2026 CEO Sport Integrity Forum

Sarah Kenny

Sarah Kenny is the Chair of Sport Integrity Australia’s (SIA) Advisory Council and a non-executive director with listed company, not-for-profit and sports board roles.

Sarah was a director and vice-president of World Sailing and Australian Sailing, and had a long career as a corporate partner at major international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer.

Dr Sarah Benson PSM

Dr Sarah Benson PSM was appointed CEO of Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) in March 2025.

She joined the agency in 2023 as a Senior Executive and became the inaugural head of the Safety in Sport Division, leading a nationally coordinated approach to integrity issues and establishing key programs including SIA’s Empowering Women and Girls in Sport Integrity Program and the Law Enforcement Partnership Program.

Dr Benson has extensive experience shaping national strategy, policy and capability. She represents Australia internationally as a Board Member of the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organisations and as Chair of the Global Network of National Sport Integrity Agencies.

Before joining SIA, Dr Benson served as the Chief Forensic Scientist for the Australian Federal Police, overseeing strategic and operational leadership across domestic and international policing. She advised Government and national security committees and played key roles in major international responses, including support following the 2019 White Island eruption and 2014 MH17 disaster.

Dr Benson holds a PhD in forensic science and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Technology Sydney. In 2021, she received the Public Service Medal and multiple UTS awards for excellence.

She is committed to authentic, impactful leadership, and fostering strong teams and strategic partnerships that advance the agency’s vision and build a protective ecosystem for sport through to 2032 and beyond.

Minister for Sport, The Hon Anika Wells

Minister for Sport, The Hon Anika Wells, is the Federal Member for Lilley, vice president of the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency Executive Committee.

In her role as Minister for Sport, Minister Wells is a passionate advocate for equality, inclusivity, integrity and participation in sport. 

She has enabled significant progress for safety and integrity initiatives in sport, including SIA’s establishment of a new Safety in Sport division, and securing over $36m to combat bullying, racism and discrimination in sport. 

Minister Wells and the Labor Federal Government have also doubled the investment in Olympic and Paralympic sports and athletes in the lead up to LA 2028, provided significant uplift to Para sport, and committed more than $130m to major sporting events in Australia in the lead-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Bronwen Downie (Facilitator)

Bronwen Downie (Facilitator) is an Olympian and dual World Champion in rowing, and Co-Chair of the Sport Integrity Australia Athlete Advisory Group. She is a Consultant and Executive Coach working across both corporate and sporting environments to enhance performance outcomes through elevating psychological safety.

Bronwen is a strong advocate that sport should first and foremost be about enjoyment and belonging, while also protecting the elite athletes who engage with sport in high performance environments.

Alison Bai

Alison Bai is a former tennis player with a professional career spanning over a decade. She has represented Australia in numerous international competitions achieving a career high singles ranking of 305 in singles and 125 in doubles. Alison recently transitioned off the tour and is currently a practicing lawyer, working in the government, corporate and commercial space.

She hopes to combine her sporting and legal backgrounds to inspire the next generation of athletes, particularly encouraging females to take up leadership roles in sport.

Mack Horton OLY OAM

Mack Horton OLY OAM is an accomplished Australian freestyle swimmer and Olympic champion. Renowned for his endurance and competitive spirit, Mack won gold in the 400m freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, becoming the first Victorian male swimmer to achieve Olympic gold. Over his career, he also secured a World Championships gold medal and four Commonwealth Games titles, alongside multiple podium finishes at international meets.

Beyond his achievements in the pool, Mack is respected for his sportsmanship, advocacy for clean sport, and leadership within the swimming community. His legacy combines elite performance with integrity, inspiring the next generation of Australian athletes.

Tomysha Clark

Tomysha Clark is a dedicated track and field athlete specialising in the Long Jump. She is a two-time national medallist and dual Oceania Champion in both U20 and Open categories, she has established herself as one of the nation’s rising stars in athletics.

Known for her explosive power, technical precision, and competitive spirit, Tomysha continues to represent Australia with pride on the international stage. Beyond her athletic achievements, she is a three-time ambassador for Share a Yarn, reflecting her commitment to cultural connection, community engagement, and inspiring the next generation of athletes.

Jonathan Goerlach PLY

Jonathan Goerlach PLY is an Australian Paralympian who competed in Para Triathlon at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and won bronze at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. He brings lived experience of high performance para sport, and is passionate about athlete wellbeing, integrity and strengthening trust in sport systems.

Telaya Blacksmith PLY

Telaya Blacksmith PLY is a prominent athlete from the Warlpiri community of Lajamanu in the Northern Territory who has made significant strides in her athletic career, representing Australia at the 2024 Paralympic Games becoming the 16th Indigenous Australian Paralympian. She also competed at the 2025 World Para athletic championships.

Telaya holds Australian age records in the 100m, 200m, is a 400m runner and long jumper at the international level. Her achievements include breaking the Oceania record in the 400m T20 final and finishing 9th in the Women’s Long Jump T20.

Dr Michelle Gallen

Dr Michelle Gallen has been CEO of the National Sports Tribunal since September 2023. Prior to that she had wide experience working in both sport and government, including as President of Swimming Australia and a senior executive in the Queensland Government. She has a PhD in international sports law relating to anti-doping and was a member of the Australian swim team (too long ago to mention dates!).

Richard McInnes

Richard McInnes is an innovative, systems thinking, solution-focused sports leader with more than 25 years’ experience spanning grassroots to elite sport, across multiple sports, countries and high performance environments. A former World Cup-winning national coach and CEO of Water Polo Australia, he now serves as Executive General Manager, Sport and Community Capability at the Australian Sports Commission, driving participation, governance, and system-wide capability initiatives.

Drawing on his broad background in sport and a desire to create the conditions for others to succeed, he seeks to build inclusive and sustainable sporting systems, and leadership that enables people and organisations to thrive.

Alex Newton

Alex Newton is the CEO of Diving Australia, the national governing body for Olympic platform and springboard diving alongside High Diving. She has over 25 years’ experience working with elite athletes at both a strategic and operational level. With an extensive background in high performance sport strategy, business planning, and operational leadership, Alex brings a wealth of expertise to the role.

Prior to joining Diving Australia, Alex served as Director of Sports Strategy and Investment at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), where she played a pivotal role in re-shaping national high-performance programs and driving athlete success on the world stage through targeted investment.

Prior to her role at the AIS, Alex worked in the UK high performance sports system as a Performance Director across three Olympic Games and in system leadership roles at UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport.

Renowned for her strategic vision, collaborative leadership style, and passion for athlete development, Alex is committed to advancing Australia’s diving program, fostering innovation, and ensuring sustained international competitiveness.

Alistair Edgar

Alistair Edgar is the CEO of Gymnastics Australia, bringing experience in sport management at local, regional, state and national levels, and across his career has contributed as an athlete, coach, club owner, Board Director and CEO. He previously spent a decade working with the Victorian Government, providing advice on health system reform, and innovative community and stakeholder engagement methodologies to shape effective, people-centered policy and service delivery.

Alistair is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds an Executive MBA from Melbourne Business School.

Andre Castaldi

Andre Castaldi is the Deputy Ombudsman, Complaints Resolution, at the NSW Ombudsman. Prior to this he held a range of executive roles at the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, including Assistant Commissioner, Dispute Resolution and General Manager, Privacy Case Management.

Andre has extensive experience overseeing privacy complaints, strategic investigations, data breach notifications, conciliations, and determinations functions.

Briar Sefo (Facilitator)

Briar Sefo (Facilitator) is an experienced sports administrator and qualified lawyer in both Australia and New Zealand, currently serving as General Manager, Integrity, at Australian Athletics. With a strong background in governance, compliance and cultural change, she has worked across multiple national sporting organisations, sports tech, the Australian Sports Commission and Australian Institute of Sport, and brings a deep commitment to ethics and supporting the tide to lift all boats.

Her passion for athletics extends beyond her professional role, having served as a club president and community-level administrator. Briar combines legal expertise with entrenched sporting experience to foster safe environments for a thriving athletics community.

Sarah Loh

Sarah Loh is the CEO of Softball Australia and has worked from grassroots through to elite sports such as the AFL. During her time with the South Metro Junior Football League (the largest AFL league in Australia) as CEO, she oversaw over 4,500 volunteers and 12,500 kids. Sarah’s passion for child safeguarding during that time to now is of the utmost importance when managing in sport.

Jamie O’Connor

Jamie O’Connor is an accomplished sports executive with over 20 years of leadership experience in national and community sport. Appointed CEO of Special Olympics Australia in 2025, he brings a proven track record in values-driven leadership, organisational growth, and fostering inclusive, high performing teams.

Prior to this role, Jamie served as CEO of Touch Football Australia, where he oversaw strategic expansion, strengthened community engagement, and championed diversity in sport. His career reflects a deep commitment to creating opportunities for all athletes, particularly those with intellectual disabilities, to thrive both on and off the field.

Jamie is recognised for his collaborative leadership style, strategic vision, and passion for building sport as a platform for social inclusion and positive change.

Rob Woodhouse OLY

Rob Woodhouse OLY is an experienced CEO in the international sports industry. He has been CEO of Swimming Australia for almost two years. An Olympic medallist and Australian swim team member for 10 years, Rob thrives on teamwork, goal setting strategies, and has an ongoing curiosity to learn.

Rob has sourced, negotiated and serviced some of the biggest and most successful Olympic talent partnership deals in the world. Along the way he has built and maintained strong relationships with global brands, agencies, key decision-making executives and sports organisations. 

Jason Hellwig

Jason Hellwig is a highly respected sports executive with extensive leadership experience across national and state sporting organisations. Since 2016, he has served as CEO of Swimming Victoria, driving innovation, participation growth, and high performance outcomes. Under his leadership, the organisation has embraced cutting-edge technologies, such as video review systems, to enhance officiating and competition standards.

Previously, Jason held senior roles with the Australian Paralympic Committee and Athletics Australia, where he played a pivotal role in strategic planning, athlete development, and international representation. Known for his collaborative leadership style and commitment to sporting excellence, he also contributes his expertise as a board member and chair across various sports governance bodies.

Bronwen Knox OLY (Facilitator)

Bronwen Knox OLY (Facilitator) is a four-time Water Polo Olympian and lawyer, currently serving as Legal Counsel for the Australian Olympic Committee. She brings deep, practical experience in sport integrity, having previously spent three and a half years as a National Integrity Manager working directly within the National Integrity Framework. Bronwen also serves on the SIA Athlete Advisory Group and the WADA Athlete Council.

Dr Paul Oliver

Dr Paul Oliver is passionate about promoting and addressing integrity, safety and inclusion issues impacting sport and its participants. He has worked across the sport sector over the past 20 years. He is currently the Deputy CEO, Safety in Sport at Sport Integrity Australia, co-Chair of Play by the Rules and Deputy Chair of the International Safeguards for Children in Sport Advisory Board.

Matt Fulton

Matt Fulton is the CEO of the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS), he was appointed initially in an interim capacity in October 2023 before being permanently in early 2024. His appointment followed a challenging period for the organisation that included the Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) review into Artistic Gymnastics program and the departure of the entire Board and long-term CEO.

Over this period, WAIS has embarked on considerable change, one that has seen a heavy focus on stabilising WAIS and re-building its foundations.

Matt is driven by a passion for the community benefit that sport brings, and will openly say he is not a high-performance sport guy, with his appointment as the CEO at WAIS his ‘Steven Bradbury moment’. His passion for seeing the staff and athletes of WAIS not only succeed but thrive in the process is deeply aligned to the core principles that SIA has grown from and the Win Well philosophy it is founded upon. Prior to working at WAIS, Matt was the CEO at SportWest, WA's peak sporting organisation and CEO of WestCycle.

Helen McShane

Helen McShane has had an international career spanning both government and the not-for-profit sector working across strategic policy, legislation review and implementation, and the advance of sport integrity, for over 20 years. Helen has held roles in Western Australia (WA) with the Department of Communities, SportWest, Department of Local Government – Sport and Cultural Industries, and joined Sport Integrity Australia as the inaugural WA State Integrity Manager in September 2024. Helen also holds a Master of Business (Sport Management), has been a Board Director, is a trained mediator, and is actively involved in community sport through her three children.

Keaton Guymer

Keaton Guymer brings over 12 years’ experience with the Queensland Police Service, including seven years in investigative and detective roles across specialist units such as Homicide, Child Protection, Major and Organised Crime, and Ethical Standards. He now applies that disciplined, evidence-based approach to integrity, risk, and credibility in his work with Rowing Australia and Paddle Australia.

Dr Naomi Speers

Dr Naomi Speers is the Research and Strategic Projects Lead at Sport Integrity Australia (SIA). For the previous 10 years, Naomi led the Science and Medicine functions at SIA. Before this Naomi led the Chemical Trace Evidence team at the Australian Federal Police Forensic Services. Naomi has served on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Strategic Testing Expert Group and Laboratory Expert Group.

In her current role, Naomi leads SIA’s research strategy and engagement. The research program spans the breath of SIA’s remit in sport integrity with Naomi’s expertise being in the Anti-Doping sphere. She is also leading current work on illicit drugs in sport.