UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl has announced her intention to stand to become the new president of the International Netball Federation.
Nicholl is being nominated for the position by England Netball and is currently the only contender to succeed Molly Rhone, whose term as the current INF president is due to end at the conclusion of this year’s Netball World Cup, which is being held in the English city of Liverpool from July 12-21.
In November, Nicholl announced her plans to step down after nine years as UK Sport chief executive during the summer of 2019 and in total has spent two decades at the government agency.
A former international netball player, Nicholl held the position of chief executive at England Netball for 16 years before joining UK Sport and during that time was also the championship director for the 1995 Netball World Cup.
Nicholl said: “As I step down from my role with UK Sport this summer, I feel drawn back to the sport that helped me become who I am today. I feel a responsibility to ‘give back’ to give others the opportunity to develop as I did through netball and I know that I now have a broader experience and perspective to share.
“I have huge respect for the progress of INF under Molly Rhone’s leadership. If I were to be elected as INF president in July, I would want to build on Molly’s tremendous legacy to take the sport to its next level in terms of its leadership, impact and relevance to a wider audience while increasing its resources and partnerships to drive its growth and potential.
“During the next two months I will be contacting and listening to a cross section of representatives from the sport to better understand what they need from their president and their International Federation. The INF’s current strategy runs to 2020 and so there is a perfect opportunity to work together to build on the tremendous success of the sport to date.”
Joanna Adams, chief executive of England Netball, added: “Molly has done outstanding work during her term as president of the INF, we will be sad to see her go but trust that Liz would do a fantastic job in continuing to grow the sport on an international stage.”
The INF Congress will elect the federation’s new president when it meets in Liverpool on July 10.
