News Dr Bridie O'Donnell elected to the board

[Frogs]

I haven't worked in government agencies allocating grants but I do know how gov't agencies make decisions and the people in the "focus groups" are mostly focussing on their own careers and their own hobby horses...

Focus groups?! This is not typically how gov't agencies make decisions in grant selection at all!

 

[Anzacday]

My guess is that she was head-hunted by Ed in Feb 2020. They then told her to become a number to satisfy the rules and then put in place a pseudo selection process

Fixed it.
Given Ed's contacts in Sport and Government Funding he'd be the person I'd say.

 

[Markfs]

Forgive me but from where has the Holgate-O’Donnell Nexus Theory arisen?

Other than a shared gender and a late-blooming love for Collingwood they appear to be very different types.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

so you want dates and photos?

 

[76woodenspooners]

The Age yesterday was reporting that, as Kappa has mentioned repeatedly, the board had designated what is now Dr Bridie’s position to be filled by a female as they were “mindful” of the grant quota.

Not exactly.

There were two vacancies. That’s four gender permutations …

M.M
M.F
F.M
F.F

Only one of those four permutations would have been an impediment to the $15 million.

So at least we can move beyond the pretense that it was open to the best credentialed candidate and was, in fact, open to the best credentialed woman so we could seek the $15m.

Bridie may have been the best credentialed candidate, so the speculation really does her no favours, but there you have it.

Not exactly.

The board is a representative body. The reason for gender quotas on boards isn’t just to give opportunities to women to serve on boards, it’s also to ensure that female stakeholders of the organisation have gender representation. To that end, her gender is a part of her credentials.

Women represent over 50% of society. The Vic government are only requesting >= 40% board representation.

 

[Markfs]

Focus groups?! This is not typically how gov't agencies make decisions in grant selection at all!

I write this stuff as it comes off the teletype..... and yes, you're right. Gov't determine what they want to do and then use focus groups to find out ways to sell it to the public

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Not exactly.

The board is a representative body. The reason for gender quotas on boards isn’t just to give opportunities to women to serve on boards, it’s also to ensure that female stakeholders of the organisation have gender representation. To that end, her gender is a part of her credentials.

Women represent over 50% of society. The Vic government are only requesting >= 40% board representation.

To deliberately conflate satisfying an unstated selection criteria with being better qualified is disingenuous at best.

 

[sideswipe]

so you want dates and photos?

Something other than imaginary musings would be a start.

 

[76woodenspooners]

To deliberately conflate satisfying an unstated selection criteria with being better qualified is disingenuous at best.

The two are not mutually exclusive. Just because Bridie satisfies an unstated selection criteria, it doesn’t mean that she isn’t the best qualified.

And it doesn’t mean that the unstated selection criteria is counter to the interests of Collingwood either. The $15 million isn’t the price of doing a deal with the devil.

And nobody can reasonably suggest that Bridie is a token female filling the numbers. Her credentials (apart from the 2 year membership qualification) clearly stack up.

Fair chance that when Licuria was appointed that there was an unstated selection criteria of getting somebody who knows something about footy - a qualification that’s useful for somebody on the board of a footy club.

Fair Chance that when Sizer was appointed that there was an unstated selection criteria of somebody who is Indigenous (or of colour). That qualification may seem less relevant than the footy director, but its relevance can be seen in light of the Do Better report.

Fair Chance that when Capp was appointed that there was a desire to have female representation on the board.

 

[Markfs]

My guess is that she was head-hunted by Ed in Feb 2020. They then told her to become a number to satisfy the rules and then put in place a pseudo selection process

Fixed it.
Given Ed's contacts in Sport and Government Funding he'd be the person I'd say.

I feel like i've just experienced some shape-shifting reality adjustment process, but in the end, I kind of agree with the idea that Holgate didnt have the clout on the board in Feb 2020 to source a new board member and that it was probably Eddie who was anticipating his mate Waislitz leaving the board at the end of his tenure. Lock it in eddie.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

The two are not mutually exclusive. Just because Bridie satisfies an unstated selection criteria, it doesn’t mean that she isn’t the best qualified.

No, but they are different things.

If the selection criteria (especially if implied rather than stated) form part of a candidate’s qualifications, then hypothetically a female applicant could be denied a position on the basis that they are unqualified or less qualified, simply because the employer (or board, committee etc.) wanted a male but didn’t have to be explicit in stating it.

 

[Billys Back]

It could be worse. Could have a board dominated by old ex-Collingwood players (from 30 years + ago) who believe they are better qualified to run the club.

 

[Toecrusher]

Not exactly.

There were two vacancies. That’s four gender permutations …

M.M
M.F
F.M
F.F

Only one of those four permutations would have been an impediment to the $15 million.



Not exactly.

The board is a representative body. The reason for gender quotas on boards isn’t just to give opportunities to women to serve on boards, it’s also to ensure that female stakeholders of the organisation have gender representation. To that end, her gender is a part of her credentials.

Women represent over 50% of society. The Vic government are only requesting >= 40% board representation.

There seems no doubt recruiting a female to the board was worthwhile if it secured $15m. I wouldn't even question Bridie's qualifications, but she adds to the member's not getting the opportunity to vote board members in.

Ultimately, we just lost a coach, which had the board in damage control written all over it.

The pursuit of the $15m by a dysfunctional board should also be viewed together with our poor standing on the ladder, lower membership numbers and attendance. If the board applauds itself for $15m, does it also take responsibility for the lower revenue being the result of their incompetence - what has that cost us?

 

[jackcass]

There seems no doubt recruiting a female to the board was worthwhile if it secured $15m. I wouldn't even question Bridie's qualifications, but she adds to the member's not getting the opportunity to vote board members in.

Ultimately, we just lost a coach, which had the board in damage control written all over it.

The pursuit of the $15m by a dysfunctional board should also be viewed together with our poor standing on the ladder, lower membership numbers and attendance. If the board applauds itself for $15m, does it also take responsibility for the lower revenue being the result of their incompetence - what has that cost us?

Interesting... Covid now equates to board incompetence, and our board should assume responsibility for it....

 

[Toecrusher]

Interesting... Covid now equates to board incompetence, and our board should assume responsibility for it....

I think it goes well beyond covid.

 

[MyManLynch]

There seems no doubt recruiting a female to the board was worthwhile if it secured $15m. I wouldn't even question Bridie's qualifications, but she adds to the member's not getting the opportunity to vote board members in.

Ultimately, we just lost a coach, which had the board in damage control written all over it.

The pursuit of the $15m by a dysfunctional board should also be viewed together with our poor standing on the ladder, lower membership numbers and attendance. If the board applauds itself for $15m, does it also take responsibility for the lower revenue being the result of their incompetence - what has that cost us?

Members vote or confirm all board members up for re election (end of their 3 year terms), at AGM’s
Its a myth that Members don’t have an opportunity to vote…they do.
Bridie will have her selection put to a members vote at the AGM.

 

[jackcass]

I think it goes well beyond covid.

We're 3rd highest average attendance for the league and 2nd highest for home game crowd average attendance. It's very much that the main impact is Covid. I haven't made it to a game live since March 2020. There'll always be minor crowd number fluctuations year to year depending upon form, but as 2013-2017 showed, we still pull good crowds even in down years.

 

[zhoung]

Things would have been much better if they had just put a horse on the board.

Then we can shortlist some fillies/mares for senior coach, would assist in our quota.

 

[76woodenspooners]

No, but they are different things.

If the selection criteria (especially if implied rather than stated) form part of a candidate’s qualifications, then hypothetically a female applicant could be denied a position on the basis that they are unqualified or less qualified, simply because the employer (or board, committee etc.) wanted a male but didn’t have to be explicit in stating it.

That doesn’t apply in this case.

Men were ably considered for the roles.

Neil Wilson having got one of the roles is evidence of that.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

That doesn’t apply in this case.

Men were ably considered for the roles.

Neil Wilson having got one of the roles is evidence of that.

I’m only talking about the role “designated” according to The Age, for a woman, which went to O’Donnell. Not how you’re choosing to reframe the argument to suit yourself.

 

[76woodenspooners]

I’m only talking about the role “designated” according to The Age, for a woman, which went to O’Donnell. Not how you’re choosing to reframe the argument to suit yourself.

I don’t have a dog in this fight. I’m just trying to be reasonable.

It was mentioned very early on in the process that Holgate was recruiting for two seats, not just the one vacated by Ed, so we knew somebody else would be stepping down. Later in the process there were enough clues and rumours-that-ended-up-coming-to-fruition posted on here that make me believe that the seat that eventually went to Neil Wilson had been intended for Bridie O’Donnell, but her employer had held up the process.

So the seats were interchangeable, as you’d expect them to be.

One seat ended up going to a male, the other ended up going to a female.

The female is an ex-elite athlete, medical doctor, senior state government administrator, and AFLW fan. We know that she had only been a CFC member for 14 months. She had a social media presence and given interviews, so we know a little bit about her.

The male is from the horse racing industry. We have NFI of his CFC membership status. We don’t know anything about him except that Ed reckons he’s grouse.

Now it’s come out that Victoria will give us $$$ for a medical centre if we have at least 40% women on our board. In practice that meant that for us to be compliant, then at least one of the two vacant seats that Holgate led the recruiting for needed to go to a woman. One of them did.

Now imagine if we had filled both of the roles with men. Imagine if it then came out that the Collingwood board had chosen to forego $15 million, and they justified it on the basis of “Only the best for Collingwood, and the best board candidates just happened to be men! Today is a proud day for the Collingwood Football Club …” …

… and we’d have a scandal on our hands far bigger than the Do Better report.

 

[Billys Back]

Seems to be a lot of focus on Bridie. I don’t know whether it was because of her social media activity, or the fact that she is a female and so it’s assumed she wasn’t the best person for the role or just a reason to pot the board or her actual qualifications to perform her duties.

I’m sure there were enough well credentialed candidates, both male and female, and the board chose who they thought were the best male and female candidates.

Heaven forbid if the best 2 were women. I’m yet to see anyone make comment about why another male was added to the board. Was it based purely on his position to add another perspective or because the club wanted a male majority?

 

[76woodenspooners]

Seems to be a lot of focus on Bridie. I don’t know whether it was because of her social media activity, or the fact that she is a female

My guess is that it’s mainly due to her social media activity. I think if a male had had the same social media profile, then there would have been the same blow back.

When Christine Holgate was appointed (CEO of Blackmores back then, chair of the Australia-China trade council, etc) her gender wasn’t an issue.

Ditto Sizer. I don’t remember any controversy over Capp, our first female board member. There was not too much around Camplin, and I don’t remember anything gender related.

Probably the only gender aspect around O’Donnell is the 40% board quota by the Vic Government to get the grant, but that’s not the fault of the club or the board. Bridie may well have been the best candidate irrespective of gender. Some assume she was. Some assume she wasn’t. We’ll never know for sure.

Heaven forbid if the best 2 were women. I’m yet to see anyone make comment about why another male was added to the board. Was it based purely on his position to add another perspective or because the club wanted a male majority?

Wilson seems to be largely anonymous and thus is a small target.

We’re probably at a bit of a transition period in history between anonymity and having a social media profile. There will come a time in our future where people who are anonymous will be treated with suspicion and won’t be seriously considered for roles like this. We’re not there yet.

 

[jmac70]

My guess is that it’s mainly due to her social media activity. I think if a male had had the same social media profile, then there would have been the same blow back.

When Christine Holgate was appointed (CEO of Blackmores back then, chair of the Australia-China trade council, etc) her gender wasn’t an issue.

Ditto Sizer. I don’t remember any controversy over Capp, our first female board member. There was not too much around Camplin, and I don’t remember anything gender related.

Probably the only gender aspect around O’Donnell is the 40% board quota by the Vic Government to get the grant, but that’s not the fault of the club or the board. Bridie may well have been the best candidate irrespective of gender. Some assume she was. Some assume she wasn’t. We’ll never know for sure.



Wilson seems to be largely anonymous and thus is a small target.

We’re probably at a bit of a transition period in history between anonymity and having a social media profile. There will come a time in our future where people who are anonymous will be treated with suspicion and won’t be seriously considered for roles like this. We’re not there yet.

Sounds very ‘Black Mirror.’

 

[76woodenspooners]

Sounds very ‘Black Mirror.’

Sorry, I don’t understand the reference

If it’s about this …

We’re probably at a bit of a transition period in history between anonymity and having a social media profile. There will come a time in our future where people who are anonymous will be treated with suspicion and won’t be seriously considered for roles like this. We’re not there yet.

… being dystopian. Yeah, maybe. Think of all the things that we take for granted today that we would have considered dystopian in our recent past.

For example, nobody on public transport ever makes eye contact, they’re buried in their little handheld devices. 14 years ago that would have been considered dystopian - prior to the first usable mainstream smartphone coming on the market.

 

[sr36]

My guess is that it’s mainly due to her social media activity. I think if a male had had the same social media profile, then there would have been the same blow back.

I think the blow back is only partially to do with her negative comments about the club on social media. A fair bit of it is dissatisfaction with the club and a fear of the threat of "wokedom", which is how many view her appointment.