Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) is excited to announce that Belinda Edwards has been chosen to step into the Chief Operating Officer (COO) role for the organisation.
Reporting to CEO Dillon Boucher, the new COO role will serve as the financial spokesperson for the organisation, responsible for overseeing and leading BBNZ’s Corporate Services functions while bringing a broad range of speciality that includes finance, commercial, human resources, health and safety, legal, risk, integrity, and IT experience.
Belinda is already well-known in sporting circles as the Deputy Chair of the BBNZ Board, as well as previously serving as Director of Northland Rugby Union and Deputy Chair for Rugby for Life. When the opportunity came to apply for the role, she took a leave of absence from the BBNZ Board to apply – and officially resigned from the board when she accepted the role.
Edwards says she is looking forward to continuing the work of growing the game of basketball in New Zealand – and growing opportunities for Kiwis to be involved in the game.
“I’m delighted to be joining the Basketball New Zealand team, I believe this is a really exciting time for basketball – with opportunities aplenty for BBNZ to continue on its projected growth path,” says Edwards.
“2024 is going to be another exceptional year for basketball, with a number of significant international events that we’ll be involved in; I can’t want to join and help continue their recent success.”
Boucher says that given her experience within the organisation, Belinda will come into the COO role with a head start.
“Belinda already knows how BBNZ operates and functions; we’re excited for her to hit the ground running when she starts in February 2024,” says Boucher.
BBNZ Board Chair, Rob Gold says that this role is in place to help guide BBNZ into the future, with Belinda a welcome addition to the BBNZ management team.
“From a board perspective, we are gutted to lose someone of the calibre of Belinda from our board; her knowledge and experience in the financial space – and what she’s been able to do assist BBNZ over the past three years – has been fantastic,” says Rob.
“But we’re tempered in that because she’s going to do the job that allows her to give more to BBNZ by being able to do it full-time. She will thrive in a more operational role like this, and can better directly impact BBNZ and basketball in New Zealand.”
