Michael Kennedy, CEO Snow Australia

Nic Watkins & Chris Mihalatos, Australian Sports Professional Association
Michael Kennedy, Snow Australia

Bonus content

It quickly became apparent while we were creating the Playbook that each of these interviews offered such an incredible amount of valuable content that we wanted to share with ASPA members. Because of this, we have created an additional excerpt for each CEO. These philosophies, statements and stories were pulled directly from the interview. Where possible we have ensured the bonus content offers something different to the philosophies and advice details in the Playbook.

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Interview

Michael (affectionately known by those in the Snow Industry as 'Kenno'), is one of Australia’s longest serving CEOs of a National Sport, having been with the organisation since the early days of ‘professionalising and unifying what was a very fragmented sport’. 
 

Thanks for having us. How long have you been with Snow Australia?

I think I'm now one of the longest serving CEOs in the sport industry and it's been a journey that really has been a lifetime journey in snow. We're coming up on 18 years now.  

I'm a person that's been fortunate enough to have followed a passion in a sport and an industry that I've been passionate about since a very young age.
 

What gave you that passion?

As a young athlete I competed up to the highest level, up to the world cup level in the sport of mogul skiing. But then I pretty much worked out at the age of about 19 that continuing on to be an athlete - that wasn't really something that I was going to be overly successful in. 

At that point I was really hoping to find a way, and looking to find a way to stay involved in the industry, in the sport that I was so passionate about.

You've really seen the evolution of that industry over two decades then, and the rise of Australia's snow athletes.

Oh, absolutely. I was working in high performance with Olympic teams through the Salt Lake City Olympics, working with Alisa Camplin in the historic first ever snow gold medal for Australia.

It was really an incredible experience to be part of - and then moving into a CEO role following high performance continued to open my eyes to the potential for the industry. It really has been amazing. 

What's been the biggest change for Snow Australia in that time?

Well at the most basic level we've had a few name changes over that journey! We started out as Skiing Australia, then Ski and Snowboard Australia, and over the last 12 months we rebranded ourselves to be Snow Australia.

It's a much more unifying name for the organisation in today's environment.

Yeah, it's a really great culmination of a complete unification of the sport.  We've come such a long way from two staff, very little turnover and some real financial difficulties where we had to be very focused and very strategic on a few small things in order to organically grow into the organisation we are today.

One of the traps early on was that previously the organisation had tried to be too many things to too many people.
 

Is that part of the snow culture? You've got a lot of disciplines, experience, and corporatisation of the venues that you have to thread together.

Definitely. We've got a lot of different disciplines and sports, and we are very broad. And so, what you're trying to do is sell a vision that, by going down a certain pathway it's going to have benefit for everyone.

But I think, you know, the one thing that we have been over that entire journey is authentic. It's about being honest and having empathy for the community and all those people involved who are so invested financially and emotionally. I think it's about having an understanding, and trying to articulate in a logical and transparent way what you're trying to do.

How does the interplay work then with commercial operators? With the limited number of for-profit ski resorts in Australia, you don't have a choice to compete elsewhere.

It's a great question. Other sports have a similar environment they operate in – but not too many - take Tenpin Bowling or Golf or other sports that rely on private facilities and have to weigh up the sport with general participation or their own members and guests. 

I think we're respectful of the fact that these resorts are commercial operations. They're in the business of making money and trying to give their customers the best possible experience. And we're respectful that the sport at times has to understand that we won't always get everything that we want on the mountain because (A) it's expensive and (B) it can take up a fair amount of space.

We're really grateful for the support they give us because we can't do our sport without them.

From a lifetime in snow, how do you know what the next challenge is, and when that might arise?

You know, I think it's funny - I've been in the role a long time and I've often reflected on the amount of time to stay in a role like this.

I often put that question back to the board, and I look at where we've evolved to as organisation and where we want to get to. Am I still being effective in taking us on that journey? Are we still working toward that goal and am I still personally motivated to help us get there?

And I think so. The answer is yes to all of those right now. Putting a time limit on the role doesn't really seem to make too much sense.

However, having said that, I think when the time comes that those questions stop being answered as 'yes', then I'll embrace the next opportunity like everything else. You have to back your ability and instinct to make the right choices.

What's next for Snow Australia within the next couple of years?

I think we are really on a great direction. I think one of my big focuses now is on creating more opportunity for athletes. It's about trying to better prepare our clubs and the pathway to support high performance. Beyond that, I think, in my own motivation, it's about really trying to cement the legacy, I suppose, of the work that we've done.

Well you should be proud of that work over 18 years. That's a whopper of task to get done. 

(Laughs) It has been a journey, I'll say that. I think in some ways there are things we could do better. Connecting with our past athletes, and engaging them in the sport. Working with the New South Wales Government around a national training centre in Jindabyne fit for the future.  And really building that competitive advantage as a country competing internationally.

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