Basketball ACT hopes the foundations laid by Maxwell Gratton will secure the sport's long-term future and help Canberra attract major tournaments as officials look to expand facilities.
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Basketball ACT chief executive Gratton resigned on Wednesday after accepting a position as Football Federation Victoria boss.
His departure comes with Basketball ACT set to post the first profit in its history after Gratton worked to turn around the books from a $400,000 loss into at least a $20,000 surplus.
The organisation is already building a three-on-three facility after securing $1 million in government funding and hopes to invest in building three new full-size courts in the coming years.
That would allow Belconnen to host national championship tournaments and FIBA three-on-three events.
Basketball ACT chairman David Leaney said Gratton deserved credit for turning the sport around and giving it a chance to build a sustainable future.
"Max is one of those guys who's a very authentic character and he's great with stakeholder engagement," Leaney said.
"The turnaround he's been able to achieve is such a great thing. He's turned a lot of attitudes around and people have gone from being disaffected to being quite positive.
"We had two years with Max and if you think about where the organisation was – with a deficit budget and all sorts of issues – he's really been the man on the ground to steer us through some tough waters."
Gratton will return to Canberra when his replacement is confirmed to complete a one-week handover process.
The Basketball ACT board hope to have a new chief executive in place before the annual general meeting in February.
The Basketball ACT board is also planning to expand its Belconnen base, with the potential of nine full-sized courts available to cater for growing demand in the future.
Gratton said: "I would like to thank the board of [Basketball ACT] for giving me the opportunity to lead this organisation for the past two years, especially the president David Leaney, and vice-president Kate Corkery for their leadership and guidance throughout my time in the nation's capital.
"I am proud to leave this organisation with a positive financial outlook, record high participation numbers, in the middle of the largest capital works project in 20 years and a bright future."
