John Francis Boultbee AM (born 9 March 1950) is a lawyer and leading Australian sport administrator particularly in relation to

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. In 1990, he was appointed a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for services to rowing as an administrator. He was appointed the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the National Sports Tribunal in March 2020.

Personal

He was born in

Orange, New South Wales Orange is a city in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney on a great circle at an altitude of . Orange had an estimated urban population of 40,493 Estimated resident population, 3 ...

on 9 March 1950. His parents are James Alan Boultbee OAM and Helen Laurine Boultbee. He came from a family interested in sport and he participated in athletics, diving and rowing growing up. At the age of 13 he became involved in rowing as a coxswain. This involvement was to lead to a long involvement in rowing. He attended Orange High School and

Shore School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Independent school, Independent Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary sc ...

. He completed at Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

and Master of Laws at

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. After completing his legal studies, he worked in private practice as a barrister until 1989.

Sports administration

Rowing

Between 1989 and 1995, he was Secretary General of the

International Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (former abbreviation FISA; french: Fédération internationale des sociétés d'aviron), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who ...

. He is currently a board member of the International Rowing Federation and

Rowing Australia Rowing Australia (RA) is the governing body for the sport of rowing in Australia. Established in 1925, it is the only organisation recognised by the Federation Internationale des Societies d’Aviron (FISA), the Australian Sports Commission (A ...

and Steward of the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

. Besides these current positions, he has had a long association with rowing in Australia as a cox, coach, national team manager and state councillor. His club association as a competitor (coxswain) and administrator (club secretary) was with the

Sydney University Boat Club Sydney University Boat Club is the rowing club in Sydney, Australia with the oldest charter having been formed in 1860 by the founders of the University of Sydney. It has had a boatshed presence in various locations on Sydney Harbour since 1886, ...

. In December 2017, he was awarded

FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign pow ...

's Distinguished Service to International Rowing.

Australian Institute of Sport

He was the fifth Director of the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

from 1995 to 2001, succeeding

Robert De Castella Francois Robert "Rob" de Castella (born 27 February 1957) is an Australian former world champion marathon runner. De Castella is widely known as "Deek" or "Deeks" to the Australian public, and "Tree" to his competitors due to his thick legs an ...

. While he was Director, he supervised the Olympic Athlete Program, which was largely responsible for Australia winning 58 medals and finishing 4th on the medal tally at the

Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...

. He was not reappointed to the position and was replaced by Michael Scott.

Football

In 2004, he was appointed by

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only esta ...

to establish a high performance unit. He was responsible for overseeing the national teams including the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

Olyroos The Australia national under-23 soccer team represents Australia in international under-23 soccer and at the Olympic Games. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which is currently a membe ...

and

Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) si ...

. During this period, the Socceroos qualified for World Cups in Germany, South Africa and Brazil. He left the position in 2013 due to his desire to stand for the presidency of rowing's international governing body FISA.

Volleyball

From November 2014 to March 2020, he was

Volleyball Australia The Volleyball Australia, formerly known as Australian Volleyball Federation, is the national governing body for volleyball in Australia. Founded in 1963, the AVF is responsible for maintaining national Volleyball competitions, alongside state le ...

's Director of High Performance which is responsible Australia's Volleyroos and Beach Volleyroos programs.

National Sports Tribunal

In March 2020, he was appointed the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of National Sports Tribunal.

International Organisations

Since 1996, he has been a judge of the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

. Since 2000, he has been a director of Australia for UNHCR Limited. In this role, he has been a strong advocate for the transformative sports programs UNHCR provides for young refugees, having observed these programs in refugee camps in Thailand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boultbee, John Australian Institute of Sport administrators Australian sports executives and administrators University of Sydney alumni Alumni of the University of London Members of the Order of Australia Sportsmen from New South Wales 1950 births Living people People from Orange, New South Wales Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta