Highly respected sports administrator, Simon Peterson, has been appointed as the new CEO for Cycling New Zealand.

Peterson spent 12 years at the helm of Rowing New Zealand before heading up a new Kiwi business, Rako Science, over the past two years. He has previously been Chair of Paralympics NZ and CEO of Sport Auckland.

Cycling New Zealand Board chair, Phil Holden said the organisation is delighted to have attracted someone of Peterson’s palmarés.

“Simon is a proven CEO of a high profile and successful high-performance sport. As we continue to work through our important transformation work, Simon will bring experience combined with strong and stable leadership to assist CNZ in the next phase of its evolution.

“He had overseen Rowing New Zealand through a period of unparalleled success and will provide real confidence in the High Performance area, and this along with his commercial and philanthropic acumen will bring considerable confidence to our key stakeholders.”

The organisation is currently rebuilding under the direction of the Transformation Committee including Cycling New Zealand, High Performance Sport NZ, and athletes, headed by former NZOC CEO Kereyn Smith and the chairman Hon Kit Toogood.

Peterson said he was excited at the challenge ahead.

“While I have enjoyed the challenge in the commercial world, I remain passionate about sport and in my role at Rowing New Zealand, I had a close association with Cycling New Zealand, the Grassroots Trust Velodrome and local stakeholders in Cambridge,” said Peterson.

“The Transformation Committee are well on the way to building a new framework for Cycling New Zealand which is encouraging, while the post-COVID world brings massive financial challenges to high performance sport, especially those sports which must travel to Europe regularly for Olympic qualification.

“I am fully aware that many people, not a single person, make a sporting organisation successful. I am impressed with the quality of the people I have met and I respect the positive investment of time and energy by the board, the staff, the coaches, the support staff and the athletes to evolve the organisation to where it is today and where we can collectively take it in the future.”

He will take up his duties in early 2023.