Raelene Castle delivered the 19th Annual Tom Brock Lecture

DATE: Wednesday 5th July 2017
TIME: 6.30 pm
VENUE: 2nd Floor Lecture Theatre
Dr Chau Chak Wing Building (Building 8),
University of Technology Sydney,
14–28 Ultimo Road, Ultimo
SPEAKER: Raelene Castle
TOPIC: ‘Leadership insights from the National Rugby League and Australasian Sport’

Abstract

Raelene Castle told her story beginning with how she grew up in a sporting family, her father playing rugby league and her mother netball. She reflected on how she became a sports administrator, first in New Zealand netball and later in a Sydney NRL rugby league club, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

During her period at the Bulldogs, the club enjoyed record levels of membership (including an increased female involvement) and sponsorship. She will discuss how this was achieved and some of the challenges faced along the way.

Speaker biography

When Raelene Castle became Chief Executive of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL in 2013, she was the first female chief executive in the NRL for 15 years. Her term was extended another two years in 2016. Before that, she had been Executive of Netball New Zealand for six years. She had previously worked in the marketing, sales, sponsorship and communications areas for a number of leading New Zealand companies including Telecom, BNZ, Southern Cross Healthcare and Fuji Xerox.

Raelene Castle is a Trustee of The Rising, a not for profit organisation helping to unlock to potential of South Auckland youth. She was recognised with a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award in 2011 and was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2015. Raelene Castle is also a former Board Member of the International Netball Federation, having served four years.