{"id":27699,"date":"2026-03-31T16:13:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/?p=27699"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:14:00","slug":"olivia-thornton-appointed-chief-executive-officer-of-tennis-nsw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/news\/2026\/03\/31\/olivia-thornton-appointed-chief-executive-officer-of-tennis-nsw","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Thornton Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tennis NSW"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tennis NSW is delighted to announce the appointment of Olivia Thornton as the next Chief Executive Officer, securing one of Australia\u2019s highly regarded sporting administrators through a competitive recruitment process. Olivia will commence with Tennis NSW on 11<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>May 2026.<\/p>\n<p>This appointment signals the start of the next chapter for tennis in New South Wales, focused on connecting with members, strengthening culture, and growing the game from the grassroots up.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia joins Tennis NSW following a successful tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Cricket ACT, where she developed expertise across transformational change, strategic leadership, stakeholder engagement, financial management, and oversaw strong participation growth. A values-driven leader, Olivia is recognised for building high-performing teams and delivering meaningful community impact across grassroots sport.<\/p>\n<p>Originally from the Hawkesbury region of NSW, Olivia is a proud current member of a regional tennis club. She brings an authentic connection to grassroots tennis which, combined with her knowledge from cricket, provides a deep understanding of the role players, coaches, clubs, associations, volunteers, and regions play across NSW.<\/p>\n<p>Olivia\u2019s appointment also marks a historic milestone, as she becomes the first female CEO for Tennis NSW.<\/p>\n<p>On behalf of the Board, President of Tennis NSW Melissa Achten said the appointment reflected the Board\u2019s commitment to securing a CEO with the skills required to deliver on its Vision 2030 strategy.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0a6dff\"><strong><em>&#8220;The Board is delighted to appoint Olivia as Chief Executive Officer of Tennis NSW. She is a highly accomplished, values-driven leader with a proven track record of delivering strategic, financial and transformational change. Importantly, this appointment represents a fresh start for tennis in New South Wales. Olivia understands grassroots tennis, and her commitment to community engagement presents us with a genuine opportunity to deepen member engagement, strengthen our culture and governance, and refocus on what matters most: growing the game from the ground up and positioning Tennis NSW for long-term, sustainable success.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The incoming CEO said she was excited and honoured by the appointment, and that she was energised by the opportunity to contribute to the future of Tennis NSW.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0a6dff\"><strong><em>&#8220;It\u2019s a privilege to be appointed as CEO of Tennis NSW and to be part of shaping the next chapter of the sport. As a passionate member of a local tennis club, I am genuinely interested in the opportunity to broaden community access, continue to drive growth, and foster an inclusive tennis environment across New South Wales.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>On behalf of the Board, we warmly welcome Olivia to Tennis NSW and look forward to working with her to strengthen our connection with members and build a more connected and sustainable future for tennis across New South Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis NSW is delighted to announce the appointment of Olivia Thornton as the next Chief Executive Officer, securing one of Australia\u2019s highly regarded sporting administrators through a competitive recruitment process. Olivia will commence with Tennis NSW on 11\u00a0May 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6323,"featured_media":27700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/nsw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}