Adelaide Basketball Announces New Leadership Group

Adelaide Basketball has announced a new management team to lead the Adelaide 36ers and Adelaide Lightning into the future.

The club’s current Chief Financial Officer, Asa Cowell, has been elevated to Chief Executive Officer, and specifically tasked by Club Chairman, Grant Kelley, with mapping out a financially secure future for professional basketball in South Australia.  Cowell, whose prior role was as CFO for Kelley’s family investment group, Holdfast Assets, previously owned his own financial consulting firm.

In a move designed to provide for clear succession planning, the restructure will also see the club’s current General Manager of Operations and Basketball, Joe Tertzakian, promoted into the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Tertzakian is a much-admired figure in Australian basketball, having worked in the industry for almost 20 years. Big Joe, as he is affectionately known, spent 13 years as Team Operations Manager for both the Brisbane Bullets and the Gold Coast Blaze, before joining Basketball Queensland in operational management roles. Tertzakian then moved north to take the helm of Darwin Basketball Association as Chief Executive Officer, before making the move last year to Adelaide Basketball.

Current Adelaide Lightning Assistant Coach, Marcus Wong, will also join the management team as General Manager of Adelaide Lightning. Wong boasts over 17 years of experience in the accounting industry and will continue in his role as Director of the Bluestone Accountants and Business Advisors. He has a strong basketball background, having been assistant coach of Adelaide Lightning for four seasons, and Head Coach of the Sturt Sabres Women’s ABA team for seven years, leading the club to dual championships.

Adelaide Basketball Chairman Grant Kelley said, “The Board is delighted to announce the appointments of Asa, Joe and Marcus.  Together with the strong on-court programmes, which the club is building, evidenced by the strong start to the season by both the 36ers and Lightning, these personnel additions reflect our focus on building a market-leading off-court organization, which will be critical to the long-term success of both the 36ers and Lightning.”