SPEAKING WITH MARNE FECHNER FOR THE FIRST time, she comes across as many things. Confident and approachable. Strategic and pragmatic. Driven and not easily perturbed. Over the course of our enlightening hour-long discussion, it also becomes clear the former CEO of Netball Australia is a refreshingly straight shooter. Which is probably just as well. For when Fechner began as the new boss of Australian cycling back in February 2021, she inherited a road as winding and gruelling as any Hors Catégorie col. Charged with uniting a fragmented sport still nursing the wounds of a protracted restructuring journey, there were major opportunities to be seized and significant challenges to be navigated.
BICYCLING AUSTRALIA: THANKS FOR SPEAKING WITH US, MARNE. WHEN YOU BECAME AUSCYCLING CEO, YOU HAD HAD TO BRING TOGETHER A HUGELY DISPARATE GROUP OF STATE-BASED BODIES AND DISCIPLINES. WHAT ARE YOUR REFLECTIONS SO FAR?
My first reflection is that I can’t believe it’s been almost three years. But I count myself as fortunate. When I came in, the hard governance work and reform had been done. That was a five-year journey of consultation and engagement. My role was actually to focus on what the new organisation was going to look like. That was one of the things that really interested me about the role. This is the largest governance reform in Australian sport and whilst governance mightn’t be sexy, in terms of how sporting organisations set themselves up for success it’s an extraordinary
