The 35-year-old was part of the first intake of the New Zealand Olympic Committee's Women's Sport Leadership Academy. She graduated earlier this month alongside 17 other former New Zealand Olympians.
It was the first time the programme has been held in New Zealand. But there are more than 200 graduates worldwide, so the movement to bring gender parity to sport has real depth.
"It is really about giving women the opportunity to step into leadership positions and equipping us with the skills to do so," Palmer (nee Shanks) said.
The curriculum covered women in high performance sport, women in coaching, visibility in the media and governance.
Palmer joined the group which focused on governance "and we looked specifically at the number of women on boards within our national sports organisations and the barriers to achieving gender diversity".
Two of the country's biggest sports, cricket and rugby, have been actively addressing the historical imbalance.
Former White Ferns captain Debbie Hockley became New Zealand Cricket's first female president when she was appointed to the position in December, 2016.
And former Black Ferns captain Farah Palmer became the first female elected to the board of New Zealand Rugby (NZR) in the same month.
Alison Palmer said her group found one of the major barriers preventing more women moving into governance positions was the way board members were appointed and elected.
"When it comes to having elected members, there is a whole historical pathway ... and what is called an affinity bias."
To paraphrase Palmer rather badly, she was more or less talking about the old boys' network which has run sports such as cricket and rugby for more than 100 years.
One way to ensure there was more gender diversity was to write it into the constitution, Palmer said.
"There is a whole lot of research that gender diverse decision-making, and diversity of thought, actually leads to better decision-making."
Palmer believes there has been "a huge amount of progress".
"There is sports like cricket who are really leading the way and are setting some great targets, not only for their national body but right down through the regions as well.
"Ultimately that is how you create a sustainable model."
Palmer is certainly doing her part when it comes to governance. She sits on the board of four organisations, including the New Zealand Olympic Committee and Cycling New Zealand.
"But it is really up to women as well to stand up and put themselves out there. Women can often be less confident than men and a lot more reluctant to put themselves forward.
"So it is about trying to change that mindset as well."
