VOLLEYBALL AUSTRALIA PRESIDENT CHRIS SCHACHT ELECTED TO FIVB BOARD
Mr Schacht, 64, the former Federal Minister and Labor Party Senator in South Australia, has been President of Volleyball Australia since 1997 and a member of the AVF Board since 1996.
He is a member of the FIVB Legal Commission, an Executive Board Member of the AVC and President of the Oceania Volleyball Zone of the AVC and has also represented Australia at the 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 and 2010 FIVB World Congress.
Mr Schacht is one of the seven AVC members elected to the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Board of Administration for the next four years.
This is the first time that Australia and in fact Oceania has had a person elected to the FIVB Board of Administration since its formation in 1947.
Volleyball Australia CEO Joan Perry said today: "Chris' election is recognition of the hard work of many people in Australia and Oceania to develop volleyball in these areas over a number of years.
"Since becoming President of Volleyball Australia in 1997 and more recently Oceania Zonal Volleyball Association President, Chris has always argued for greater democracy, transparency and accountability in the management of volleyball around the world.
"This will be a central focus for Chris as will the promotion and development of volleyball in underdeveloped countries of the world.
"Many people from across Asia who supported Chris' nomination did so because they believe in development and also support change and reform in the way this great sport is run."
By affiliation, Volleyball is the largest international sport in the world with 221 countries affiliated to the FIVB, with nearly 150 of those 221 deemed to be underdeveloped countries.
Chris is a former Australian politician and member of the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), who was born in Melbourne and educated at the University of Adelaide and Wattle Park Teachers College.
His political career started as a State party official in 1969 during the Don Dunstan era. In 1987, he entered Federal Parliament as a Labor Party Senator for South Australia.
He was Minister for Science and Small Business and Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Science in the Keating Labor Government from March 1993 to March 1994 and then Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction until Labor's defeat at the 1996 election.
Chris left the parliament in June 2002 after 15 years as a Senator and 33 years in Australian politics and is a current Director of Marathon Resources, a mining exploration company which h has been given renewed mining exploration rights to the Arkaroola wilderness sanctuary in South Australia.
His appointment to the FIVB Board of Administration becomes effective in 2012 with the first meeting to take place next September/October after the FIVB World Congress meeting in Anaheim, California.