Scotland Hockey appoint Robert Heatly as the new Chief Executive Officer: Hockey News
Scotland Hockey has announced to appoint Robert Heatly MBE as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and will take up the office from Monday, June 13 onwards.
The 52-year old has replaced the Australian native, Brent Deans, who has now returned home after serving the hockey body for 16 long years. Before being appointed as the CEO, Brent had previously served the sports body as a Performance Manager and
Director of Hockey.
Heatly was previously serving as a senior Marines Officer in the capacity of Lieutenant Colonel, with a commanding role and control of various sorts of matters concerning military, civil and international relations.
He joined the Royal Marines (Royal Navy) in 1981 and made it to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by serving the department for thirty years. During his career, he enjoyed many major authorities and managed to prove himself on these positions, including
Head of Royal Navy Recruiting for Scotland as well as Northern Ireland.
Over the fine occasion of his appointment, Heatly commented, “I am delighted to have been given this fantastic opportunity by Scottish Hockey, having had a varied, demanding and interesting career in the Royal Marines, I was determined to become involved
in sports management."
He further stated, "While on the surface this may seem a huge change of career direction from the military, there are actually considerable overlaps with the sports industry. I have worked with teams of committed individuals striving to overcome challenges
in an environment where teamwork is essential. Many of the qualities required to serve in the military are similar to those faced by committed sportsmen and women."
Some other lifetime achievements of his career include getting an operational MBE in 1993 as well as being honoured with the title ‘Sword of Honour” on being the best officer during the entire military training.
Moreover, due to the changing nature of his career, he travelled a total of 50 counties worldwide that included the time that he spent while living in America and South Africa.
The Scottish national was born and brought up in Edinburgh, where he attended the George Watson’s College. His father has a strong sport background, namely, Sir Peter Heatly, who won the Commonwealth Games medal thrice for his country and is the Vice
President of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Moreover, Peter was a former Chairman of the Scottish Sports Council (SSC).
Heatly was also interested in sporting activities during college, especially in swimming and water polo.
Heatly came back to Scotland in the year 2006 and has three sons, out of which the 14-year-old James is the Scottish senior champion in three diving events.
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