The South Island Academy of Sport (ASI) will get a high-powered but temporary solution to its search for a new leader.

Veteran official Selwyn Maister has been appointed interim chief executive of the Dunedin-based academy.

He steps into the formidable shoes of 10-year head Kereyn Smith, who is moving to Wellington to be the secretary-general of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

ASI chairman Peter Cox said the board had decided it needed more time to consider options for the top job, given the number of large projects the academy was now managing.

The academy was working with its North Island counterpart and Sparc to plan implementation of a significant increase in funding for high performance sport announced by the Government earlier in the year.

It was also immersed in development work at its Centre of Excellence in Christchurch, and its planned new base at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Work will proceed immediately on the academy's new facilities at the new stadium.

The move south of national high performance programmes, including BikeNZ and Triathlon New Zealand, had also put pressure on academy services.

"The key rationale behind the decision to appoint an interim position is maintaining the momentum on priority projects while buying time for a longer-term outlook and for the board to assess its options and secure the right personnel for future roles," Cox said.

"The scope for activities in the South Island has increased significantly over recent months, and we need to evaluate what this will look like in the medium term as the demand shows no signs of diminishing."

Maister will work from both the head office in Dunedin and the Christchurch centre.

He was a New Zealand hockey representative for 15 years, playing at three Olympic Games, including the gold medal-winning side in 1976.

Maister is a former New Zealand hockey selector and board member, the president of the New Zealand Olympians Club, and a Paralympics New Zealand board member.

The former Rhodes Scholar has also been acting chief executive of both Softball New Zealand and Sport Auckland.