GREATER Western Sydney has appointed Alison Zell as its head of AFLW and football operations.
Zell – a long-term employee of the club, having worked for the Giants for 11 years – has most recently held the position of executive general manager of media, content and corporate affairs.
She will replace Briana Harvey, who has recently departed the club to take up a role with Football Australia as general manager of the women's national teams.
"Alison is the ideal candidate for this role and she knows our club better than anyone else," GWS CEO David Matthews said.
"We went through a thorough recruitment process with both external and internal candidates and Alison proved herself as the best choice for this key role at our club.
"She's a Giants person who's built strong relationships across our AFL and AFLW programs and I expect her to continue the evolution of our high-performance environments to be as connected and integrated as any across the competition.
"Alison's appointment also speaks to the strong culture we've built at the Giants. As a Sydney born-and-raised female who's loved our game all her life, we are delighted to be able to provide opportunities and pathways like this for the next generation of leaders of the AFL.
"Alison has played a pivotal role in building the Giants' industry-leading communications and social media team and I'm confident she'll help elevate both our men's and women's programs in this next phase."
Zell will work across both roles while GWS' men's team remains alive in the finals.
"This is an exciting opportunity that I'm really looking forward to taking on," Zell said.
"I've been fortunate to work closely with the wonderful leaders we have across the football department in recent years and I'm confident there are great things ahead for both our AFL and AFLW programs.
"With our AFL team embarking on another finals series and our AFLW team hungry for success in season nine, I look forward to continuing to play a role in helping the Giants grow both on and off the field."
