Mr Hunter played first-class cricket for Otago, cricket for New Zealand universities, professional cricket in Yorkshire for a year, and first-class rugby for South Canterbury which included matches against the 1992 Irish and 1994 Springboks.
''Sport is a passion of mine, personally. I've been fortunate enough that sport has given me a huge amount in my life.
''So this position on the NZSSSC sits really nicely for me, because I'll be able to offer opportunities to the next lot of young people coming through, to make sure they get an opportunity to share similar experiences.''
Mr Hunter will replace outgoing NZSSSC chairman and Otago Boys' High School rector Clive Rennie, who will retire from the positions at the end of this year.
The council is the sports service organisation that co-ordinates, promotes and protects secondary school sport for all pupils.
It has been established by schools, to act as guardian of the heritage and the values of secondary school sport and to deliver leadership and support for all involved in the provision of sport to secondary schools and pupils.
It represents and is accountable to every New Zealand secondary school and to all pupils.
Mr Hunter said when he was playing sport, rugby was not professional.
''The stakes are different now for a small percentage of young people for whom sport could become a career.
''There are different opportunities now for professionalism than there was 20 years ago.
''The professionalism of sport seeping down to younger levels is not a concern, but it is a reality.
''While it is exciting for those players, we want to make sure there is a bit of fairness around it.''
Mr Hunter believed the main functions of the council were to oversee secondary sport across New Zealand, make sure it continued to grow, competitions remained fair, pupils were given every opportunity to excel and succeed, and on top of that, getting more pupils on the sports field and court was a priority.
''I also want to make sure the opinion of students in the deep south, is expressed through me and we're not left out of the loop, so to speak.''
