ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the key roles of a sport board Chair, and the interconnectedness of these roles in the context of providing governance leadership. The role of the Chair in the governance function of nonprofit sport organisations has received relatively limited attention by sport management scholars. In the trend towards integrating strategy into board processes, there is a growing consensus that the Chair has a specific role and impact on the strategic functioning of the board. In Australia, Belgium, Canada, the UK and some European nations, nonprofit national sport organisations are often organised under a federal model of governance, where decision-making and the power structure is generally divided between a national governing body and state or regional associations. A small but growing number of scholars have focused their attention on what has become known as the leadership skills and behaviours and understanding of where leadership emerges in the interactions and constructions of people in groups or organisations.
