquisition servicing. He has also been a guest speaker at various sport business seminars including the Sports Business World Conference (2010 & 2011), the Super Events World Australia Conference (2011), Sponsorship Australasia National Conference (2011) and the Australia New Zealand Sports Law Association Annual Conference.
Andrew was awarded the Queensland Sport Administrator of the Year at the 2004 Queensland Sport Awards and was also awarded an Australian Surfing Hall of Fame award for excellence in Administration in 2005. Andrew is a passionate and experienced surfer and is determined to take surfing to the mainstream in Australia.
Chris Symington
General Manager - Sport Development & High Performance
Chris has over 15 years experience in sport as both a volunteer and administrator. Initially a volunteer working within the Surf Life Saving movement in Victoria, Chris moved into the professional side of the sport in 2001. For the next three years he attended Deakin University part time whilst working full time to gain his Masters Degree in Sports Management. After almost 5 years with Life Saving Victoria as the Manager of Aquatic Sports, he took on the challenge of starting his own business called Trakstart which delivered a variety of athletic programs to the education sector. The core business being the delivery of active after school programs for primary aged children.
It was through this business that key partnerships were formed with Athletics Victoria and Athletics Australia who identified the value of these products for the development of their sport. After 3 years of growing the business, Chris decided to move on from Trakstart and in June of 2009 joined the team at Surfing Australia.
Jim Hughes
Sport Development Manager
Jim is an experienced sports development manager with over 10 years experience in the development, planning and implementation of surf programs, courses and events around the globe. He has been actively involved in all levels of the industry; from coaching and establishing a string of successful surf schools to managing various high profile events and competitions that promote the sport.
Jim has completed a 4 year Bachelor degree in Surf Science & Technology, specialising in elite performance management and junior sport participation in surfing. Subsequently, he worked with a number of State Educational Departments, schools and clubs in the development and delivery of a variety of successful surfing programs to the education sector.
Originally from the Channel Islands, Jim has been a passionate surfer and surf coach for most of his life and can be found living and surfing around Coolangatta on the Gold Coast, where he now calls home.
Peter Lonergan
Financial Controller
Peter has held various Managerial Positions in the Hospitality Industry before branching into Accounting. His experience in this field includes the Financial Management of a busy Wholesale Company importing crystals, as well as his role as Financial Services Manager of a Human Resource group specializing in finding and maintaining employment for people with disabilities. He has worked at Surfing Australia for the past 2 years and his qualifications include Diploma of Business Management, Associate Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) and Bachelor of Building (Management). He was also awarded Accounting Student of the Year (Second Place in NSW) and is an Associate Member of NIA.
Kristin Brummell
Office Manager & Executive Assistant
Kristin joined the team at Surfing Australia in September 2010. Kristin completed a Bachelor of Human Movement Science (Majoring in Sports Management) at Southern Cross University and has experience in the area of sports administration and event management. After graduating in 2007, Kristin worked as a Golf Event Coordinator at RACV Royal Pines Resort, where she was responsible for coordinating and managing a wide spectrum of golf and sporting events, differing in size, scale, and profile, including corporate golf days, professional golf tournaments and the ANZ Ladies Masters, which is the richest ladies golf tournament in Australia.
Jacqui Tranter
Office Coordinator
Jacqui has a long history with netball but whether it be as a competitor or spectator she has a passion for all sports. In 2008, Jacqui graduated from Griffith University where she completed a Bachelor of Business with a Major in Sport and Event Management. During her studies she carried out work experience with Netball Queensland (assistant to Competitions Coordinator), as well as The Cancer Council Queensland (Relay For Life event experience). Jacqui has previously worked as a Resident Letting Agent and On-Site Manager for a luxury residential apartment block in Brisbane’s bay side and has also gained experience as an Assistant Store Manager of an Australian, high-end fashion brand. Whilst previously taking the court as a netball player, Jacqui has always had an interest in the surfing industry.
Jake White
General Manager Marketing & Communications
In his title as General Manager Marketing & Communications, Jake delivers events nationally and internationally, services key sponsors and manages the key communications tools for Surfing Australia.
Having worked as Media Manager for Surfing Queensland for over five years before starting at Surfing Australia, Jake is an accomplished photo journalist with major newspapers and websites throughout Australia having published his outstanding action surf photos extensively. He has been actively involved in surfing events across all levels including the annual Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast.
While media has been Jake’s major focus in recent years, his event and sponsorship organizational skills have extensively developed through eclectic duties within Surfing Australia and his tertiary education includes a Sport Major Leisure Management Degree (Griffith University).
Steve Robertson
Media Manager
A state and national competitor through the 1980’s, Steve began his sport administration career in 1990 as President of Surfing Victoria, in 1993 he took over as CEO of Surfing Victoria. For ten years Steve contest and event directed the World’s two biggest Surfing Contests – Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach and the Billabong Pro in Tahiti. In 2000 he was awarded Victoria’s Sports Administrator of the Year recognized by Sport and Recreation Victoria and in the same year accepted the Victoria Sport Award Major Event of the Year; for the Bells Easter Rip Curl Pro event.
In the last decade Media has become Steve’s major role, specializing and pioneering digital still photography utilizing exceptional national and international sport database systems along with precise copy writing skills – his media skills are utilized in every major surfing event in the Australasian region. Steve maintains his passion for Surfing from entry to highest level professionals, he also nurtures a family dedicated to the sport and keeps himself actively involved in the water by taking to the latest discipline in the sport, Stand Up Paddling!
Tim Brimblecombe
Communications Coordinator
Tim brings with him a wealth of experience in journalism and media, having been a journalist for 20 years working in a series of mediums including online, newspapers and magazines. He has covered some of the world’s biggest sporting events including the cricket and rugby World Cups, the Australian Open tennis, Wimbledon, Bledisloe and Tri-Nations rugby, the NRL and AFL grand finals and the Pipe Masters. He started his career working in a regional Queensland daily newspaper before heading to England to work as a sub-editor on the national metropolitan newspapers the Guardian and The Times. He then managed the internet sites for the Cricket World Cup and Rugby World Cup for satellite broadcaster Skysports. He returned to Australia to help establish Sportal Australia, the country’s largest independent provider of digital sports content. Tim also spent several years in senior editorial positions at national magazines FHM and Australia’s Surfing Life before returning to newspapers as Chief of Staff of the Sun newspapers and Deputy Sports Editor of Gold Coast Publications.
Beau Brenchley
Events Coordinator
Beau has worked in a variety of different areas of the surfing industry over a fourteen year period. This includes retail, wholesale and manufacturing. From 2006 to 2008, he worked for Surfing Queensland and his passion for the events industry was ignited. During that period, he worked at every event on the Surfing Queensland annual calendar.
Beau took up the position of Event Coordinator at Surfing Australia in November 2009. Since then, Beau has covered events across Australia and overseas in his role as Computer Operator at ASP sanctioned events. He is also involved with quality control audits of surf schools, organising events, media and coaching accreditations.
Beau assists the Sport Development Manager, Events and Communications Manager and Media Manager in all aspects of their roles. From an academic point of view, he has a Diploma in Business Management (Gold Coast Institute of Tafe).
Martin Dunn
National Coaching Director
Martin has been a professional surfing coach since 1987, working with and developing hundreds of surfers over that period. He has been focused on developing the whole package of skills a surfer must have to realise success, starting with the foundation skills of performing a bottom turn, right through to how to surf competitive heats, and teaching all the skills that that involves.
Out of these years of experiences working with surfers, and through his search to find ways to create permanent change, Martin has created numerous videos and other resource materials, to assist the surfers understand why a skill or way of thinking needs to be incorporated into their performance. These products have recently been combined to create the unique surfing website, Surfcoach.com.
Now as National Coaching Director for Surfing Australia, Martin has been given the opportunity to create a national program to assist talented surfers achieve their goals, no matter where in Australia they live. This will be achieved by creating a national framework, utilising the skills and resources that have proven to be successful, and by up-skilling interested coaches Australia wide
James Eggington
High Performance Centre Manager
Since entering the workforce in 2004 to complete a university internship in sports administration James has worked at Surfing Australia in events, coaching accreditations, coach education and currently in a role as high performance centre manager implementing development programs and managing the Australian surfing team to two gold medals.
At Southern Cross University he completed a Bachelor of Sport and Tourism Management from 2001 – 2004 (Major studies: Sports Management, Sports Marketing and Promotions, Computer Studies and Athlete management) and recently completed the ASC Sports Education and Learning course gaining his Level 3 Sports Manager (Managing National and National League Teams)
Gary Cruickshank
High Performance Centre Head Coach
Gary has been a professional surfing coach since 2001. Prior to 2001 Gary worked in the surfing industry as a surfboard manufacturer and competed professionally for 4 years on the Australian Professional Surfing Association (APSA) Domestic Circuit and 3 years on the ASP World Tour, before the introduction of the WQS and WCT format. From these years of experience, Gary is now working full time at the High Performance Centre, coaching surfers of all ability levels, from WCT surfers, all the way down to Micro Groms. Gary is passionate about taking all surfers abilities to the next level, so they can have a bigger smile after each surf, whether it is a competition, or free surfing down at the local break.
Jeremy Sheppard
Sport Science Manager
Dr. Jeremy Sheppard has worked in elite sport since 1992. He is based at Surfing Australia’s High Performance Centre, where he is the Sport Science Manager. This role is in partnership with Edith Cowan University (Perth) where he is a Senior Lecturer in the field of Strength and Conditioning, where he teaches into the ECU online Masters of Strength and Conditioning, and supervises Masters and PhD students in strength-conditioning for surfing. Prior to joining Surfing Australia, Dr. Sheppard has worked in strength coach and senior scientist positions with Olympians at Queensland Academy of Sport, Australian Institute of Sport, and Canadian Sport Centre. Prior to this he worked with national teams in Canada, the US, and Europe and has consulted with professional teams in the NRL, NFL, and AFL.
Dr. Sheppard obtained his undergraduate degree in Human Movement/Coaching Studies, before completing a Master’s degree in Sport Science, and a PhD in Strength Sciences. His research work has garnered awards and grants from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (USA), Victorian State Government, the National Coaching Association (Canada), the Australian Institute of Sport, National Elite Sports Council, and the National Sport Science Quality Assurance Program. As an industry expert, he has lectured on strength and conditioning in Argentina, Australia, Canada, throughout Europe, Indonesia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and United States of America. He is the author of 10 book chapters, including Chapters in Strength & Conditioning: Biological Principles and Practical Applications and Physiological Testing of the Elite Athlete (2nd Edition). He has also published more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts and conference abstracts.
As a coach, Jeremy is a graduate of the Canadian National Coaching Institute where he studied Strength and Conditioning for Elite Athlete Development. He obtained his Level 4 Coaching certification in Strength and Conditioning under the Coach’s Association of Canada program, and is also certified by the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) as a Level 3 coach and is recognised by the ASCA as a Master Coach. Jeremy is also certified as a level 2 Olympic Weightlifting coach, Medical Exercise Specialist, Specialist in Performance Nutrition, and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association of the USA.
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