FORMER Hawthorn president Andrew Newbold has been elevated to the AFL Commission, while the League has welcomed the fourth woman to be a member of the game's controlling body.   
 
Newbold, who quit as the Hawks' long-term leader this month, will officially join the Commission in March along with Gabrielle Trainor, who was an inaugural director of Greater Western Sydney.
 
On Monday the Commission accepted the recommendations of the nominations sub-committee to replace outgoing Commissioners Chris Langford and Sam Mostyn.

Read the AFL Commission's full statement
 
Trainor is a lawyer, journalist and public sector executive, and has a long family history in football with her father, Tony, and grandfather, Frank, both presidents of North Melbourne.
 
She was appointed to the Giants' board in 2011 and led the club's integrity committee.
 
Newbold was a director of Hawthorn for 13 years before his shock departure from the club, but during his stint as president the club won three premierships and has played in the past four Grand Finals.
 
Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said the League was pleased to welcome the two candidates having "convinced" Newbold to take on the role.

"I only recently became aware Andrew might be available to join the AFL Commission as part of regular discussions on key issues within the game that our Commission has with all club leaders," Fitzpatrick said.

"In the last few weeks, I was able to convince him to put his name forward.
 
"Gabrielle is such a capable person, and she has great passion for the game. With her experience as an AFL Commissioner (NSW/ACT) for ten years, and as a director at an expansion club, Greater Western Sydney, she has done the hard yards as a volunteer."

Newbold tweeted later on Wednesday that his decision to step down as Hawks president was not prompted by an invitation to become an AFL commissioner, saying the two were "completely unrelated".