David Thompson (Senior Manager - National Strategic Projects)

Following a 30-year career in the rag trade, with 25 of those years with Bonds, David decided to chase a career in sport. David’s first role in sport was with Cricket NSW, a sport he played with distinction and loved, David held the position of General Manager State Cricket Department taking charge of the High-Performance department with Coaches, Support and Sports Medicine Staff reporting to him, this included contracting elite cricketers, male and female for the Blues and Breakers as well as the 2 Big Bash teams in years 2 and 3.

In 2015 David chose to move to Hockey NSW, a sport his son and family had fallen in love with, a chance to chase his dream of becoming a CEO of a state sporting organisation. This dream came true when in July 2016 he was appointed CEO of Hockey NSW, during this time David was awarded the Administrator of the Year Award in 2017 at the Sports NSW Annual Awards. David held this position until October 2021.

In November 2021, David joined Hockey Australia in a Strategic role working with CEO colleagues across hockey in Australia looking for strategic projects that created efficiencies for Australian Hockey. David has recently overseen the creation of the first Australian Hockey Strategic Vision to 2032 and Strategic Plan 2023-24.

David has now worked in the sport of Hockey for the past nearly 9 years and in Sport for 14 years.  David’s core capabilities of key stakeholder management, the development and implementation of commercial strategies combined with his team leadership skills have provided positive results to his career in sport.