The City of Greater Bendigo has appointed Andrew Cooney as Director Commonwealth Games to guide the organisation’s role in supporting the delivery of the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Mr Cooney was seconded into the role temporarily to ensure the City had a dedicated resource focused on early planning and to liaise with State Government officials, and was successful following a competitive, external recruitment process.
Mr Cooney is formally the Director Corporate Performance at the City.
City Chief Executive Officer Craig Niemann said he looked forward to Mr Cooney continuing in the role.
“Andrew is passionate about our community and has long, established relationships locally and at the State level through leading the City’s involvement in the development of Galkangu – Bendigo GovHub,” Mr Niemann said.
“He has been with the City for four years, so also has a great sense of how we can leverage Games opportunities to deliver on key actions from a range of adopted strategies and achieve the objectives outlined in our Let the Games Begin legacy document.
“Andrew will be able to draw on his skills in financial management, governance, advocacy and community engagement to ensure Greater Bendigo and the wider region share in the benefit of the Games coming to central Victoria.”
The Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held from March 17 – 29 and Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong, Gippsland and Shepparton have been announced as the joint host cities.
Mr Cooney said he was excited by this opportunity.
“Rarely do you get the opportunity to live and work in your community and help deliver an amazing, international event such as this,” he said.
“Bendigo and our region will be on the world’s stage and this really is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to help shape an enduring and positive legacy for our community from this experience.
“Our focus will be on ensuring we not only keep a city running but that Greater Bendigo and the region is in the best shape possible to welcome up to 200,000 people and support a smooth running of an event of this scale.
“I am honoured to be able to lead this important work for the City and community, and look forward to continuing to work with local leaders, sporting clubs and businesses to ensure these Games are the best Games ever.”
Mr Cooney will continue in the role and the City will shortly advertise for a new Director Corporate Performance.
