The Netball Show
S7 Ep71: Karen Rollo Stewart (27th Sept 2024)
(upbeat music) - Hi, this is Nat Metcalf. Flyhawk have developed a unique 3D kit designer that's fully customizable. So if you're looking for a new kit for your team for the new season, visit flyhawk.com or email info@flyhawk.com with your ideas now. - Nation Player is the easy to use, one-stop radio and audio app. Download Nation Player now on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Nation Player, where on are you? The netball show with Flyhawk. Raising the bar for netball and winning sports. - Netball show with Flyhawk. Netball Northern Ireland are looking for new board members and you've got to be quick because applications close on the 30th of September at midnight. Kalan Rolo joins me now, chief executive and first off. Have you given yourself a bit of a free upgrade because you were the executive manager last time we spoke? (laughs) - Hi, I'm Dave, Ev. No, I haven't given myself a free upgrade. The board have done a bit of a review of the organization and have decided that my role actually is more of a chief executive role and they've changed a bit of the remit as to what I'm doing. So yeah, a bit of a staff change around the structure as well. So we've got new senior leadership team in place as well that report to me and then still obviously me reporting directly to the board. But yeah, fancy title, still me, still doing a lot of the same stuff but just a bit more focus on commercial and corporate. - So you want me to look out for new board members who exactly you're looking for, kind of person? - Yeah, really exciting time. Our board members, some of them have completed their tenure with us. So we're now looking for replacements for those. I think in particular at this stage, we're looking for quite experienced board members. We do have a very young board, which is Portland, all very focused in terms of their skills at area. We're quite well supported around performance, around HR, around participation and that sort of thing. Actually, now what we're really looking for is someone to come in with that sort of strategic approach and understanding of what a new strategy could look like. And also a little bit more around the legal and commercial side of the business as well. - Obviously as well, that past experience is going to be key in this and preferred, especially in a sports environment really? - Yes, ideally. And I think obviously team sport is a lot different to individual sport, however, we've been really fortunate in that we've had board members previously. We've come in from different sports that haven't necessarily had that team focus. At the minute now, our board is probably well catered for from a team sport perspective. And we've board members who have backgrounds in hockey and rugby and football, that type of thing. So actually, we'll be quite open to having someone from any sort of sporting background. But actually it's the business background. That's really where we're looking for some support right now. I think we've got the support side. In hand is the wrong thing to say, but I think we know where we're going from that perspective. And actually not, it's just about growing the business so that we can support the growth within our sport and actually raise the profile and try and get the partnerships that we need to give us the income generation opportunities that we need to drive the sport forward and build performance and participation perspective. - Yeah, definitely keen to help in a boat growing up on Northern Ireland. - We know that we always appreciate your support, Andy. It's great. You're always one of the first on the phone whenever you see something new right there. And you're like, how can I help drive this forward? And that's exactly what we need. We need eyeballs on the sport. We need eyeballs on our social media platforms. We need the reach to extend. So anything that people can do to support that is really, really valuable to us. - And one of these new things is the launch of the brand new Northern Ireland app. That's an important step. - Absolutely, and really exciting for us. I think we are so just now to everything being at hand, being able to access things on your phone, being able to pick things up on your court side. So I think for us from a competition's perspective, we have so many teams now involved in our domestic competitions that actually it's nice to keep an eye on what everyone else is doing, but being able to go straight to your fixtures, to know exactly who you're playing, when and where, what that looks like. So the app is there at the minute. It's read only right now and it gets updated automatically whenever our results are uploaded onto our website and that filters through to the app. But we are hoping in the very near future that we get it, that it can be updated courtside with the results from every single domestic game as it happens in Northern Ireland. But love it, love it. So many people have downloaded it. It's great to see people are really loving the user friendliness of it. Really easy to find, really easy to navigate around the platform as well. So very excited about it. - So the role itself then, you're charitable and limited company aren't you? So charitable status and the board will be supported by a team of full-time and part-time staff? - Yeah, that's right. We, in about 2015, 2016 now we became, we got tired of status in Northern Ireland. So obviously with the board directors, there are some legal responsibilities around that. But it's all very clear within our guidance documents. And whenever people join the board, we do have their induction programme with them. So they're really clear as to what that means from the legal and governance side of things. To be fair, it's sort of me that looks after that anyway, making sure that everyone's registered in the right place and all the documents are uploaded at the right time, particularly for Companies House and the Charities Commission here in Northern Ireland. But essentially what we're looking for is a directed come in, who will be able to provide some leadership and expertise in their chosen fields. For us, that's really around us to say that legal commercial side of things right now and obviously with a bit of an overview of our own strategy. We are coming close to the end of our chairs 10-year. So ideally as well, we would like someone to come in who is maybe considering taking on the role of a chair within a sports organisation as well. - Yeah, well itself, not remunerated as such, but reasonable travel. - Yes, absolutely. (laughing) - Yeah, not remunerated in terms of any budget there available. However you get to lead NEPL and work with us. Like who wouldn't want to work with the guys in NEPL Northern Ireland alongside our warriors? So it's really exciting. And I think the experiences and the opportunities that we can offer from being involved within NEPL and I am supposed to give them back. That's probably where we got a lot of board members from who've been involved in sports throughout their life and they want to get back to sport. And they can do that by bringing the skills from their own professional life into our sport. And certainly the opportunities are there to support the warriors whenever they're competing on court. Whenever we're hosting the event, we're hosting the under 17th month forum. Next year, you know, sort of be able to watch our young players coming through. And obviously then we get to attend the incredible events that Europe, NEPL and work NEPL hosts as well. And be a part of Congress and the decision-making around what happens across the Google game. - The application pack is available online at nepoleneide.org. Can people also get in touch with you? Is the quick with the additional question? - Yes, absolutely. I'm more than happy to have flats with anyone who's interested and maybe wants to find out a bit more. The application pack is quite detailed. There's a lot of information in there. But if anyone just wants to have a quick chat about it there, more than welcome to drop me an email and I can arrange a call with them. - And finally come and remind me of closing date. - Yes, so it closes at midnight on the 30th of September with the intention that we will have interviews in October and ideally having someone start December, January 10. - The NEPL show is now also available via Sky HD, Sky Q and Sky Glass. So let's get it and we're on the podcasts rail. [MUSIC PLAYING]
Karen is the Chief Executive at Netball Northern Ireland. She joins us at Netball NI are looking for new Board Members