You have skipped the navigation, tab for page content

The Newcastle Knights have appointed Wendy Carmichael as its Chief Operating Officer (COO), a newly created role within the Club that will see her responsible for strengthening and enhancing the Club's operational frameworks.

Carmichael has been with the Newcastle Knights for the past three years in the role of General Manager of Community and Charity Support.

Knights CEO Matt Gidley believes Carmichael's experience and established relationships within the Club and community will be an enormous benefit to the Club. 

“We did a review of the entire commercial team and it’s been evident for a long time that Wendy is extremely highly regarded and respected among our team,” Gidley said.

“She’s done an amazing job over the last couple of years in the Community and Charity Department, and particularly this year in working with Alex McKinnon and setting up the Rise for Alex Fund. 

“In previous roles Wendy was working in similar executive positions. She’s experienced, highly capable and has a great relationship with people within our team already. 

“There’s a lot of opportunities and there’s a number of initiatives we are hoping to roll out over the coming months and Wendy will certainly be an integral part of that team.” 

Carmichael looks forward to the challenge of her new role with the Knights.

“I’m thrilled, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working with the Knights, it's a great Club and I'm excited to be taking on more responsibility,” Carmichael said. 

“This new role will hopefully motivate and enable staff to deliver measurable, cost-effective results which support achievement of the Club's overall goals."

Carmichael explained the Chief Operating position looks at how the Club manages its business and includes everything from the Club's governance structure to commercial operations to engaging with staff day-to-day to make sure everyone has the resourcing and support they need to come to work and do the best they can. 

Prior to working in sport, Carmichael worked in a number of organisations and held roles that included head of administration, business manager, COO and CEO. 

After completing a joint Honours degree in Economics and Business Law at University in Glasgow, Wendy moved from Scotland to Newcastle to re-join her family who had migrated four years earlier.

She first took up a role in a joint Australian and British funded scientific research facility as a head of administration before joining the ANZ Breast Cancer trials Group. After 14 years with this organisation, she left as COO where she managed 60 full-time employees.

She was then approached by the Hunter Sports Group to over see the group's community and charity support activities.

Carmichael will now draw on her previous experiences assessing business processes and looking at operating structures, ensuring they match the strategic vision of an organisation. 

“With a new board about to be appointed for the club, we need to ensure we have the operational structure to deliver success and enable the Club to flourish,” she said.

“I think this is a unique club, with a lot of heart, a lot of history and incredible community support.

"We want to build on all of this and live up to the expectations of our supporters and what they need.

“We want to be the best we can be week in week out and that’s not just about playing football that’s about the a Club as a whole.

“We have great depth in our staff and huge potential and all I really want to do, in terms of this new role, is just to enable us to reach that potential.

“We’ve had a lot of change over the last few years and think now it’s about steadying the ship, determining our future and building sustainability."