New Chief Cawood is a pioneer
Eighteen months after Strippergate the Chiefs now have a woman in charge of the boardroom, reports Phil Gifford.
THE story borders on feel good cliche´. A sports mad kid from Cambridge, who used to come into Hamilton with Mum and Dad early on rugby Saturdays to cheer at the Mooloo parades, grows up and becomes the chairwoman of the Chiefs board.
There’s one part you might not have expected, even in 2018. That nine-year-old Waikato rugby fan is now a 43-year-old woman, Tonia Cawood, and in becoming the new chair of the Chiefs she’s broken a glass ceiling as the first chairwoman in Super Rugby.
Welcoming her to the role, New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey goes further. ‘‘I believe she is the first woman chair of any professional rugby club in the world.’’
At first glance, given that Cawood only joined the board in November as an independent director, her rise seems meteoric.
But after leaving Hillcrest High School in Hamilton, then studying marketing at Otago University, her career path actually covers all the bases for the modern sports executive.
Cawood has seen at first hand the influence sports people can have. After working in sports marketing at TVNZ in Auckland, she moved to a position with Adidas in the late 1990s.
Part of her job was to work on promotions, here and overseas, with Jonah Lomu, and Lomu’s manager, Phil Kingsley-Jones, who says: ‘‘It was very obvious Tonia was destined for much bigger things than handing out gear to sponsored athletes. She was our go-to person at Adidas, and she was always positive.‘‘
Cawood soon discovered that Lomu was probably bigger on the world stage than he was in New Zealand. In Tokyo they visited a secondary school where rugby was played. ‘‘There was absolute hysteria. Teenage boys screaming, others unable to even speak. It was a real social experiment, and I watched in awe.’’
A couple of years later, after managing water taxis during the America’s Cup in Auckland, she worked with former All Blacks Andy Dalton and AJ Whetton, in a company called Sports Brand, which sold rugby signage, and developed golf and extreme sport programmes for television. ‘‘Very switched on and accomplished woman,’’ says Whetton now.
A move back to the Waikato soon found her head hunted to work with the late Christopher Doig, helping to write a strategic plan for Rowing New Zealand.
She’s been involved with rowing ever since, and for 10 years managed the Ever-Swindell twins, Caroline and Georgina.
Three or four years ago there were approaches to join the Chiefs board. Cawood decided there wasn’t time to do the job justice. Last year was different.
‘‘I looked and thought, ‘One, I feel I have the capabilities, because I’ve got five or six years of governance in a number of organisations under my belt. Two, I’ve got the time, which is important. And thirdly, I was really motivated because the Chiefs have such a strong role and influence in our community, and they had experienced a real upheaval about 18 months before, which was widely publicised.’’
She’s talking about the scandal that erupted in August in 2016 when allegations of sexual misconduct were levelled at the Chiefs by a stripper hired for their unofficial end of season party at the Okoroire hot springs near Matamata.
‘‘As a fan, and a Waikato person, part of the wider region, I was very hurt by that. I thought, if there’s an opportunity for me to play my part in putting together my experience, and background in sports managing, sports marketing, governance, and strategy, this felt like the right time.’’
In November she was appointed an independent director. Becoming the chair took some serious consideration. Knowing she had the backing of board members was important. So was knowing that departing chairman, Dallas Fisher, would stay on the board as an independent director and shareholder, so his knowledge wouldn’t be lost.
Has there been long term damage from the stripper scandal? ‘‘We’ve got some rebuilding to do,’’ says Cawood. ‘‘There was a scar. It happened. They took ownership of the situation. I’m not interested in going back over the details. What I want to know is what do our fans think of us? What do the people who are not fans think of us, and why? What do we need to do?’’
She is unequivocal about, and supportive of, the values the Chiefs do hold. ‘‘Some have said, ‘Great, you’ve been appointed to go in there and help fix the culture.’ I immediately correct that. Because the Chiefs have one of the strongest cultures of any organisation I’ve ever walked into. It’s not just the players, it’s the entire performance team, the management team, the administration, they’re all immersed in the mana of the Chiefs.
‘‘I’m learning what that means. It’s about respect, and earning that respect through our actions. It’s not about placing an advertisement telling people about it. It’s about living and breathing it, day in day out.
‘‘We’re all human beings, and there are people who won’t do everything perfectly. But there’s a strong culture to ensure that everyone understands what the expectations are with behaviour.
‘‘More than that it’s doing what they’ve done for years, and that’s to be in the community, making a difference to them.
‘‘I love sport because it can inspire people, give people a social cohesion. The world can be so fragmented, and fractured, and sport can bring people together, to go somewhere with other people, to share experiences, putting the cares of the day aside.’’
The Chiefs have one of the strongest cultures of any organisation I've ever walked into’ TONIA CAWOOD