Leigh Russell has been named as the new boss of Swimming Australia

SWIMMING Australia has appointed its first female chief executive, with Leigh Russell to take the helm of Australia’s top Olympic sport.

SWIMMING Australia has appointed its first female chief executive, with Leigh Russell to take the helm of Australia’s top Olympic sport.

Russell, who has vast experience with state and national sporting organisations including Netball Victoria, Cricket Australia and AFL clubs Essendon and Gold Coast, will take up the post on April 16, the day after the Commonwealth Games end.

Russell will take over from Chris Forbes, who held the role in an interim capacity after former swimming boss Mark Anderson took up a role as Collingwood CEO.

Swimming Australia president John Bertrand said Russell was the “outstanding candidate in an extremely competitive field”.

Leigh Russell has been named the new boss of Swimming Australia. Picture: David Caird.

“Leigh is an exceptional, values driven and results focused leader,” Bertrand said.

“The breadth and depth of her experience with national and state sporting organisations, government stakeholders, elite sporting teams and growing the participation bases of sports will no doubt inspire our swimming community and drive the next level of our development.

“She is a highly impressive talent known for her collaborative leadership style and for building high performance culture.”

Russell said she was honoured to have been selected to lead “a truly iconic sport that holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Australians”.

She takes over at a challenging time as Australian attempts to reassert itself as a world swimming power, with the goal of becoming the No. 1 nation in the world by 2020.

“Swimming is genuinely a sport for everybody,” Russell said.

“It plays an important role in keeping Australians healthy and socially connected, alongside providing amazing opportunities for athletes to compete on the international stage.

“I’m excited to bring my understanding of sport, from the grassroots to elite, and my expertise in sports leadership to Swimming Australia.

“I really look forward to working with our passionate swimming community to take the sport into the future. It’s also an incredible privilege to work with Alex Baumann and Jacco Verhaeren to help achieve outstanding success in the pool towards Tokyo and beyond.”

While Russell is the first woman to hold the chief executive role, she is not the only woman to have been at the helm of Australian swimming.

Vena Murray was the executive director of the organisation for seven years from the mid-1990s, holding the reins when Australia was the world’s No. 1 swimming nation.

Originally published as Leigh Russell has been named as the new boss of Swimming Australia