EA Announces Margot Foster AM, as Independent Chair for Equestrian Strategy & Structure Working Group

As the Strategy & Structure Working Group formed with key industry experts, the search was on for an independent chair to support the development of the national structural recommendations for equestrian in Australia.

Today Equestrian Australia is pleased to announce, Margot Foster AM has been appointed.

Ms Foster is a lawyer by profession with over 30 years’ experience in sports administration and governance at board level. No stranger to sport or high performance, she was an elite rower winning medals at the 1984 Olympic Games and 1986 Commonwealth Games.

She’s a governance expert and has held many board and committee positions in sport with a variety of organisations. She is presently on the boards of Motorsport Australia, where she is the first woman elected vice president, Vicsport and the Olympians Club of Victoria.

No longer practising law Margot consults to organisations, including many in sport, on the importance of good governance, strategic thinking and being the best you can be at the board table.

Equestrian Australia CEO, Darren Gocher said “Margot is a great candidate with her combined expertise at the board table and experience across numerous sporting organisations.”

Margot will commence her role immediately and attend the next meeting scheduled for 7 March.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Working Group will recommend to the EA Board the structure that enables the most efficient and effective delivery of the national strategy for Equestrian (the Structure). In recommending the Structure the Working Group will:

1. Identify potential structural options, including benchmarking and analysis of structural models:
   1. across the Australian sporting landscape; and
   2. across the International sporting landscape.
2. Analyse the potential structural options, including analysis of the extent to which each option delivers:
   1. best practice as defined by the highest level of maturity within Sport Australia’s Sports Governance Standards; o the collective vision for equestrian sports in Australia;
   2. the collective values and behaviours for equestrian sports in Australia;
   3. the strategic objectives in achieving that collective vision;
   4. the success measures for the strategy, including systems of monitoring and review; 
   5. the agreed roles and responsibilities of the strategy; o operational efficiency and effectiveness; and 
   6. any other factors it considers relevant in order to achieve The Purpose.
3. Provide recommendations to the EA Board in relation to structure (The Recommendations)