Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham

[Lore]

Spoiler: Timeline of events

• 15/8: President, Paul Brasher resigns, replaced by Dave Barham who foreshadows external review
  • Votes for Brasher: Peter Allen, Simon Madden, Sean Wellman
    Sean Wellman

    Age

    50

    Ht

    193cm

    Wt

    90kg

    Pos.

    Def

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    14.1

    4star

    K

    9.7

    4star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    4.5

    4star

    T

    1.0

    3star

    No current season stats available

    D

    8.0

    2star

    K

    4.4

    2star

    HB

    3.6

    3star

    M

    2.6

    3star

    T

    0.8

    3star

  • Votes for Barham: Andrew Muir, Dorothy Hisgrove, Melissa Green, Kate O’Sullivan, Kevin Sheedy
• 21/8: Senior Coach, Ben Rutten
  Ben Rutten

  Age

  41

  Ht

  190cm

  Wt

  98kg

  Pos.

  Def

  Career

  Season

  Last 5

  D

  13.4

  3star

  K

  6.3

  2star

  HB

  7.0

  4star

  M

  5.3

  5star

  T

  1.3

  3star

  No current season stats available

  D

  10.6

  3star

  K

  6.2

  3star

  HB

  4.4

  4star

  M

  3.6

  4star

  T

  1.0

  3star

  sacked
• 24/8: CEO, Xavier Campbell resigns
• 24/8: Directors to resign
  • Paul Brasher, immediately
  • Simon Madden, immediately
  • Sean Wellman, after new football director is appointed
  • Peter Allen, after AGM & finance portfolio handover in December
• 26/8: Details of coaching selection committee appointment
  • Sub-committee of 6: Josh Mahoney
    Josh Mahoney

    Age

    47

    Ht

    180cm

    Wt

    83kg

    Pos.

    Fwd

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    11.3

    3star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    4.5

    3star

    M

    3.5

    4star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.9

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    9.2

    3star

    K

    5.4

    2star

    HB

    3.8

    3star

    M

    2.2

    3star

    T

    1.6

    4star

    G

    0.4

    3star

    (Chair, GM-Footy), Robert Walls, Jordan Lewis
    Jordan Lewis

    Age

    38

    Ht

    186cm

    Wt

    86kg

    Pos.

    D/M

    Career

    Season

    Last 5

    D

    23.5

    5star

    K

    12.1

    4star

    HB

    11.5

    5star

    M

    5.5

    5star

    T

    2.7

    4star

    MG

    310.5

    4star

    No current season stats available

    D

    15.0

    4star

    K

    6.8

    3star

    HB

    8.2

    5star

    M

    4.8

    5star

    T

    2.8

    5star

    , Simone McKinnis OAM, Andrew Thorburn and Dorothy Hisgrove (board member).
• 26/8: Details of external review process
  • Ernst & Young to coordinate with support from Andrew Thorburn, working closely with Nick Ryan (Acting CEO) & Dorothy Hisgrove (board member)
  • Focusing on four areas: (1) Board effectiveness & composition, (2) a review of leadership, operations and culture including the footy department, (3) the senior coach appointment and (4) the new CEO appointment.
• 26/9: Andrew Welsh appointed to the board of directors, replacing Simon Madden
• 29/9: Brad Scott appointed as Senior Coach
• 30/9: Kevin Sheedy claims decision to appoint Brad Scott was 6-1 against him
• 3/10: Andrew Thorburn appointed as CEO - alternative link
• 3/10: “External review to be handed to the board next week”: Andrew Thorburn, Crichton Medal Address
• 4/10: Andrew Thorburn resigns as CEO
• 11/10: External review preliminary findings
• 24/10: External review preliminary findings II
• 2/11: Dan McPherson appointed as General Manager of Performance & Cam Roberts as Head of Development
• 11/11: Dean Rioli appointed to the board of directors, replacing Paul Brasher
• 14/11: Tim Roberts & David Wills appointed to the board of directors, replacing Sean Wellman and Paul Allen respectively
• 28/11: Dorothy Hisgrove announced as first female vice-president (at the Essendon Women's Best and Fairest night)
• 1/12: Craig Vozzo appointed as CEO
• 13/12: Board director election results: Andrew Welsh and Andrew Muir elected
• 15/5: The club's First Nations Advisory Council established, to be led by Dean Rioli (chair, Indigenous board member), and including: Leanne Brooke (EFC EGM – Community & The Long Walk. Essendon FC), Dorothy Hisgrove (EFC VP and National Manager Partner KPMG), Kane Ellis (CEO of Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service), John Evans (Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Engagement at Swinburne) and Che Cockatoo-Collins (EM, Indigenous Affairs NBN, EFC Past Player)
• 16/5: Board of Directors declare support for the First Nations Voice to Parliament, after consultation with the new First Nations Advisory Council
• 28/8: EGM - Football, Josh Mahoney has accepted a role as GM Football Operations at the AFL
• 10/10: GM - Performance Daniel McPherson, and Head of AFLW/AFL Operations Manager Aysha Ward have been elevated to the club executive as joint leaders of the club's football department, as GM-AFL and GM-AFLW respectively

 

[citizen-erased]

If you want to be embarrassed about something, there's an entire Banking Royal Commission to worry about, where Thorburn actually did and said stuff, rather than getting caught up in whether he should be excluded because of something his church did. One bozo on twitter talking about nothing groundbreaking is hardly evidence of a circus, all things considered.

without wanting to break one of my interwebz rules on religion posting and stuff, but what do we know of the other CEO's and the boards they sit on

 

[Lore]

I would still keep the ad up if I was the club. City on a Hill aren’t the Westboro Baptist Church but still, great, big, ****ing yikes.

Are you sure it's the same one?

There's a City on a Hill church based in New Zealand which is Evangelical, the one Thorburn is involved with is Anglican, and then there's another similarly named one in the USA as well (City on the Hill).

 

[Lore]

without wanting to break one of my interwebz rules on religion posting and stuff, but what do we know of the other CEO's and the boards they sit on

Diddly squat. The last few weeks are pushing my self-imposed interwebz rules too. :\

 

[Vander18]

By all accounts a pretty decent human. I imagine The RC stuff would speak more to his inability to provide governance than the provision of direct instruction to, for example, charge fees to corpses. He wouldn’t be on his Pat Malone in being unable to be across all aspects of an organisation this size. That’s not to excuse him but I think it reflects as much on the size and structure of the organisation - it would be impossible to be across everything you need to be as CEO.Happy to be told I’m wrong, didn’t follow it closely.

It’s interesting that he’s a total non-footy person yet he is charged with restoring focus on core business, i.e footy. I remain unclear on how a layman can direct and manage a footy department. Can we not find a Gale or Cook who is qualified to manage on and off-field operations?

 

[jmoo wan]

oh here we go...

" Andrew has a Commerce degree and an MBA, and is an accredited Sports Chaplain"

Leaders - City on a Hill

Leaders Movement Teams Select a teamMovement Ministry TeamMovement Operations Team Church Teams Select a teamMelbourneMelbourne EastMelbourne WestGeelongSurf CoastBrisbaneGold CoastWhittingtonWollongongBallarat Movement Ministry Team Guy Mason Senior Pastor Guy Mason Senior Pastor Read Bio Guy...

cityonahill.com.au

 

[baz_machine]

To put it in perspective, Essendon has a incoming of ~$60 million per year and outgoings of ~$50 million per year and about ~$50 million in assets.

NAB is about ~$20 billion per year incoming, outgoing of ~$10 billion and about ~$60 billion in assets.

 

[madrigal]

What isn't however, is another announcement made by the President to members, before we hear it from the media!

Garry Lyon did pull the thread and float his name out earlier.

 

[Saint]

Are you sure it's the same one?

There's a City on a Hill church based in New Zealand which is Evangelical, the one Thorburn is involved with is Anglican, and then there's another similarly named one in the USA as well (City on the Hill).

Anglican in name, they're Evangelicals in practice.

Given he's managed to keep that stuff clearly out of his banking life, I hope he does the same with Football. If he can keep the club focused on football, that will be a great outcome.

 

[Lore]

By all accounts a pretty decent human. I imagine The RC stuff would speak more to his inability to provide governance than the provision of direct instruction to, for example, charge fees to corpses. He wouldn’t be on his Pat Malone in being unable to be across all aspects of an organisation this size. That’s not to excuse him but I think it reflects as much on the size and structure of the organisation - it would be impossible to be across everything you need to be as CEO.Happy to be told I’m wrong, didn’t follow it closely.

It’s interesting that he’s a total non-footy person yet he is charged with restoring focus on core business, i.e footy. I remain unclear on how a layman can direct and manage a footy department. Can we not find a Gale or Cook who is qualified to manage on and off-field operations?

I'm not really sure why a CEO at a professional footy club would need to be a person with extensive AFL experience.

You mentioned scale... the bigger the organisation presumably the more you hire underlings you trust and delegate to them. Essendon is tiny compared to a bank with branches all over the country, but it does look like football functions will be put in the hands of a well-qualified GM-Football and Senior Coach, which I suppose is part of the reason we have Brad Scott and not Adem Yze.

What's interesting about Thorburn is he's a banker, and more recently an investment banker. If he's remotely competent he'd have a pretty good idea of what a successful business looks like, either so private equity can invest in it or so a bank can authorise a loan, regardless of what the specific core business is for each one he's investing in.

 

[Lore]

To put it in perspective, Essendon has a incoming of ~$60 million per year and outgoings of ~$50 million per year and about ~$50 million in assets.

NAB is about ~$20 billion per year incoming, outgoing of ~$10 billion and about ~$60 billion in assets.

According to reports his take home pay at NAB was 6.4m per year.

Essendon's cash profit before grants and donations, depreciation and amortisation in 2021 was a touch under 5m. Campbell was reportedly on 850k per year, so if you put that together you can have 5.8m. We're still short a bit.

Mathematics.

I agree with whoever suggested it's a retirement gig, or a love job. He's not doing it for the cash that's for sure.

 

[citizen-erased]

According to reports his take home pay at NAB was 6.4m per year.

Essendon's cash profit before grants and donations, depreciation and amortisation in 2021 was a touch under 5m. Campbell was reportedly on 850k per year, so if you put that together you can have 5.8m. We're still short a bit.

Mathematics.

I agree with whoever suggested it's a retirement gig, or a love job. He's not doing it for the cash that's for sure.

Banker who is unlikely to be back in banking for a while...if ever.
Would not be surprised to see a move to AFL HQ. Has the pedigree running a large, complex organisation.
Good stepping stone for some of the more optics-based stuff to cut his teeth on.

 

[Lore]

Banker who is unlikely to be back in banking for a while...if ever.
Would not be surprised to see a move to AFL HQ. Has the pedigree running a large, complex organisation.
Good stepping stone for some of the more optics-based stuff to cut his teeth on.

He does some sort of investment banking stuff now. Not the big 4 anymore obviously.

 

[andleanback]

I'm not really sure why a CEO at a professional footy club would need to be a person with extensive AFL experience.

You mentioned scale... the bigger the organisation presumably the more you hire underlings you trust and delegate to them. Essendon is tiny compared to a bank with branches all over the country, but it does look like football functions will be put in the hands of a well-qualified GM-Football and Senior Coach, which I suppose is part of the reason we have Brad Scott and not Adem Yze.

What's interesting about Thorburn is he's a banker, and more recently an investment banker. If he's remotely competent he'd have a pretty good idea of what a successful business looks like, either so private equity can invest in it or so a bank can authorise a loan, regardless of what the specific core business is for each one he's investing in.

Richmond - gale
Geelong - cook
Geelong - hocking
Carlton - cook
Sydney - Harley
Brisbane - swan
Melbourne - pert

Hmm is that a trend I see.

 

[eth-dog]

Have no idea what to think but yeah, big step down from NAB

 

[Lore]

Richmond - gale
Geelong - cook
Geelong - hocking
Carlton - cook
Sydney - Harley
Brisbane - swan
Melbourne - pert

Hmm is that a trend I see.

Is it a correlation or a causation?

 

[madrigal]

Richmond - gale
Geelong - cook
Geelong - hocking
Carlton - cook
Sydney - Harley
Brisbane - swan
Melbourne - pert

Hmm is that a trend I see.

5/7 have four letter names. I suggest James Hird for CEO.

 

[Lore]

He has been involved with the game for a long-time through the NAB partnership of the AFL. He impressed the board with his understanding of the AFL system but also the business of sport on a global scale. Most importantly though, Andrew has demonstrated throughout his business career that he can execute the priorities that the organisation has.

Official AFL Website of the Essendon Football Club

The official AFL website of the Essendon Football Club

www.essendonfc.com.au

 

[Burzum]

Anyone else find it bizarre he's taking the Essendon job? Unless he's extremely passionate about the footy business, he's taking quite a pay cut for no real reason.

 

[frodos gardener]

Is the President building a wall around the footy department? Will part of Thorburn’s role be to keep the influential club benefactors away from Mahoney and the coaches? The coteries get access to players through sponsorships and arrangements… there’s no stopping that, but there is something to be said for allowing Scott and co to focus on footy.

I eagerly await the “sit down with new CEO” video the media guys will be madly pulling together.

 

[thepokey]

Not real thrilled about this one

 

[andleanback]

Is it a correlation or a causation?

Well tigers, geelong, Carlton, lions were all a mess before those guys arrived and on field success has followed years after they’ve set the direction for their respective organizations.

 

[Lore]

Well tigers, geelong, Carlton, lions were all a mess before those guys arrived and on field success has followed years after they’ve set the direction for their respective organizations.

I don't think this is a well constructed argument.

 

[ant555]

By all accounts a pretty decent human. I imagine The RC stuff would speak more to his inability to provide governance than the provision of direct instruction to, for example, charge fees to corpses. He wouldn’t be on his Pat Malone in being unable to be across all aspects of an organisation this size. That’s not to excuse him but I think it reflects as much on the size and structure of the organisation - it would be impossible to be across everything you need to be as CEO.Happy to be told I’m wrong, didn’t follow it closely.

It’s interesting that he’s a total non-footy person yet he is charged with restoring focus on core business, i.e footy. I remain unclear on how a layman can direct and manage a footy department. Can we not find a Gale or Cook who is qualified to manage on and off-field operations?

I think Mahoney and Scott will be running the footy department. One advantage of having Scott as a coach I guess is he has been at AFL house for 3 years so he knows that side as well . He will be supporting what they are doing.

 

[Vander18]

I think Mahoney and Scott will be running the footy department. One advantage of having Scott as a coach I guess is he has been at AFL house for 3 years so he knows that side as well . He will be supporting what they are doing.

Right…. But someone has to sign off what they propose. That would be Thorburn.

 

[Vander18]

I'm not really sure why a CEO at a professional footy club would need to be a person with extensive AFL experience.

You mentioned scale... the bigger the organisation presumably the more you hire underlings you trust and delegate to them. Essendon is tiny compared to a bank with branches all over the country, but it does look like football functions will be put in the hands of a well-qualified GM-Football and Senior Coach, which I suppose is part of the reason we have Brad Scott and not Adem Yze.

What's interesting about Thorburn is he's a banker, and more recently an investment banker. If he's remotely competent he'd have a pretty good idea of what a successful business looks like, either so private equity can invest in it or so a bank can authorise a loan, regardless of what the specific core business is for each one he's investing in.

Whether it’s a bank or a footy club, your CEO should understand core business.

Somebody has to sign off on whatever Scott and Mahoney propose. Better if they understand footy I’d have thought.