Olympian Katya Crema joins Snow Australia Board of Directors as Athletes’ Representative

Snow Australia is delighted to announce the appointment of Katya Crema to its Board of Directors. Katya will serve as the new Athletes’ Representative and will join the Board at its next meeting.

Crema follows in the steps of previous Athletes’ Representative Manuela Berchtold, who stepped down from her position in 2021.

“We are pleased to welcome Katya Crema to the Snow Australia Board,” said Snow Australia President, Dean Gosper. “The role of Athletes’ Representative is a highly valued position and provides an important conduit to, and reflection of, the current athletes and the issues that are important to them.

“The diversity of our sport, across 12 different event pathways, makes the role even more critical in focusing on the common themes we see emerging.

“Katya is extremely well placed to fulfil this role and the broader responsibilities of a Board member in general,” he said. “In addition to her experience as an elite athlete, Katya also has deep inside knowledge of our organisation, having previously spent time on Snow Australia Alpine Committee, and adds tremendous value to our Board in terms of industry background and capability.”

Crema spent over ten years on the Australian National Ski Team, representing Australia in Ski Cross at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and at three FIS World Championships.

She also successfully juggled sport and academics throughout her skiing career, studying a Bachelor of Environments and majoring in Architecture at the University of Melbourne.

Since retiring from international competition in 2014 to pursue her professional career, Crema has worked across architecture, property development and the construction industry. She holds a Master of Property from the University of Melbourne, has spent time in PwC’s Real Estate and Advisory Group. She has delivered acclaimed work across multi-residential projects, first with the Crema property and construction family business and currently as Director of Projects and Head of Sales at property developer and sustainability consulting practice Hip V. Hype.

Over the years, the Snow Australia Board has prioritised building diversity and a broad set of skills among its directors, as a crucial component of corporate governance. In this respect, Crema’s background will be a major asset, particularly at a time when Snow Australia is delivering the most significant sport performance and legacy project in recent times with the National Snowsport Training Centre in Jindabyne, NSW.

The position of Athletes Representative can either be filled by way of Athlete nomination or by Board appointment. In view of the challenges of the past two years, the Board has chosen to make this appointment. One of Katya Crema’s early tasks will be to oversee the activation of an athlete nomination and election process, should that be the wish of our Athlete Members.