Craig Tiley
Chief Executive Officer, Tennis Australia
Craig Tiley was appointed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Tennis Australia in October 2013 and maintained his position as the Australian Open Tournament Director. Prior to this appointment, Craig was Tennis Australia’s Director of Tennis and the Tournament Director of the Australian Open, a position he has held since 2006.
As CEO Craig is responsible for all aspects of the sport of tennis in Australia. Craig manages a team of over 300 staff during the year, with a temporary staff of 4,500 during the Australian Open.
Throughout his tenure Craig has championed a regeneration of the sport in Australia. This is evidenced by the significant growth of the Australian Open, now regarded as one of the most innovative and successful global sporting events in the world, in addition to substantial innovations made to the sport at a grassroots level.
Born in South Africa to a sport-loving family, Craig played professional tennis for 3 years, before spending the next 18 years working in the United States. Previously, he earned worldwide recognition as a tennis coach, teacher and developer of talent.
Craig's extensive coaching experience ranges from captaining the South African Davis Cup Team, to developing collegiate champions and professional players. Craig led the fastest program turnaround in US collegiate history, breaking a 100 year-old record for most consecutive wins in the process. Results such as these twice earned him the US National Coach of the Year award, which was presented to him by the President of the United States during a White House Ceremony.
Craig was the 6th ever recipient of the Army's Meritorious Award after completing 2 years of military service. He holds academic degrees in kinesiology, economics and business, has produced 2 best-selling tennis videos and has served as a keynote speaker and leadership consultant for organisations throughout the world.
Craig has a passion for challenge and believes strongly in the need for innovation and ‘out of the box’ thinking. His humble, generous nature coupled with a fine intellect and fierce determination for improvements are reasons why he is one of our great leaders.
His achievements to date reflect an individual who upholds strong personal values, leads by example and brings his team along for a journey marked with success, advancement and great fun.