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Bain & Company advisory partner Chris Harrop has been appointed to succeed Jayne Hrdlicka, the first female chair of Tennis Australia, when her term finishes at the end of this year.
Harrop, a lifelong tennis fan and social player, has been unanimously selected by the Tennis Australia board as the peak sporting body’s new chair and will assume the role after the annual general meeting.
Hrdlicka, the former Virgin Australia CEO who was recently chosen to lead hotels operator Endeavour Group (ASX: EDV), was appointed chair at Tennis Australia in 2017 after initially joining the board a year earlier.
Since then, Tennis Australia says she has overseen the expansion and success of the Australian Open, strong growth in participation numbers, Australian success on the court in Grand Slams, the Olympics and Paralympics, the introduction of the United Cup and the "establishment of a strategic direction that positions Australian tennis as a global leader on multiple fronts".
Harrop, an advisory partner for global strategy consulting firm Bain & Company, has more than three decades of experience in business in Australia, the US and UK. He is also co-founder and angel investor at venture capital group FB10x.
Harrop joined the Tennis Australia Board in December 2023.
Accompanying today’s announcement, Tennis Australia has also appointed hospitality and property entrepreneur Dan Bisa as deputy chair with the two new leadership positions described by the board as setting the sport up “well for the future”.
Bisa, who has spent five years on the board of Tennis Australia, had previously served as the president of Tennis ACT from 2015 to 2019 and had been a non-executive director since 2012.
Like Harrop, Bisa will also take on the new role after the Tennis Australia AGM. In the meantime, Hrdlicka will continue as Tennis Australia chair with no change to her responsibilities in representing the sport domestically and internationally.
Tennis Australia says Hrdlicka will support Harrop as he takes on the role “for as long as necessary given the mix of issues under way internationally”.
The Tennis Australia board currently comprises Jayne Hrdlicka, Chris Harrop, Dan Bisa, Graham Bradley, Mark Da Silva, Robyn Hendry, Elizabeth Minogue, Peter Robertson and Kylie Watson-Wheeler.
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