MEET Our Team
Senior Leadership
Rachel Froggatt, CEO & Founder
Rachel is a global business development and social impact specialist; CEO and Independent Director; and equity in sport advocate. She founded Away We Go ~ Matike Mai in January 2023.
This followed on from a very successful tenure as Secretary General of the International Working Group (IWG) on Women & Sport 2018 - 2022 and in parallel, as CEO of Women in Sport Aotearoa, Ngā Wāhine Hākinakina o Aotearoa (WISPA). This appointment included the staging of the 8th IWG World Conference on Women & Sport in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland over 4-days in November 2022, attended by a record-breaking 1,850+ leaders from 300+ organisations in more than 90+ countries.
Prior to this, Rachel held the role of Commercial & Marketing Director for Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) between 2014 – 2018 and was responsible for driving broadcast, media and $3.5m in funding around Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018, all with a focus on inspiring kiwis to be far more inclusive.
She took up this role upon her return to New Zealand, after 17 years abroad working in commercial sport, including Formula 1 and other motorsports, golf, rugby, cricket, football and more. Inspired after her involvement in the London 2012 Paralympics, she changed career direction toward sport for social development.
Rachel also works as an equity commentator and speaker, in demand globally and locally.
Melissa Dawson, Senior Director
Over the past 25 years, Melissa has built a wealth of expertise in strategic project development, project management, stakeholder management, communications, PR and brand development.
Most recently she was Head of Engagement and Impact at Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ). Over a 12-year tenure Melissa led the development and implementation of community impact programmes and initiatives to advance awareness and inclusion of disabled people. She facilitated the end-to-end delivery of all programmes - from research to design, launch, monitoring, measurement and reporting, including a nationally recognised school education programme.
Prior to this, she led all international and local media and communication for PNZ and the New Zealand Paralympic Team, including the Press Office at Tokyo 2020, PyeongChang 2018 and Rio 2016. She was instrumental in the development and establishment of the award-winning “Spirit of Gold Initiative”, a long-term commercial, fundraising and communications programme established to build sustainable profile and income for the movement.
Before PNZ, Melissa held marketing and ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Programme Lead’ roles at EY in the UK. Before this, Melissa worked across various New Zealand Regional Sports Trusts (RSTs) with a focus on community-level marketing, programme development and delivery.
Specialist contractors
Sarah Dance, Commercial Specialist
Sarah has 12+ years’ experience in Sports Business Management. Her skills include; Commercial, Revenue Generation through Sponsorship, Gifting & Legacy Programmes & Trust Funding and Grants Programmes, plus Event Operations & Partnership Management.
Sarah has a high level of understanding of the sporting landscape in New Zealand (from Community to High Performance) and has worked with non-for-profits and charities. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Sports Business Management, Marketing and Events management at Massey University, Graduating March 2011 and a post graduate diploma in PR at AUT 2017.
Sarah’s key priorities in the last 5 years include; planning and delivering rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 as the Marketing Rights Delivery Manager for NZ (2 years). Prior to that she managed, grew, maintained and negotiated all commercial revenue for the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (4 years) in the lead up to the America’s Cup 2021.
Dr Janine Swail Ph.D., Research Specialist
Janine joined the Away We Go ~ Matike Mai whānau (family) as our Research Lead in April 2023. She is an expert in identifying corporates that have a clear values alignment with the social impact work of our clients, and vice versa. She works with our clients to develop partnership proposals that meet the strategic objectives of both.
Janine completed her doctorate at Ulster University in 2007, with a thesis exploring women’s experiences of setting up businesses and the idea generation, decision-making and challenges that encompass the start-up process. In her day job, she is a leading academic at Auckland University, and deputy director of the Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women at Auckland University Business School.
She runs her own small research consulting business alongside.
Hayley Griffith, Project Specialist
Hayley joined the Away We Go ~ Matike Mai whānau (family) as our Project Manager in June 2023.
Hayley has exceptional organisational skills with 14+ years of experience in community sport programmes across Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a big picture thinker and problem solver who can create and operationalise a strategy to the highest standards.
Hayley started her career as a Sports Coordinator at Albany Senior High School in 2008 before continuing in this role at Diocesan School for Girls and then St Cuthbert’s College. In 2016, she went across to Netball New Zealand to become their Community Netball Coordinator, before moving upwards to hold the role of Membership Project Manager between 2018 - 2019 and then Volunteer Advocate between 2019 - 2021.