Club Mgmt. Board of Directors as led by President Dave Barham - Statement from Barham addressing Merrett etc - 12/9

[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

    51

    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

  42

  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

    48

    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

    39

    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

 

[Kong]

Id love to get a film crew to follow them round week 1.

Milhouse = McGrath
Martin = Brayden Ham

 

[DERO]

He stood on a bloke's toes at the pisser once. Not CEO material.

Yes but he does not discriminate. He is happy to stand on anyone's toes.

 

[jmoo wan]

He stood on a bloke's toes at the pisser once. Not CEO material.

that wasn’t my foot that rubbed your toes

 

[The Prosecutor]

This ****ing club.



It was barely 24 hours ago that we were wondering how Andrew Thorburn’s appointment as Essendon CEO made it past Dorothy Hisgrove, a club director and over-qualified hall monitor in realms of diversity and inclusion.

Hisgrove, a national managing partner at KPMG, received a special mention from club president David Barham during her appointment to Essendon’s CEO selection panel, with Barham hailing her business leadership and expertise in people and culture.

We’ve already noted how fruitless these skills turned out to be in preventing the furore engulfing the club, and we may have discovered the reason why.

Margin Call has established that Hisgrove was actually out of the country for a significant portion of September when the panel deliberations were taking place on the matter of a replacement CEO.


We know this because Hisgrove’s Facebook profile is adorned with snapshots of slender palms, glasses of vino and a shimmering Iberian Peninsula, all of which were uploaded while the mess of the club’s implosion was trying to be contained out of Melbourne.

Hisgrove appears to have left Australia within days of the Essendon CEO position becoming vacant on August 23, when former boss Xavier Campbell tendered his resignation amid a whirlwind of sackings and departures.

And yes, we can accept that holidays are necessary, booked well in advance, and often timed around the orbiting schedules of other people. What’s curious is that a celebrated and supposedly committed board member saw fit to decamp for sunnier climes in the midst of a disaster that can now be measured with a Geiger counter.

Especially, we might add, when that board member had been thrust forth by the club’s president as an impeccable leadership savant whose input was to be so necessary for the selection of Essendon’s successor CEO.

As Barham told his membership, Hisgrove was put on the panel to provide “the latest testing protocols to ensure the panel has a clear picture of the personality and leadership capabilities of each candidate”. We can conclude this was hardly a raging success, given the fallout from Thorburn’s appointment.

We are not without sympathy here. The task of vetting candidates is not easy, and it is hardly made easier when one is navigating the cobblestone alleyways of the Portuguese capital, or slaking the heat of the Spanish south with large, fragrant glasses of Rioja. While we’re querying levels of commitment, it’s worth noting as well that Hisgrove is hardly a lifetime Essendon supporter.

From what we can gather she’s actually a Collingwood fan from years back, or so we’re led to believe from the incriminating photographs that we’ve discovered online (fair warning to ye all).

Hisgrove may have joined the Essendon board last August but until she took a seat at the table she publicly and proudly identified as a Pies fan, flaunting a black and white scarf on one occasion and even changing her Facebook profile to include the Collingwood logo during their 2018 grand final campaign.

We need not point out that it’s not a capital offence to switch allegiances in the AFL but, on the other hand, it is a very novel way to increase boardroom diversity. Not sure how that will wash with the club faithful, however. Hisgrove did not respond to questions.

 

[ghostdog]

This ******* club.

Geez we're good.

 

[Lore]

This ******* club.

I can't open that but from what we heard at the time she was away in the period when no one was interviewed during the prelim finals week, and I thought it was because someone had died or something and she had to go?

 

[The Prosecutor]

 

[baz_machine]

This ******* club.

what she minding the players in Ibeza?

 

[The Prosecutor]

I can't open that but from what we heard at the time she was away in the period when no one was interviewed during the prelim finals week, and I thought it was because someone had died or something and she had to go?

Depends what a 'significant portion of September' is.

 

[Lore]

Must be a bit slow for business journos if they're recycling back page news three times in the same week.

Either that or I wonder if some of these new board spill agitators are trying to feed the outrage machine to suit their own ends.

 

[yodellinhank]

Spill.

 

[Lore]

Depends what a 'significant portion of September' is.

The first four reported coach interviews were on Wednesday 7th of September, then nothing else until the week before the grand final when Yze had a second interview on the Wednesday 21st. Then on the 22nd (National Day of Mourning Public Holiday) Gia had apparently been interviewed. In between we heard of other people being asked to join the process and choosing not to, or not yet. Mostly those were experienced coaches that would skip the first round anyway so their interviews would've presumably happened directly before and after the grand final, if they'd gone ahead.

Mahoney was chairing the coach process and calling everyone inviting them to apply, while I think Hisgrove was involved in the personality profiling stuff (her background is people and culture, and aren't personality profiles all the rage in HR these days?) Presumably the others all had their own bits to research and then further questions to ask during the interviews for each one. Jordan Lewis seemed to be focusing on the Essendon context and goodness of fit for modern footy.


I mean I'll also point out that we're post-covid and you don't have to be in the same country to do business anymore. Plenty of things are either online or in a hybrid format and that doesn't seem to be an issue until the front page needs filling.

 

[eighties_bomber]

just put the club and its supporters out of their misery and fold up. Tassie can take our spot!

 

[BomberManU]

This ******* club.



It was barely 24 hours ago that we were wondering how Andrew Thorburn’s appointment as Essendon CEO made it past Dorothy Hisgrove, a club director and over-qualified hall monitor in realms of diversity and inclusion.

Hisgrove, a national managing partner at KPMG, received a special mention from club president David Barham during her appointment to Essendon’s CEO selection panel, with Barham hailing her business leadership and expertise in people and culture.

We’ve already noted how fruitless these skills turned out to be in preventing the furore engulfing the club, and we may have discovered the reason why.

Margin Call has established that Hisgrove was actually out of the country for a significant portion of September when the panel deliberations were taking place on the matter of a replacement CEO.


We know this because Hisgrove’s Facebook profile is adorned with snapshots of slender palms, glasses of vino and a shimmering Iberian Peninsula, all of which were uploaded while the mess of the club’s implosion was trying to be contained out of Melbourne.

Hisgrove appears to have left Australia within days of the Essendon CEO position becoming vacant on August 23, when former boss Xavier Campbell tendered his resignation amid a whirlwind of sackings and departures.

And yes, we can accept that holidays are necessary, booked well in advance, and often timed around the orbiting schedules of other people. What’s curious is that a celebrated and supposedly committed board member saw fit to decamp for sunnier climes in the midst of a disaster that can now be measured with a Geiger counter.

Especially, we might add, when that board member had been thrust forth by the club’s president as an impeccable leadership savant whose input was to be so necessary for the selection of Essendon’s successor CEO.

As Barham told his membership, Hisgrove was put on the panel to provide “the latest testing protocols to ensure the panel has a clear picture of the personality and leadership capabilities of each candidate”. We can conclude this was hardly a raging success, given the fallout from Thorburn’s appointment.

We are not without sympathy here. The task of vetting candidates is not easy, and it is hardly made easier when one is navigating the cobblestone alleyways of the Portuguese capital, or slaking the heat of the Spanish south with large, fragrant glasses of Rioja. While we’re querying levels of commitment, it’s worth noting as well that Hisgrove is hardly a lifetime Essendon supporter.

From what we can gather she’s actually a Collingwood fan from years back, or so we’re led to believe from the incriminating photographs that we’ve discovered online (fair warning to ye all).

Hisgrove may have joined the Essendon board last August but until she took a seat at the table she publicly and proudly identified as a Pies fan, flaunting a black and white scarf on one occasion and even changing her Facebook profile to include the Collingwood logo during their 2018 grand final campaign.

We need not point out that it’s not a capital offence to switch allegiances in the AFL but, on the other hand, it is a very novel way to increase boardroom diversity. Not sure how that will wash with the club faithful, however. Hisgrove did not respond to questions.

What a brain dead, click-baity 'article'. Absolute nonsense, that will appeal to the nuffies.

 

[frodos gardener]

Questioning how it got past her is valid. Her being out of country, though, is less relevant. Technology has come a long way.

 

[mike14]

Sounds like another one of those times where "anywhere but Essendon" and you wouldn't have a problem.
IF we had a fully united board, competent people in all positions AND policies and procedures that were robust, well communicated and actually followed, THEN you could be pretty confident that this is something that could be done remotely.
As we have absolutely none of that it stands to reason that shit is going to go even more pear-shaped than normal because people aren't in the same room and collaborating/integrating fully

 

[The Prosecutor]

I think its also fair to ask why she had to be the one leading both processes when her availability was clear.

I don't disagree its a clickbait article but some of the concerns are still valid.

 

[Lore]

I think its also fair to ask why she had to be the one leading both processes when her availability was clear.

I don't disagree its a clickbait article but some of the concerns are still valid.

She wasn't leading both processes.

Thorburn was leading the external review with EY, Acting CEO Nick Ryan supporting and Hisgrove as the point person on the board. Sounds like Barham will be looking after it personally for the next week until the finishing touches are on the report and it can be tabled.

Thorburn also had the CEO search, which obviously got handballed somewhere along the line. We don't know much about that particular process.

Mahoney was the chair of the coach selection committee, of which there were six members, Hisgrove and Thorburn among them, plus Lewis, Walls, McKinnis.

 

[Lore]

While we’re querying levels of commitment, it’s worth noting as well that Hisgrove is hardly a lifetime Essendon supporter.

From what we can gather she’s actually a Collingwood fan from years back, or so we’re led to believe from the incriminating photographs that we’ve discovered online (fair warning to ye all).

Hisgrove may have joined the Essendon board last August but until she took a seat at the table she publicly and proudly identified as a Pies fan, flaunting a black and white scarf on one occasion and even changing her Facebook profile to include the Collingwood logo during their 2018 grand final campaign.

We need not point out that it’s not a capital offence to switch allegiances in the AFL but, on the other hand, it is a very novel way to increase boardroom diversity. Not sure how that will wash with the club faithful, however. Hisgrove did not respond to questions.

Wait is this also supposed to be breaking news?

Here's a paragraph from the announcement when she joined the board of directors on May 24th last year, 18 months ago.

“Recently, there has been external discussion regarding the support of teams from AFL directors. For the sake of clarity and transparency, Dorothy was open from the very beginning in the process that she has previously supported Collingwood. We have no issue with this. In fact, the Board views this as a potential advantage, as Dorothy will bring a diversity of perspective different to those of the other Board members, all of whom have been lifelong, passionate Essendon supporters. What Dorothy will have in common with her fellow Board members is a total commitment to Essendon success."

News - Dorothy Hisgrove joins the Board - announced minutes before the game yesterday

Hisgrove joins Board of Directors https://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/943184 Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of a new director, with Dorothy Hisgrove joining the Board of Directors. Subject to receiving the necessary approval from the Victorian Commission for...

www.bigfooty.com

Absolutely dredging for controversy there. Bloody hell.

Meanwhile GWS have Jimmy Bartel on their board.

The CEO of Sydney was a premiership captain for Geelong.

Our Head Coach was a Brisbane player.

Jordan Lewis and Robert Walls were also on the coaching selection panel.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

Wait is this also supposed to be breaking news?

Here's a paragraph from the announcement when she joined the board of directors on May 24th last year, 18 months ago.

News - Dorothy Hisgrove joins the Board - announced minutes before the game yesterday

Hisgrove joins Board of Directors https://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/943184 Essendon Football Club is pleased to announce the appointment of a new director, with Dorothy Hisgrove joining the Board of Directors. Subject to receiving the necessary approval from the Victorian Commission for...

www.bigfooty.com

Absolutely dredging for controversy there. Bloody hell.

Meanwhile GWS have Jimmy Bartel on their board.

The CEO of Sydney was a premiership captain for Geelong.

Our Head Coach was a Brisbane player.

Jordan Lewis and Robert Walls were also on the coaching selection panel.

I think you're spot on in your assessment of someone cough Sheedy cough creating issues now to suit their end goal.

Change can sometimes be messy as we've seen. I'm not convinced Rutten wasn't the right coach but all this other change, despite filled with mistakes along the way, is heading in the right direction IMO. I'm willing the live with the short term blunders if it means long term gain.

The old guard who only want Essendon people everywhere see their chance to gain control again and are probably willing to help create stories everywhere.

 

[Sun Ra]

Chill Bombers, Chill ......

 

[Mootsy]

Chill Bombers, Chill ......

 

[Lore]

I think you're spot on in your assessment of someone cough Sheedy cough creating issues now to suit their end goal.

Change can sometimes be messy as we've seen. I'm not convinced Rutten wasn't the right coach but all this other change, despite filled with mistakes along the way, is heading in the right direction IMO. I'm willing the live with the short term blunders if it means long term gain.

The old guard who only want Essendon people everywhere see their chance to gain control again and are probably willing to help create stories everywhere.

You can certainly see the vision, even if the execution has been flawed and clumsy.

We seem to be failing forward.

 

[Mr Mojo Risin]

You can certainly see the vision, even if the execution has been flawed and clumsy.

We seem to be failing forward.

Yep, after 20 years of failing to be run like a professional club and many selfish sycophants preventing change, it's not surprising it's not pretty when it came, but I'll take any stumble forward.

The external coaching panel and review is a good start. I wanted Scott as coach so I also think that's good. Sure there's been shit like how Rutten was treated and Thorburn, but Thorburn was corrected quickly and both times Barham has taken ownership. I prefer this to what has been and at least until changes have been implemented, I'll take it over someone else I don't know.

 

[Nifft]

Spill.

Wine?