Businessman and former Wellington first-class cricketer Scott Weenink has been appointed chief executive of New Zealand Cricket.
The 50-year-old father of four replaces David White, who stepped down from the role earlier this month, and will officially begin duties after being welcomed into the Auckland office with a mihi whakatau on Friday week.
Mr Weenink was initially a corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions lawyer, before gaining extensive executive and governance experience in a wide range of industries, including funds management, financial services, private equity, telecoms/technology, infrastructure, and sport.
His background draws on a variety of working experiences in New Zealand, the UK, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and a sporting experience just as colourful, including Oxford University Blues in both cricket and rugby.
Over recent years he has been the chair of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association, a position from which he will now step down.
New Zealand Cricket Board chair Martin Snedden said Mr Weenink was the preferred candidate in a strong field of applicants.
“Scott had a great deal to offer in all the key areas, plus some special experiences that specifically suited the skillset needed in this position,” he said.
“He understands the relationship between community and high performance sport; he’s very familiar with world cricket affairs and current issues, and he’s spent a significant time running organisations and projects within Asia, obviously a major region of importance for NZC.
“Scott understands cricket,” said Mr Snedden. “He understands its context in New Zealand; where it’s come from, where it is now, and where it should be going.
“His beliefs and philosophies align very easily to NZC’s overarching strategy and purpose. We’re very pleased he’s accepted our offer.”
Mr Weenink said it was a privilege to be offered the opportunity to help build on the strong progress made throughout the New Zealand game in recent years.
“It was a great honour to be offered the position,” he said. “I love sport and cricket in particular, and I also love the business of sport – so this seemed like an ideal role.
“There’s a finely balanced, symbiotic relationship between community and high performance cricket in New Zealand and one of my key responsibilities is to ensure that’s maintained and sustained into the future.”
Familiarising himself with the role and meeting key stakeholders would be high on his list of priorities.
“I’m looking forward to getting around the Major and District Associations, gaining an understanding of their environments and, equally, spending time with the high performance team at Lincoln,” he said.
“There’s a lot of people I need to meet and listen to, including our commercial and broadcast partners; there’s a lot to learn from the NZC team, and we have a huge period of cricket coming right at us, so there’s no time to lose.”
Mr Weenink has stepped down from four of the five non-executive director roles he held previous to this appointment. He remains on a school board of trustees.
