Executive committee
Our current ExCo Members are:
Gary Cole, FCA President
Sarah West, FCA Vice President
Brad Crismale, CEO Matrium Technologies
Catherine Cannuli, TD at Southern Districts Football
Nick Rosamilia, Director PWC
Karen Grega, Managing Director, KM Grega & Associates
Jason Breton, Director of Operations Liverpool City Council
Aish Ravi, Senior Coach and Junior TD at Cobras FC
Ian Greener, Coach and Secondary Education Teacher
Mara Watts, Coach and Secondary Education Teacher
FCA Executive Director Profiles
Mara Watts
Coach and Secondary Education Teacher
Mara is a passionate, highly proficient coach and secondary Education teacher in the Hunter region in the Newcastle area and has had extensive experience across various secondary educational platforms.
Mara is an ex-Matilda with an extensive history in the game as a player and coach. She is an advocate that supports all women in sport. Mara has developed elite footballers and coaches for 29 years.
Currently Mara is completing the A Licence with a FIFA Scholarship. Mara is the Head Coach for Australian Football Services that competed in the Mallorca Cup in Spain. In 2023 Mara was a Tour Director for the Women’s World Cup in Australia for WorldStrides.
Mara is the founder of an elite football program in a specialised Sports High government school, the first female PDHPE teacher in an all-boys Marist Catholic school, she was the Combined High school state coach from 2006 to 2013, she was also the Hunter Region coach for Combined High school State carnivals from 2001-2013.
At Hunter Sports Mara coached, mentored and guided 28 player to represent Australia in football. These opportunities where a privilege for her to be part of and have been imperative in a 34 year education journey, that has allowed her the opportunity to develop a skill set that is unique. Not only has she worked across this diverse platform she has also worked interstate moving to Queensland to diversify her skill set.
Mara aspires to be the best coach she can be at the highest level possible. To be a role model for young females.
Sarah West
Vice-President, Football Coaches Australia
Sarah West is an Assistant Coach and Analyst for Canberra United in the Liberty A-League and is also the current Head Coach of the Canberra United Academy Reserve Grade squad.
She is the Vice President of Football Coaches Australia, sits on the Capital Football Technical Committee, and serves on the committee and coaching staff of Navy Football.
She juggles her coaching responsibilities with a full-time career as an Officer in the Royal Australian Navy and studying for her Master’s Degree in Strategy and Security through UNSW @ ADFA.
Sarah’s favourite job is being the proud Mum of two little footballers – Harvey (7) and baby Archie.
Sarah is a former journalist and radio newsreader for ABC News in QLD.
Her key interests include studying high performance cultures, leadership theory and influential communication. She also loves to dabble in videography and podcasting, travel, consume good coffee and wine, and stay up late watching football and pro cycling.
Gary Cole
President Football Coaches Australia
Gary Cole is a former Socceroo, a Heidelberg United FC great, and a football leader with a diverse background and extensive leadership experience in football at Melbourne Victory FC, Sydney FC, Football Victoria and Football Australia.
His leadership experience includes specialised strategic development and implementation, project management, marketing and operations in complex organisations.
Gary has a proven track record in football and other sporting organisations (Belgravia Leisure, Sport Australia, Football Victoria and Football Australia) delivering success through good governance; delivery of organisational processes and building high performance individuals and teams.
He also coached at the AIS with Dr Ron Smith, was Assistant Socceroos Coach to Frank Arok, and also coached with success in the National Soccer League and the Victorian Premier League.
He was recently inducted into the Football Victoria Hall of Fame to go along with his inclusion into the Football Australia Hall of Fame.
Gary hosts ‘The Football Coaching Life’ Podcast on behalf of Football Coaches Australia.
Catherine Cannuli
Technical Director for Southern Districts Football Association.
Catherine is a former Matilda and A League player and has previously held roles as an assistant coach and Head Coach for Western Sydney Wanderers in the A League Women.
Catherine has also worked as a Football Expert for Channel 10, Paramount, and Optus Sport for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Catherine has built up an impressive resume through her role as Women’s Technical Director at the Southern Districts Football Association
Catherine played National League football in the Women’s National Soccer League for the NSW Sapphires and the W-League for Sydney FC, Brisbane Roar FC and WSW FC. She also played for Inter Lions in the NSW Women’s Premier League.
She was a playing coach of the association’s team, SD Raiders in the New South Wales State League Women’s competition leading them to the State League Women’s championship in 2016.
In October 2017, after leading SD Raiders to back-to-back Grand Final victories, Cannuli joined Wanderers as an assistant coach.
Aish Ravi
Senior Women's Football Coach & Junior TD, Cobras FC
Aish Ravi is a FCA Women’s Football Committee member, Senior Women’s Football Coach & Junior TD at Cobras FC.
Aish is the founder of the Women’s Coaching Associationand a committee member of the FA Women’s Football Council.
From an education perspective Aish is also an International Baccalaureate, VCE Economics and Business Management Teacher, Tutor and a Doctor of Philosophy candidate focusing on women’s coach education in football. She will finalise her PhD thesis in 2022 – “Understanding women coaches’ experiences in football (soccer)”.
Karen Grega
Managing Director, KM Grega & Associates P/L
Karen Grega is an experienced Marketing and Management Consultant in event and venue management, sponsorship, media relations, stakeholder management and community engagement. She has worked and consulted across a diverse range of sports from football, tennis and sailing to show jumping.
Karen is currently a Board Member of Heartbeat of Football (HOF), a not-for-profit organisation established to initially promote heart health awareness in football, but now across sport generally. She has a Bachelor of Business Communications degree and is a Member of the Venue Management Association, Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Community Ambassador for Cancer Council NSW.
Karen previously worked in GM roles with the Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust, Canberra Arrows in the former NSL and was Acting Media Manager with Sydney FC in the ALeague. In the UK Karen was Commercial Manager for Dunfermline Athletic FC in the Scottish Premier League and Chair of the Scottish Commercial Managers Association. For nearly 10 years she was CEO of the Sydney Olympic Park Business Association and CEO of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia from 2016-2019. Karen is a former player and referee.
Brad Crismale
Chief Executive Officer, Matrium Technologies
Brad is an experienced Chief Executive Officer at Matrium Technologies with a demonstrated history of working in the telecommunications industry. He is skilled in Management, Strategic Partnerships, Sales & Account Management, Finance & Commercial matters.
Brad is a strong business development professional with a Bachelor of Business focused in Accounting and Marketing from University of Technology Sydney.
Brad has a passion for football and the equine industry.
He is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CAANZ) and Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).
Nick Rosamilia
Director, PWC
Nick Rosamilia is an experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working with clients across the energy, utility, telecommunications, manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors. Skilled in Enterprise Risk Management, Governance, Internal Audit, Internal Controls and Project Management.
Nick is a strong business development professional with a Bachelor of Business focused in Professional Accountancy from RMIT University.
Nick is a member of the East Bentleigh Soccer Club and passionate about the development of football in Australia.
Ian Greener
Head Coach, Rowville Secondary College
Ian is a professional football coach with the expertise to devise, develop and implement Worlds Best Practices with over 20 years of experiece working with State and National bodies wthin Australia.
A former professional footballer in the UK with Middlesborough. Ian successfully completed 3 years of a Bachelor Education Degree in Physical Education- Durham University- Bede College, whilst playing semi professional football for Scarborough FC and Durham City.
After relocating to Australia he became Assistant Coach with Sunshine George Cross in the Australian National Soccer League. Ian spent 10 years as the State Director of Coaching with Football Victoria and then took over as the Head Coach of the Victorian Institute of sport.
Ian was also co-founder of the Association of Football Coaches and Teachers which has provided ongoing coach education for Victorian coaches since 2012 and Chair of the Football Victoria Coaches Standing Committee.
We welcome Ian back onto our Executive Committee.
Jason Breton
Director of Operations for Liverpool City Council
Jason is a Project Management specialist that specialises in Strategic Planning. He is also an A-Licence Coach working in the NSW NPL 1 senior space.
He works as the Director of Operations at Liverpool City Council after a career in Major Project Delivery with some international brands.
An advocate that ‘business and football are the same game – just played on different pitches’, Jason’s focus with Football Coaches Australia is to build membership and attract sponsorship in order to allow FCA to continue to do the great things it has been doing for many years now.
A key focus for 2024 and beyond is to ‘sell’ FCA to the coaching fraternity – particularly those who are also involved in Businesses across Australia.