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New NJ boss ready to move the sport forward
July 07, 2025
The former director of marketing and sponsorship at Netball Jamaica (NJ), Karen Rosen Baugh, was officially ushered in as the new president of the association, following their annual general meeting at The Summit Hotel on Saturday.
Simone Forbes also defeated Keyan Shawn Murdock in the run-off for the first vice-president position, to complete the executive, which also includes Dwayne Gutzmer as second vice-president and Elaine Walters as treasurer.
Six directors - Tashike Salmon, Derrick Brown, Karen Whinstanley, Karlene Waugh, Suzette Townsend and Denese Palmer - were also voted in to complete the board.
Rosen Baugh said her new board had some open discussions following the election.
She said the members expressed concerns regarding umpiring, improving parish associations and producing timely audits.
"They had some concerns, especially about umpiring. We have acknowledged too that umpiring needs some attention in terms of training and certification of new umpires. Also we definitely are focused on getting our financials in order. We have a new treasurer and the good thing is that we have the old treasurer on the board as a director and that transition should be seamless," Rosen Baugh said.
She said they will be moving to organise the secretariat in order to ensure that local clubs and leagues get more support, and that all is in place for the national under-21 team to be fully prepared for the Youth World Cup in September.
"Those are the main things we are going to start working on. We have the Youth World Cup coming up in September and right now we have the under-21 team in training, and all the arrangements that need to be made for them to be organised and ready to go off in September. So there is some work that needs to be done before that comes around."
Nevertheless, she was pleased to see the turnout of members on Saturday, and believes she has a sound team to move the sport forward.
"The members came out because there was a lot of interest. I think because there were so many candidates for director positions, and the competition for first VP I guess drew people out. Most of the directors are new and we have a mix of people with different skill sets," she said.
