The former Silver Fern said she was excited to be leading the Steel in its ANZ Championship quest.
"It is an honour and it's always nice to be recognised by your peers and the management team," Brown said.
The crafty shooter, who captained the Otago Rebels in 2007, will be supported in her role by a strong leadership group comprising Demelza McCloud, Donna Wilkins and Sheryl Scanlan.
"I've got a good team and lots of talkers behind me. And, while I may not be a talker on the court, I certainly have my say off it. I try to lead more by example than by words," she said.
"When I first broke into the national scene my captains were Tanya Dearns and then Noelene Taurua and from there I went to Julie Seymour, Belinda Colling and Adine Wilson, so I've had some really good role models over the whole period," she said.
"So I will probably take something from each of them, but then you also want to stamp your own style on, as well."
Brown was excited about the Steel's potential in the 2012 ANZ Championship.
"We've got some real characters in our team and we've also got a really good mix of youth and experience, which I think is vital. We've been working really hard and that is a key characteristic of our team, that ability to work hard and grind it out," she said.
"I think we are a bit of an unknown and some people are underestimating us a bit, which is great for us. We know within our group we have the potential to be a great team and we will surprise.
"Some people have written us off but if we look at our team we have former internationals, current internationals and some exciting under-21 representatives, so we have international representatives right through the court"
Brown is eager to return to the court after a year off to welcome her second daughter, Aria.
"When you're pregnant and having babies, you do realise what you are missing out on when you've been in the netball environment before so it gives you a real passion to come back and play," she said.
"I'm really excited and looking forward to the season ahead."
