After a brief career as a hockey player Wim Cornelis had a much more successful career as an administrator in the sport. When he was 31-years-old Cornelis became the chairman of SV Kampong, a hockey club based in Utrecht. From 1981 to 1985 he was a board member of the Dutch Olympic Committee and in 1988 he was the chef de mission for the Dutch delegation at the Calgary and Seoul Games. After the Olympics he worked as the chairman of the Royal Dutch Hockey Association for almost a decade. In 1998 Cornelis was awarded with the Olympic Order in Silver.