Netball New Zealand boss Jennah Wootten’s vision to win back the trust of the sport’s stakeholders

Saturday, 23 May 2026

New chief executive Jennah Wootten at Netball New Zealand headquarters in Auckland on Thursday.

Netball New Zealand’s new boss has vowed to get around the country and meet with stakeholders to regain the trust of a netball community still hurting.

Jennah Wootten was unveiled as NNZ’s chief executive on Thursday, replacing Jennie Wyllie who resigned in December after a drama-filled 2025 for the organisation and sport. Wootten will start in the job on August 12 with interim chief executive Jane Patterson remaining in the role to mid-August to ensure a full handover.

Wootten, who has been chief executive of Aktive (an Auckland sport and recreation charitable trust) since 2021 carried an impressive resume in both governance and sport and recreation. In 2024, she was recognised with the Sport NZ CK Doig Leadership Award for outstanding leadership across New Zealand’s sport and recreation sector.

Wootten walks into a challenging situation with netball still reeling from a hellish 2025, dominated by the Dame Noeline Taurua coaching saga. Negative headlines were frequent for the sport last year with serious concerns raised about NNZ’s governance of the No.1 women’s code in the country.

That came to a head in December with a special general meeting called within the Waikato-Bay of Plenty zone over issues with NNZ’s governance and leadership.

New Netball New Zealand chief executive Jennah Wootten.

Wyllie resigned in December with NNZ board chair Matt Whineray then stepping down in February, along with board members Pavan Vyas, Stephen Cottrell, and Aliesha Staples.

Wootten was under no illusion about what she was stepping into and was well aware of the discontent from some in the netball community.

Regaining their respect with actions would be imperative, she said. Travelling around the country early on in the role and interacting with the sport’s stakeholders was a key focus. Wootten even planned to get along to the sidelines at grassroots matches and visit netball clubrooms.

“I’m very mindful of the fact trust is built through actions not through words and that’s why the first part for me when I start in the role will be ensuring I’m doing a lot of connecting and a lot of listening,” she said.

New Netball New Zealand chief executive Jennah Wootten and NNZ board chair Alastair Carruthers at Thursday’s announcement.

“I want to be connecting with staff, with athletes, with coaches, with our zones, with life members, with fans. I really want to make sure I deeply understand the perspectives of our netball community and take all of those perspectives and use them to help work out the right plan into the future.”

Wootten fell in love with netball from a young age. Her earliest memory was travelling with her nana to play at the Te Pai Park courts in Henderson in west Auckland. She started out as a goal defence for the Swanson School team.

While the Silver Ferns were New Zealand’s shop window netball team, Wootten stressed it was vital to never lose sight of the grassroots and where future internationals were created.

The Silver Ferns stand for the national anthem before last year’s Constellation Cup match against Australia in Hamilton.

Wootten’s predecessor Wyllie regularly lamented the battle to generate more sponsorship and revenue for netball and the difficulties going up against sports like rugby and cricket, who had wealthy international bodies. NNZ did not receive any funding from World Netball, instead paying a membership fee based on their participation numbers.

Having worked in the sports and recreation space herself, Wootten knew the difficulties all national sports organisations in New Zealand were facing. Being brave, thinking outside the box, and having a united approach would be crucial, she said.

“We will be tackling it together with our netball community, we’ll be tackling it together with our commercial and funding partners, and we’ve got to be really optimistic and bold about how we ensure we’re looking to the future because the sport has such an incredibly rich history and we want to ensure that continues for the next 102 years.”

High on Wootten’s long list of tasks will be the long-term viability of New Zealand’s domestic competition, the ANZ Premiership, and a future broadcast deal. Elite netballers in this country desperately needed clarity with continual question marks about the future of the competition each season.

The ANZ Premiership has returned to free-to-air TVNZ for this year on a substantially reduced deal. Players took 20% pay cuts this season after a major drop in broadcasting revenue.

Wootten had yet to speak to Silver Ferns coach Taurua, but would be sitting down with her in person once she started in the role in August.

Becoming NNZ chief executive carried plenty of expectation and responsibility, but Wootten was excited, rather than daunted about what lay ahead. She had talked to Silver Ferns, NNZ life members, and administrators around the country as part of her due diligence in applying for the position.

“I’ve never arrived into any organisation thinking I knew the answers, but I have absolute confidence we together with our netball community, together with our funding and commercial partners, we’re going to create an incredibly bright and strong future for netball in this country and I’m really energised about being a part of it.”