AWCI Conference25

Justin Nelson is the Head of Fandom and Commercial at Sky TV NZ. For the fast-talking Melburnian, every conversation is a sales pitch; an opportunity to convert a new disciple to his "revenue, fans, brand" doctrine.

The product of a "busted home", Nelson left school and moved out of home at 14 to train as a baker. "I don't think you can get away with leaving school in year nine these days and go flatting as a 14 year-old. But that's what I did. The 80s, man it was a different world back then," he says, by way of explanation.

It was a mate that got him a foot in the door in sport. He was asked to join his friend in the radio commentary box as the "colour man" on a local AFL game one Saturday. Soon, at age 20, he was a regular fixture, commentating on more than 600 games of AFL and more than 300 national football league games before branching out into sports administration, first with a V8 Supercars team and then as general manager of the Melbourne Boomers women's basketball league franchise.

To Nelson, the key to the rapid growth is simple: an unapologetically single-minded focus on entertainment. " I travelled to the United States three times a year. That was to learn from the best. I visited some of the biggest teams over there, the biggest leagues, because the Americans are the best when it comes to revenue, fans and brand and that's the model I've taken forward with me since." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/532700/the-big-bold-promise-of-the-tauihi-women-s-basketball-league-and-the-man-behind-it

MC for Gala Dinner : Ric Salizo

Riccardo Michele Salizzo ONZM is a New Zealand journalist, television presenter and producer. He is best known for producing and presenting long-running sports chat show Sportscafe, as well as executive producing and occasionally presenting sports current events show The Crowd Goes Wild. 

Ric began his career as a newsreader at radio station Whakatane's Radio 1XX. This was followed by a number of other news reading positions at private radio stations, before moving to London to work at a radio news agency there. In 1986, Salizzo returned to New Zealand to fill a vacancy at TVNZ One News sports reporting team. By 1988 he presented the national sports news for the first time. In 1996, Salizzo launched Sportscafe through new production company Leftfield. In 2006, Salizzo developed a sports news show entitled The Crowd Goes Wild. The show has been successful and continues to run on weeknights with Salizzo as executive producer and occasional presenter.

Eric Murray is a two-time Olympic champion, having won gold in the coxless pair with Hamish Bond at London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. 

The pair teamed up in 2009 and became one of the most successful combinations in rowing history. Murray and Bond were unbeaten internationally from 2009 until they parted ways in 2016, winning 69 consecutive races. They also set the world record time in the event (6min 08.50s) at the 2012 Olympics.

Murray, the older and bigger (1.96m or 6ft 5in) of the pair, was born in Hastings in 1982, but grew up in the Bombay Hills, south of Auckland, attending Pukekohe High School. He initially favoured rugby and only took up rowing as part of his rugby training. 

In 2013 Murray was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In 2023 he was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

In 2018 the International Rowing Federation awarded Murray and Bond the Thomas Keller Medal for their outstanding international rowing careers, the sport's highest honour. It is awarded within five years of an athlete's retirement, and acknowledges an exceptional rowing career and exemplary sportsmanship. 

Murray and Bond won the Halberg Supreme Award in 2012 and 2014 and three times won the Team of the Year section at the awards. They were also voted Halberg Champion of the Decade and, not surprisingly, Team of the Decade. They won the NZOC’s Lonsdale Cup in 2014.