Hugh Whan - Snow Australia Life Member

Long-time administrator Hugh Whan has been awarded Life Membership of Snow Australia at the 2023 Annual General Meeting.

His elevation to Life Membership comes as he steps down from the Board of Snow Australia following a quarter of a century of service. At the AGM, outgoing Chair of Snow Australia Dean Gosper led a glowing tribute to Hugh to his fellow board member of 25 years.

In 1998, SAL found itself in considerable financial difficulty and approached Hugh to take on the role of Chair.

History shows that Hugh accepted the challenge, using his extensive experience in human resources to assemble a talented board dedicated to saving, stabilising and reinvigorating the National Body.

“Dean [Gosper] and I joined the Board at the same time,” said Whan. “I was President, he was my vice president, and we brought in a skills-based board. 

“Every year from that time on, the organisation - with the help of the teams we built around us - has grown. And it’s grown every year consistently for all of that time.”

A more focused strategy around performance led to an immediate turnaround in the organisation’s finances, with SAL turning a profit in Hugh’s first full year at the helm. Contributing to the change in financial fortunes was the all-important decision to concentrate efforts only on competitive sport and leave recreational skiing and snowboarding to the industry.

“When we took over I said ‘sorry, we can’t do anything for anyone at the moment until we’ve got to get ourselves in a positive situation, and then we can start putting money into programs’,” said Whan. “What we did do was say ‘our focus is on competitive sport, it’s not on recreation’.”

Hugh’s time as chair not only witnessed Zali Steggall and Jacqui Cooper become World Champions, but also saw Alisa Camplin win Australia’s first Winter Olympic gold medal on snow.

While athletes were doing their part on the snow, Hugh was establishing Australia within the wider international snow community. Not only did Australia commence hosting the FIS Aerials World Cup at Mt Buller, it also hosted a FIS Congress in Melbourne which is remembered fondly and successfully by all who attended.

Hugh was also responsible for recognising the full potential of Interschools, seeing it not only as an invaluable industry driver but also capable of contributing to the sport. This led to the establishment of the Schools Snowsport Development Foundation and eventually the current collaborative model between schools, resorts and sport.

Despite stepping down as Chair in 2003, Hugh has stayed on the Board for two more decades, the most successful period in Australia’s snowsport history. 

After being awarded Life Membership, Hugh reflected on the culture that is being created within Australian snowsport, a culture he has helped to nurture during his time on the Board.

“We’re building a DNA in sport,” he said. We’ve built it in aerials to start with. We’re building it in moguls - it just gets bigger and bigger.

“That’s great recognition. It’s enough recognition for me.

“It’s been a great time. It’s been a great ride.”