She will replace Australia’s Sue Taylor, who had held the role since 2011.

Hooper has stepped down from her current role as a Further Director on the World Netball Board to enable her to become vice-president.

Hooper started playing netball at the age of seven and the sport has been part of her life ever since.

She qualified as an umpire at 18 before the sport also became part of her career in marketing, overseeing New Zealand’s largest sponsorship deal for the sport.

In a later role as marketing director at Television New Zealand, Hooper was involved in promoting netball to viewers and advertisers alike.

She moved into governance with roles as the chairperson of regional netball and franchise teams and served on the Board of Netball New Zealand for nine years, where she was chair of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

Hooper was also chair of Trans-Tasman Netball Limited for three years - the entity behind the ANZ Championships.

She was elected to the World Netball Board as a Further Director at its Congress in Botswana in 2017 and has served as chair of the Commercial Committee for the past two years.

"I am honoured to be elected by the global netball family for this role," Hooper said.

"I have learnt over the past four years that netball’s reach and connection into communities across the world is significant and very powerful.

"With over 20 million people involved in our sport, there are many great opportunities for us all to collaborate and continue to grow and inspire new generations of netball players, umpires, coaches, officials and administrators and I look forward to playing my part in this."

World Netball President Liz Nicholl welcomed Hooper’s appointment.

"We are delighted to have such an inspiring, hard-working, and commendable individual step into this role," she said.

"I look forward to working with Shirley on growing the sport, driving game development, and inspiring through engagement and collaboration."

Nicholl also paid tribute to Taylor following more than a decade of service.

"On behalf of the World Netball family, I’d like to thank Sue Taylor for her exceptional dedication to World Netball over her 14 years on our Board, 10 as vice-president," she said.

"Sue has been instrumental to the development of the sport and has helped make World Netball what it is today."