{"id":438513,"date":"2026-05-21T15:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438513\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:19:14","slug":"netball-nzs-new-ceo-jennah-wootten-and-board-chair-alastair-carruthers-on-anz-premiership-and-workplace-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/438513\/","title":{"rendered":"Netball NZ\u2019s new CEO Jennah Wootten and board chair Alastair Carruthers on ANZ Premiership and workplace culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wootten and board chairman Alastair Carruthers<\/a> have addressed a range of issues<\/a>, including the future of the domestic competition, NNZ\u2019s workplace culture and rebuilding trust with the netball community.<\/p>\n

\"JennahJennah Wootten at the announcement of her appointment today as chief executive of Netball. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Wootten played netball growing up and told the Herald that a combination of scale, passion and purpose motivated her to take the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no denying netball\u2019s had an incredibly challenging past 12 months, and from the outside looking in, it\u2019s very obvious how tough that has been for everyone. But it\u2019s also very clear that the board has already started to make some steps forward in reflection of those challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy announcement today is another step forward, and I\u2019m sure that, together with the netball community, we are going to be able to tackle the challenges into the future and ensure that we\u2019re looking at bright and big things in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carruthers said they have done their due diligence on Wootten and incoming board members.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new board is going to make sure that Jennah attends all of our meetings and is adjacent to every decision we make in the coming weeks. The induction is live, and it\u2019s happening already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three board positions remain vacant, though Curruthers expects to announce two of them next week.<\/p>\n

\"NetballNetball NZ chairman Alastair Carruthers.<\/p>\n

The immediate challenge facing the new leadership is the ANZ Premiership\u2019s future. The domestic competition is on a one-year deal, with NNZ reaching into its cash reserves to make ends meet, and the players taking a 20 per cent pay cut.<\/p>\n

There is no broadcast deal in place for next year, and Carruthers said NNZ was surveying options.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that players need certainty. We\u2019re in conversations about broadcast rights. I can\u2019t go into any of those details because they are commercially sensitive, but we are very keen that netball has an audience, and audiences really want to see netball too. So as soon as we have something to share on that, we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October, six current and former NNZ staff spoke to the Herald<\/a> with concerns about the organisation\u2019s workplace culture and called for new leadership.<\/p>\n

The sources, none of whom wished to be named, described a challenging and secretive environment.<\/p>\n

They called for an overhaul of the board to introduce greater accountability.<\/p>\n

Carruthers said he had spent a lot of time in the office since joining.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the culture feels really strong. Jane\u2019s done really good work on leading people through some painful moments, but they are really engaged. My personal commitment to culture is to be present and to answer questions and to be real and actually to go to netball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WoottenWootten will take over after the Silver Ferns’ Commonwealth Games campaign. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Wootten said she loved building a strong organisational culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I talk about high-performing cultures, to me, that\u2019s one that feels like family. You spend so much time with the people you work with, you want to feel really connected and special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve only just this afternoon had an opportunity to connect with a couple of the team here in the office. We\u2019ve talked about baking, we\u2019ve talked about tracksuits, we\u2019ve talked about Synthony, and I think that gives you a good indication of my leadership style. I want to connect with the team, I want to understand who they are as people, and I\u2019m sure together we will continue to build the organisational culture here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patterson admitted <\/a>last month <\/a>that trust needed to be rebuilt<\/a> between NNZ and the wider community.<\/p>\n

Wootten said trust was built through action, and wanted to continue the work Patterson had started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI intend to do a lot of listening when I start. I want to make sure I\u2019m connecting with everyone within netball \u2013 our staff, coaches, athletes, life members, our zones, our fans. I want to deeply understand their perspectives because the more I can understand and hear from the netball community, the better equipped I\u2019m going to be to support the Netball New Zealand team in responding to those views, living up to those aspirations, and ensuring success into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Wootten and Carruthers watched last year\u2019s drama unfold from the outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked really painful, and it was painful,\u201d Carruthers said. \u201cBut I am really impressed by what the board is doing to put in place new systems, new learning for the new board, and I have huge respect for Dame Noeline. She is working really hard on the selections for Glasgow, and I know that it\u2019s going to be a mighty campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carruthers admits it is a challenging environment for netball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to resource sport through broadcasting rights, sponsorship and player payment systems. It\u2019s all very stretched. We\u2019ve got a cost-of-living crisis that is challenging everybody. But I think the game itself is in incredibly good heart. 102 years of high-performance netball. It\u2019s gone through two world wars, a depression, more recessions in my lifetime than I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wootten is yet to meet Taurua, Carruthers spent an hour with the Silver Ferns coach last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was absolutely delightful, and I\u2019ve got the real privilege of joining Jane and the team and the coaches, up in Glasgow in seven or eight weeks, and I\u2019m really looking forward to being courtside for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

NNZ still needs to appoint a new permanent head of high performance, with Chelsea Lane acting in an interim capacity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one of many things that need to be done at pace,\u201d Carruthers said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at that at the moment, but it\u2019ll be right on the board\u2019s priority list.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wootten joins NNZ from Aktive, where she has been chief executive since 2021. She was previously chief executive of the World Masters Games 2017, which featured 28,000 participants across 28 sports. <\/p>\n

Alongside her role with T\u0101taki Auckland Unlimited, she is an independent director of Perpetual Guardian Holdings and Perpetual Trust. She was recognised with the prestigious Sport NZ CK Doig Leadership Award in 2024 for outstanding leadership across New Zealand\u2019s sport and recreation sector.<\/p>\n

Wootten said she had a strong connection to netball, having played as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy nana used to walk me down to Te Pai courts in Henderson on a Saturday morning. I played for Swanson Primary, and we had a glorious mustard T-shirt. I loved netball from that moment, and I\u2019ve continued to follow the sport with great interest. Having the opportunity to connect with the sport in this new capacity is just an immense privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carruthers said he opened up about his connection to netball at a staff meeting last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got interrogated for 45 minutes, and I think the second question was, \u2018What was your first game?\u2019 I don\u2019t think it was my first game, but I have a vivid memory in 1978 of my fifth-form sister playing at Wellington Girls\u2019 College.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I love about netball is, while it is an incredible code for women and girls, whole families are involved. Boys watch it, dads go, grandads are there, and this is a sport that should be and is treasured by everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates on rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wootten and board chairman Alastair Carruthers have addressed a range of issues, including the future of the domestic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[224196,95,12465,17623,51,2372,92571,3500,37432,80558,3937,2396,33092,3938,224194,16762,117,111,43,139,69,3272,90,4481,13180,224197,80797,224195,17708,80],"class_list":["post-438513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-alastair","tag-and","tag-anz","tag-appointed","tag-auckland","tag-board","tag-carruthers","tag-ceo","tag-chair","tag-chairwoman","tag-chief","tag-culture","tag-deputy","tag-executive","tag-jennah","tag-netball","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzs","tag-on","tag-permanent","tag-premiership","tag-ttaki","tag-unlimited","tag-wootten","tag-workplace","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}