ELECTED BOARD DIRECTORS

Leanne Kelly

Chair

Leanne is a Consultant with Kelly & McHale Family Lawyers, practising in Family Law. She has been a lawyer for over 35 years, an Accredited Specialist and has practised in a variety of roles including as a partner at a large firm, a Registrar of the Family Court of Australia and, most recently, in a boutique firm she established some 15 years ago.

Leanne has been involved in water polo since high school and has played and coached both in Perth and in Melbourne, where she lived for more than 25 years before returning to Perth in 2017. She has coached at club and state level and has coached the Australian Country Team. She is currently involved in water polo as a masters player and coach, attending FINA Masters Tournaments, most recently in Budapest 2017 and South Korea 2019.

Stuart Dart

Deputy Chair

Stuart was elected as a Director in September 2018.  He has been involved in water polo for over 35 years as a player, manager, coach and committee member. Stuart played representative water polo for the ACT at Under 20 Level and for the combined Australian Defence Force side at Australian Country Championships.

After completing his service in the Navy, Stuart’s professional career has largely been in the sport and event industry both in community and professional sporting environments.  This includes roles at Rugby WA, the West Australian Football Commission, Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust and the WA Department of Sport & Recreation.  Stuart’s experience includes the successful bid for the Western Force and the Perth Stadium project.

Stuart holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales and a Graduate Diploma of Business (Sports Management) from Edith Cowan University.

Michael Sturgeon

Director

Michael began playing water polo at 12 years of age, playing in the river at Crawley, Nedlands and Claremont Baths. He has seen the evolution of water polo from the river times to Betty Park, and now the significant development of purpose-built swimming-pools.

The involvement of Michael’s late father, Frank Sturgeon, who was a committeeman of the Water Polo Association, State Manager and the recipient of the Beaurepair Trophy further enhanced his association with Water Polo WA.

Michael began his dental practice in Rockingham which he has grown to now include four separate locations, with the staff of approximately fifty people. During his time in private practice, Michael has also been a councillor on the Committee of the WA Branch of the WA Dental Association and a clinical tutor at the school of the UWA.

Michael spent 18 years with the Royal Australian Navy (Reserves) as an Officer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

As a father of five daughters, Michael has been involved in junior water polo coaching and refereeing and recently he has been involved in refereeing in the Senior competition. Furthermore, he has also briefly been on the board of the referee committee.

John Hedges

Director

John Hedges joined the Board in July 2017 and was again elected for a two-year term at the 2017 AGM.

John practices law from the Francis Burt chambers and specializes in Family law. He is an accredited mediator and has previously been a Councillor with the City of Fremantle.

John has a son and daughter involved in the sport playing at a National level.

Paul Lilleyman

Director

Paul has been engaged within water polo as a player and official since he escaped from swimming in the late ’80s for a decade till having a break to raise a family, returning to the sport in 2006 with his wife and 4 children experiencing water polo at all levels the sport can offer. This not only involved playing but coaching, managing and serving on the committee of city beach/UWA in the roles of vice president and senior men’s delegate on the last 8 seasons. In the last 2 seasons, he has also been a member of the water polo WA competition advisory committee. He also volunteers for the UWA Torpedo’s AWL teams home matches and has had the experience of Playing in masters world championships tournaments in Budapest and recently Gwangju, South Korea.

Paul professionally has been in the ICT industry for over 30 years, but in the last 12 years focused on building engagement strategies across government and commercial organisations in WA while working with Telstra/Kaz, Hewlett Packard and recently his own consulting business Outerbox43. The main focus is on business development and understanding transformation strategies, ICT maturity and organisational risk levels leading to innovative road maps and solutions. This also includes proving risk assessment services for senior leadership and Board consumption. Paul has a Bachelor of Applied Science (information science) from Edith Cowan University.

Anthony Rowbottam

Director

Anthony brings to the Board 35 years’ experience in establishing and managing multi-skilled teams to develop long term community projects, generally in partnership with Governments, and funded by third parties. These projects are heavily reliant on community development, engagement and infrastructure deliverables. Anthony’s current position as General Manager Development for Lendlease is to lead the business in WA. He heads up strategy and delivery, political engagement and EHS and leads a team of 60.

Donna Barwood

Director

Donna is a member-elected Director with experience playing water polo at various levels. She now plays as a social player for Phantoms Water Polo Club but played for City Beach in her youth. Donna has been involved in WA Water Polo as manager of state schoolgirls’ teams and as a club coach. She has a son who plays with UWA.

Dr Barwood is an Australian Award-winning lecturer for Health and Physical Education (HPE) at Edith Cowan University, completing her doctorate in 2015. She has extensive experience as an educator: primary; secondary and tertiary education and is internationally recognised as a conference presenter. In 2018 Donna was recognised for her contributions to Australian teachers of HPE with the national award of ACHPER Fellow. She is the writer of the Australian Curriculum for HPE and has held many positions on Boards and Committees.

She is the immediate past President of the Health and Physical Education teachers’ association in Western Australia, where her strength in governance, strategic planning and leadership were at the fore, improving the reach, significance and financial position of the organisation. Donna brings experience, networks and executive skills to the Board.