Dr Catriona McBean
I have worked and volunteered in sport and active recreation for over 35 years. My roles in sport include leading Swimming NZ, Sport & Exercise Science NZ, and Orienteering NZ. In active recreation I have worked for Water Safety NZ and held volunteer roles in outdoor multisport events, including the Tararua Mountain Race.
My PhD in disability sport is from the University of Waikato. My thesis “I forget I have a disability” looks at how an anti-ableist sport system can be established in New Zealand.
In 2023, I won the bid to host the World Wheelchair Rugby Paralympic Qualification Tournament 2024. The tournament was hosted at the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Wellington, where 8 teams competed for the last 3 places for the Paris Paralympic Games. In a world first, I transformed an indoor artificial sports turf into and world class indoor wheelchair rugby competition venue.
For 11 years I had the privilege of being a Board member of Paralympics New Zealand including chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee and Governance Committee.
I am deputy Chair and Trustee of the NZ Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Trust (Paraloan) and have recently been appointed to the Ministry of Health’s Health and Disability Ethics Committee.
I am a trained educator for the Agitos Foundation, supporting Oceania nations developing Para sport capability. I worked with Kiribati to achieve membership of the International Paralympic Committee and advises the Oceania Paralympic Committee and recently in Nepal providing governance training to the Nepal Paralympic Committee board and member organisations.
Internationally, I have held a number of volunteer roles at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic Games and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
We are in the team 