For the first time since its inception in 1983, the North Queensland Sports Foundation has elected a woman as Chair, at its Annual General Meeting on 8 October, at the Cowboys Leagues club in Townsville. Cairns Councillor Margaret Cochrane received a very positive reaction from Board members as she replaced long standing Chair Ross Contarino, who had decided not to seek re-election.
Ross Contarino has become synonymous with the growth of the North Queensland Sports Foundation since he was elected in 1996, and he was the first and only Chair to have overseen the organising of four Suncorp North Queensland Games, one in each of the four centres (Mackay 1998, Townsville 2000, Mount Isa 2002 and Cairns in 2004).
Margaret Cochrane is excited about her new role and relishes the many challenges that will no doubt arise. She was the industrious and instrumental Chair of the Local Organising Committee for this year’s Suncorp North Queensland Games in Cairns. “I am under no illusions about the huge role that has been bestowed on me, and I would like to congratulate Ross Contarino for a superb job and a very positive period for the Foundation, whilst under his control. I am really looking forward to further developing the many aspects that the North Queensland Sports Foundation has been striving for many years. I will ensure that the North Queensland Sports Foundation will never lose sight of our important role in developing sport in North Queensland.”
One of the first tasks for Margaret Cochrane was presenting a gift to Ross Contarino, as sincere thanks. One of the individual medals from each of the Games that Ross oversaw was framed.
Other changes in last weeks elections resulted in Sam Torrisi (Hinchinbrook) being elected as Deputy Chair, Murray Hurst (Thuringowa) as Secretary and Charlie Law (Whitsunday) as Treasurer. The Chairs of the sub committees resulted in Blue Stewart (Herberton) continuing as in Development, Joe Paronella (Atherton) in Marketing, Don Rolls (Mackay) in Finance and Tony Vaccaro (Burdekin) in Operations.
For further information: Phone Stuart Gibson (Manager) on the numbers above, or on mobile 0419 681 053. Margaret Cochrane can be contacted on 0419 706 372
