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Women Onside wants to see women in football, everywhere.  Including in the Board room.  Across Australia women are generally under-represented in leadership roles and Women Onside is determined to be a part of changing that.

Women Onside is pleased to announce our three-part  “Getting On Board” masterclass series to help get the many capable football women out there confident and ready to take on the next level of governance.

One of the most common issues Women Onside is asked is about the lack of women football’s key governing boards, whether at State/Member Federation level, associations or large clubs. Increasingly women are aware of the need for more women on football boards and want to play their part. They want to become ‘board ready’. They are asking “how do I get a place on a committee or board? What skills do I need? How do I know if I’m ready to become a committee or board member?”

The series’ top-flight hosts and presenters will be sharing a wealth of football governance knowledge targeted specifically at women in football wanting to make that step up or to enhance their performance in a current governance role.

The series will break down the myths around what it takes to be a club, association or federation committee/board member or a member of one of the representative bodies in football such as Standing Committees and Advisory Committees.

Topics will cover soft skills around board room influence and networking as well as core hard skills relating to finance, risk and governance principles.

The masterclass series will comprise three (3) Wednesday evening sessions each lasting approximately 60 minutes.  

Practical, short, sharp and lively this program will be the step forward that can make a difference.

And with Women Onside behind you this program will keep you networked and supported going forward.

The Sessions

9 September at 7.00pm AEST – “The Director Journey” with Nicki Bowman and Andrea Ahearn sharing insights on governance obligations, skills and the differences between committees and boards

16 September at 7.00pm AEST – “Governance 101” with Robyn Fitzroy, Nicki Bowman and Kerry Harris providing key information on governance principles, financial literacy and meeting strategy

23 September at 7.00pm AEST – “Getting There and Being Effective” with Nicki Bowman and Kerry Harris looking at nomination and election processes and the electioneering and purposeful networking skills you need to win that role and to be effective going forward

These sessions include the opportunity for small group breakout components and interaction with the presenters.

Who is this webinar series for?

This webinar series is targeted to women with a background in football who would like to:

·      take on a higher role at club, Association or State level and want to be prepared;

·      be more effective in their current club or association role.

Cost

This masterclass series is open to Women Onside members and also non-members.

But do we have a deal for you…..   A full membership with Women Onside is only $20 per year so we recommend you might like to sign up as a member and get not only the governance masterclass series but also ongoing member benefits 

Women Onside full member  – FREE

Women Onside associate member – $20 total for all three sessions

Non-member – $25 total for all three sessions

About our hosts and presenters

Kerry Harris

Kerry is a CPA Fellow and a highly experienced sports administrator as well as former football player. She has held professional roles in football, AFL and gymnastics as well as working for the 2007 World Swimming Championships and the Australian Sports Commission.  She runs her own consulting business with clients in sport and the not-for-profit sector.

Kerry has also held a range of governance roles in football, including her current position as a member of Football Federation Australia’s Finance, Audit and Risk Standing Committee and prior roles as a Director and Treasurer of the former Women’s Soccer Australia.  Kerry has had over thirty five years in women’s football across three states from grassroots to international level, including tour leader roles for the Matildas and at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games as the liaison manager with the USA team.  Additionally, she is a Volunteering Australia Board Director and CPA Australia Victorian Divisional Councillor.

Nicki Bowman

Nicki is a leadership consultant, speaker and author whose involvement in football stretches back over four decades.

Nicki’s leadership career has spanned over 21 years across industries as diverse as mining, finance, sport and manufacturing. It has seen her transition from lawyer to senior executive to professional director, culminating in the establishment of her own leadership practice.

After several years as Treasurer and Secretary of the Illawarra Women’s Soccer Association, Nicki was one of the driving forces behind unification of the game in the Illawarra. She was a founding director and Deputy Chair of Football South Coast, ultimately spending 6 years on the Board. Nicki was also a director of the (sadly unsuccessful!) bid for an A-League expansion license in the Illawarra in 2009.

Her involvement in football expanded to the national stage when she was appointed to the FFA Women’s Advisory Council and represented the FFA at the FIFA Women’s Football Symposium in Frankfurt in 2011. More recently Nicki lobbied successfully as part of Women Onside for key changes to the FFA Constitution to embed gender equity, and she remains committed to the advancement of women’s football and women in football.

Andrea Ahearn

Andrea Ahearn is a Senior Marketing and Communications Manager in her professional career and in her ‘spare time’ she’s heavily involved in women’s football.

Andrea is a self-proclaimed football enthusiast who has 15 plus years volunteering on soccer committees.  Her first involvement in football was in Brisbane through the establishment of a senior women’s team in junior football club at Toowong FC back in 2005. She continued her work on the committee and play at this club for 5 year before moving over to Perth. 

Since 2012 Andrea’s been heavily involved in Subiaco AFC committee looking after the interests of the women’s teams. In her current role on the Subiaco AFC Committee Andrea oversees all of the women’s teams across the NPLW, Amateurs and Metropolitan Leagues.

Andrea is now back playing after a few years off with injury. Whilst out injured she continued her work in football where she switched her focus to coaching teenage girls. Andrea’s passion about women’s sport is the reason she continues to give back to the game.

Robyn Fitzroy

Robyn founded and is principal of her own governance consultancy which specialises in board and CEO performance evaluations.  She is a former non-executive director of CUSCAL, Habitat for Humanity Australia and MLC School.  Robyn is also an accredited facilitator and author of courses for the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  Robyn is also on the Board of Football Federation Australia.

Robyn is a former Executive Director of Macquarie Bank Group where she initiated and ran a profitable direct distribution business for which she set up a business development call centre, a marketing intelligence/data analysis unit, an e-commerce platform and product development and management. She has an extensive background in marketing, business and governance with over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry.

Robyn is also on the Board of Football Federation Australia.

The Equality Club. Hear first hand how a small town club in the south of England changed the game in 2017 by becoming the first in the world to pay its men and women equally, embedding equal respect into everything they do – not only in pay, but also in facilities access, coaching, and every aspect of support.  Since then, both men’s and women’s teams have been promoted, and the club’s bold commitment has become recognised all over the world.

Women Onside is delighted to bring you Lewes FC’s general manager Maggie Murphy, and trailblazing director Ed Ramsden, talking equal respect at club level – and how this vision became a reality.

Hosted by former Matilda Moya Dodd, this is the conversation football needs to have. Participants in this live webinar will have the chance to ask questions, respond to comments and discuss ideas for how this experience might be applied by clubs in Australia.

Who should tune in?  The audiences for this webinar are:

• football club directors, committee members and officials
• key decision-makers in the game, including Boards and staff at member federations and associations
• individual influencers in women’s football, including coaches, players, media and sponsors
• people in state and local government who are involved in policy and resource allocation in sport.

Event Details

Couldn’t attend the webinar event? Watch the recording on YouTube.

About Maggie Murphy and Ed Ramsden

Maggie and Ed bring different backgrounds to the same goal of gender equality in football.

Maggie Murphy brings a background in anti-corruption and human rights, having worked for Transparency International and Amnesty International over several years. Maggie captained the Oxford University football team (and earned an Oxford BA), and also holds an MSc from the London School of Economics. Maggie remains a football enthusiast and has participated in Equal Playing Field’s world record breaking exhibition matches promoting sports access for women and girls, including playing the highest ever match at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Ed Ramsden brings an outstanding understanding of the money side of a football club. Ed is Lewes FC’s Board Director responsible for Operational Strategy & Finance. He is an investment manager and teaches investment at Columbia Business School in New York and London Business School. Previously, he was full-time strategy adviser to one of the ten largest companies in the world. 

And by the way, the conversation convenor Moya Dodd has a pretty good pedigree too.  A former Matilda and a partner at a leading Sydney law firm, Moya has extensive experience in football governance at FFA, AFC and FIFA.  Moya is currently independent Chair of Common Goal, the international football charity. And when she can she still gets out to play at her local women’s over 35s competition.

Technical observations from April Heinrichs on the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

April Heinrichs will present observations on the performance of teams in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

Women Onside is pleased to present this rare opportunity for Australian coaches to access the latest technical information on elite women’s football.

Event Details

• Location: Online
• Date: Saturday 28th March
• Time: 10.00am to 11.30am AEDT
• Cost: Free

About April Heinrichs

April is a legend of the women’s game. She won the first-ever FIFA WWC as captain of the US Women’s National team. She also won an Olympic gold medal as head coach.

April has worked extensively with FIFA as a consultant at Women’s World Cups, Olympic games, u17 and u20 women’s world cups and on missions to support member association capacity building.

Who is this event for?

• Women with an advanced coaching licence (A, B, C and Pro)
• Coaches and technical directors of senior NPLW teams
• Coaches and technical directors of W-League and national teams
• Coaches of NTC girls teams
• Member federation coaches and technical directors working with women and girls programs

Email events@womenonside.com.au if you have not received your invite to this event.