Awarded Life Membership 15 May 2024

Birth: 17 May 1953, Sydney, NSW

Ian Hanson is regarded as one of Australia’s most respected authorities on sport and media, and is a stalwart of the media mixed zones, having attended ten Commonwealth Games throughout his career.

Hanson began his career as a sports writer on the Sydney Daily Telegraph, and went on to a 10-year appointment as a senior Olympics, football, and swimming correspondent for the Daily Mirror and News Limited Group during the 1980s. He covered two Olympic Games and three Commonwealth Games as a journalist before becoming the first Media Director for Australian Swimming (now Swimming Australia), a role he held from 1991 until August 5 2009.

He has also been a major part of the media teams for the 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2022 Commonwealth Games, as well as the 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games.

His storied Commonwealth Games career included three Games a journalist, most notably with the swimming team, as well as seven Games as Australian Team Media Director or Media Manager.

Hanson is highly regarded in the media and the sports business and is one of the longest serving media manager’s in sport, having guided and directed some of the biggest names in Australian sport like Susie O’Neill, Kieren Perkins, Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Grant Hackett over the past 18 years. He won the 2002 Services to Australian Swimming Award and was also presented with a Services to Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association Award. He has lectured in sports management, event management, communications and Public relations at Queensland’s Griffith University.

In 2000, Hanson Sports Media, now Hanson Media Group was formed, and company directors Ian and wife Suzie continue to be at the forefront of the ever-changing and dynamic sport media industry.

In 2019, Hanson was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for Services to Media, Communications and Sport.