Official Club Stuff 2019 AGM/election

Who are you voting for?

  • George Fiacchi

    Votes: 9 14.8%
  • Gavin Wanganeen

    Votes: 14 23.0%
  • Craig Thompson

    Votes: 27 44.3%
  • David O'Donovan

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Jack Watts

    Votes: 10 16.4%

  • Total voters
    61

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This probably deserves its own thread.

The club has received 4 nominations for the member elected position on the board, currently occupied by George Fiacchi. The nominees are George Fiacchi for re-election, David O'Donovan, Gavin Wanganeen and Craig Thompson.

Profiles here - http://s.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL ...and Files/878-CandidateStatements-PROOF03.pdf

The ballot opens at 12:01am ACDT on Monday 28 January 2019 and ends at 6:00pm ACDT on Wednesday 6 February 2019.

More info here - http://www.portadelaidefc.com.au/news/2019-01-23/2019-agm-election

Results will be announced at the AGM, starting 5:30pm ACDT on Friday 8 February 2019 at The Port Club.
 

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Head over heart. My vote will be to Craig. However I am concerned he is from a finance background of which we have a serious glut.

I like Fiacchi, but sorry mate we need change and since members have limited power this is the only way we can do it.
 
Head over heart. My vote will be to Craig. However I am concerned he is from a finance background of which we have a serious glut.

I like Fiacchi, but sorry mate we need change and since members have limited power this is the only way we can do it.

Based on his banking career from his LinkedIn profile posted by Lockhart Road he ain't no Accountant. He was head of sales in Australia's most aggressive and successful Investment Bank.

Reading his background and what he does, he's exactly what we need at board level.
 
George v Gavin. Could be as interesting election battle.
George has real cred for his years of work with Tim Ginever with the one club initiative. Won't go on at this point because most of the multi-post regulars here know what I mean.
I'm glad Gav wants to get involved now but still remember how little he wanted to put in as captain other than playing games.
 
Gavin “It’s the players who aren’t maintaining a premiership standard” Wanganeen in the blue corner vs Craig “It’s weak leadership that’s the issue” Thompson in the red corner.

Wanganeen will win easily. Two words: Tex Wanganeen.
 
If Craig Thompson loses the popularity contest can we bump the west coast supporting fidget spinner and emojis engagement representative and appointed him anyway?

(appologies to Tribey (I think) for the half remembered reference to Holly Whatsername)

Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates in this election, it does seem rather odd that Fiacchi and Wanganeen in particular have to face the scrutiny of the members while she was parachuted in on the flimsiest of whims.
 

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Okay, so I had never heard of this Craig Thompson until yesterday. When I first read his name I thought maybe the whore loving former politician was getting on board. Different Craig Thompson.

Looking through his CV I'm reasonably impressed. Head of Sales at Macquarie with an emphasis on strategy and growth and from his current role I particularly like this "..... (Craig) today assists businesses in a consulting capacity to get absolute clarity on what is their competitive advantage and supervise the focused execution of their core strategies. Craig enjoys the challenge of senior executive coaching, and mentors his clients to grow their strengths, understand their blind spots, and become star coaches to the teams they lead."

When picking a board member, I don't want people to simply pick an ex player fan favourite. You've got to think about what they bring to the table. What are their skill sets? This guy, sales, strategy, corporate understanding, east coast big city contacts.

Then I look at George, the incumbent. Did a great job with the OneClub stuff, a passionate Port man, but that was 6 years ago. George owned a Sports Store in West Lakes and worked in Radio Advertising/Sales (we already have one of those, he's our CEO) and now runs a small Adelaide media company. What does George bring to the table?

Gavin Wanganeen. Great player. But again what does Gavin bring to the table from a corporate/strategy/governance point of view? What is his business background? With all due respects, Gav doesn't appear to be the sharpest tool in the shed. There's no problem with that by the way, he has strengths in other areas, but are they what we need at board level?

The other bloke I won't even bother with.

I have heard along the grapevine that many of our board members are not good at pressing the flesh with corporates. Getting out there and selling the club to potential sponsors. I think we all have seen the evidence of this.

Craig says he's offering the following: Leadership – I feel that we need to strive to have the best people leaders possible in both the playing group and the throughout the club. Leadership wins premierships and attracts the best quality people; • Strategy – We must be in the upper quadrant of financially successful clubs. This requires a clear strategy and precise execution.

This is what most of us have been crying out from our board isn't? Craig seems to have a pretty decent record at achieving these things. You don't stay in upper management of a place like Macquarie for 9 years without getting results.

I just think it is a no brainer.... but will be surprised if he gets in because most people won't actually think about it and just pick a former player.
 
Or he won’t get in because this board doesn’t represent the wider view of the PAFC community as to what the issues are.
 
No one is going to beat Gavin Wanganeen on name alone.

However I feel strongly enough about this that i'd like to investigate Craig a bit more and get his views on things before we try and get him up to win. Our history is a double edged sword. Our members will always vote for names and footballers rather than the best candidates whoever they may be.

As far as i'm concerned, Craig is technically more qualified with a more diverse experience background than Keith Thomas. KT however has been involved in football all of his career.
 
“I’ve had executive roles at Prudential and Colonial State Bank, been appointed Regional General Manager for Commonwealth Bank and held the position of CEO for St George Bank.

My proposal to ensure this club returns to greatness is to conduct, at the end of every year, a thorough review of the leadership and governance throughout the club, not just internally, but also through independent third parties, so that we make the best decisions to ensure that we have every chance of the success they we are looking for.

My name is Rob Chapman, and I am the Chairman of the Adelaide Crows.”

Still surprised?
 
If Craig Thompson loses the popularity contest can we bump the west coast supporting fidget spinner and emojis engagement representative and appointed him anyway?



(appologies to Tribey (I think) for the half remembered reference to Holly Whatsername)


"We'd like to thank Holly for her contribution to our club..."

hollyransom_620x370.jpg


Tick-Box-Data-Governance1.jpg
 
I think an ex player should be on the board, but when only 2 of 10 board directors are elected by members I'm not sure the ex players should be pushed as club members elected board director, as most members have no real clue about most candidates, so the default position is pick an ex player, especially when members hear so little from non club member elected directors.

Ross Haslam is on the board but played in the 1960's and 1970's. George Fiacchi played in the 1980's and 1990's.

When Darryl Wakelin ran for the board in 2007 - we had 5 elected directors out of 10 - and he ran on a ticket with Anthony Toop, that appealed to me, as Wakelin was a recently retired player, understood the modern game, had got his pharmacy degree whilst playing footy, owned a few pharmacies and was a partner in a Coffin Bay oyster business with his brother Shane and others, plus bought an experienced businessman with him as part of his ticket. He covered many bases. But in the end he had to leave as he couldn't commit his time to running his businesses and spending a lot of time diging us out of the s**t where we almost went under in 2011.

I have put up sports coach mentor Wayne Goldsmith's model for a board a few times on here. Goldsmith has worked 30 years with national Olympic committees outside Australia, national sporting bodies inside and outside Australia as well as individual clubs and has branched out to do business coaching/mentoring. .

See here for more on his MODEL from when Darren Cahill was appointed - but his design for a good board. is 7 people, with the following background
* 2 from inside the sport that really know the game
* 2 from within the sporting industry but outside the game itself who understand sports
* 2 from outside sport who understand business, finance, marketing, success and winning but who are not constrained by the limitations, history and traditions of the sporting industry
* 1 a real visionary leadership

As you can see from my link we have 5 in the 3rd category but all up we have 3 lawyers and 3 accountants on the board, so whilst strong professionally, all on other boards, they don't open corporate doors, and we lack people who have driven businesses and we lack marketing experience - and I mean real marketing not just selling experience.

Wanganeen should replace Haslam or Fiacchi but we need someone like Craig Thompson as well as he appears to have a strong finance and sales background as well as working with listed public companies.

I looked at Craig Thompson's linkedin page and was disappointed there was a big 23 year gap from matriculating from Henley High in 1978 to 2001 when he is appointed executive director, head of sales relationship banking division at Macquarie and then moved onto other divisions. What did he do in between time and what qualifications did he get?? Obviously something pretty decent otherwise he wouldn't have ended up at Macquire, but it would have been good to have filled in the 23 year gap.

I would like to know how big and how successful his GFC Consultants business he set up in 2009 really is? I did like his - assist businesses ... get absolute clarity on what is their competitive advantage and then annoy them to ensure that they execute what they say they want to - line. Maybe he could annoy our board re China and on field success. Also trying to become a wine consultant - I have specific passion for the wine industry and import quality small producer products from Italy. I also use my corporate experience to help wine companies, local and international, to launch brands (inc distribution).......

Helps his old man was part of the Golden generation. Sounds like at the least he should be on the Sydney / Melbourne based advisory team that Koch has set up since 2012.

But all these candidates should be allowed to - don't know if the club bans this - have a link a to their web page where they set out their experience in full, and set out their manifesto of what they want to do when they are on the board. 250 words is useless. You really learn SFA about the candidates.
 
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I think an ex player should be on the board, but when only 2 of 10 board directors are elected by members I'm not sure the ex players should be pushed as club members elected board director, as most members have no real clue about most candidates, so the default position is pick an ex player, especially when members hear so little from non club member elected directors.

Ross Haslam is on the board but played in the 1960's and 1970's. George Fiacchi played in the 1980's and 1990's.

When Darryl Wakelin ran for the board in 2007 - we had 5 elected directors out of 10 - and he ran on a ticket with Anthony Toop, that appealed to me, as Wakelin was a recently retired player, understood the modern game, had got his pharmacy degree whilst playing footy, owned a few pharmacies and was a partner in a Coffin Bay oyster business with his brother Shane and others, plus bought an experienced businessman with him as part of his ticket. He covered many bases. But in the end he had to leave as he couldn't commit his time to running his businesses and spending a lot of time diging us out of the s**t where we almost went under in 2011.

I have put up sports coach mentor Wayne Goldsmith's model for a board a few times on here. Goldsmith has worked 30 years with national Olympic committees outside Australia, national sporting bodies inside and outside Australia as well as individual clubs and has branched out to do business coaching/mentoring. .

See here for more on his MODEL from when Darren Cahill was appointed - but his design for a good board. is 7 people, with the following background
* 2 from inside the sport that really know the game
* 2 from within the sporting industry but outside the game itself who understand
* 2 from outside sport who understand business, finance, marketing, success and winning but who are not constrained by the limitations, history and traditions of the sporting industry
* 1 a real visionary leadership

As you can see from my link we have 5 in the 3rd category but all up we have 3 lawyers and 3 accountants on the board, so whilst strong professionally, all on other boards, they don't open corporate doors, and we lack people who have driven businesses and we lack marketing experience - and I mean real marketing not just selling experience.

Wanganeen should replace Haslam or Fiacchi but we need someone like Craig Thompson as well as he appears to have a strong finance and sales background as well as working with listed public companies.

I looked at Craig Thompson's linkedin page and was disappointed there was a big 23 year gap from matriculating from Henley High in 1978 to 2001 when he is appointed executive director, head of sales relationship banking division at Macquarie and then moved onto other divisions. What did he do in between time and what qualifications did he get?? Obviously something pretty decent otherwise he wouldn't have ended up at Macquire, but it would have been good to have filled in the 23 year gap.

I would like to know how big and how successful his GFC Consultants business he set up in 2009 really is? I did like his - assist businesses ... get absolute clarity on what is their competitive advantage and then annoy them to ensure that they execute what they say they want to - line. Maybe he could annoy our board re China and on field success. Also trying to become a wine consultant - I have specific passion for the wine industry and import quality small producer products from Italy. I also use my corporate experience to help wine companies, local and international, to launch brands (inc distribution).......

Helps his old man was part of the Golden generation. Sounds like at the least he should be on the Sydney / Melbourne based advisory team that Koch has set up since 2012.

But all these candidates should be allowed to - don't know if the club bans this - have a link a to their web page where they set out their experience in full, and set out their manifesto of what they want to do when they are on the board. 250 words is useless. You really learn SFA about the candidates.

Based on his roles at Macquarie, I'd be very surprised if he didn't start out, or at least spent a fair bit of his early career in the banking sector.
 
I think an ex player should be on the board, but when only 2 of 10 board directors are elected by members I'm not sure the ex players should be pushed as club members elected board director, as most members have no real clue about most candidates, so the default position is pick an ex player, especially when members hear so little from non club member elected directors.

Ross Haslam is on the board but played in the 1960's and 1970's. George Fiacchi played in the 1980's and 1990's.

When Darryl Wakelin ran for the board in 2007 - we had 5 elected directors out of 10 - and he ran on a ticket with Anthony Toop, that appealed to me, as Wakelin was a recently retired player, understood the modern game, had got his pharmacy degree whilst playing footy, owned a few pharmacies and was a partner in a Coffin Bay oyster business with his brother Shane and others, plus bought an experienced businessman with him as part of his ticket. He covered many bases. But in the end he had to leave as he couldn't commit his time to running his businesses and spending a lot of time diging us out of the s**t where we almost went under in 2011.

I have put up sports coach mentor Wayne Goldsmith's model for a board a few times on here. Goldsmith has worked 30 years with national Olympic committees outside Australia, national sporting bodies inside and outside Australia as well as individual clubs and has branched out to do business coaching/mentoring. .

See here for more on his MODEL from when Darren Cahill was appointed - but his design for a good board. is 7 people, with the following background
* 2 from inside the sport that really know the game
* 2 from within the sporting industry but outside the game itself who understand
* 2 from outside sport who understand business, finance, marketing, success and winning but who are not constrained by the limitations, history and traditions of the sporting industry
* 1 a real visionary leadership

As you can see from my link we have 5 in the 3rd category but all up we have 3 lawyers and 3 accountants on the board, so whilst strong professionally, all on other boards, they don't open corporate doors, and we lack people who have driven businesses and we lack marketing experience - and I mean real marketing not just selling experience.

Wanganeen should replace Haslam or Fiacchi but we need someone like Craig Thompson as well as he appears to have a strong finance and sales background as well as working with listed public companies.

I looked at Craig Thompson's linkedin page and was disappointed there was a big 23 year gap from matriculating from Henley High in 1978 to 2001 when he is appointed executive director, head of sales relationship banking division at Macquarie and then moved onto other divisions. What did he do in between time and what qualifications did he get?? Obviously something pretty decent otherwise he wouldn't have ended up at Macquire, but it would have been good to have filled in the 23 year gap.

I would like to know how big and how successful his GFC Consultants business he set up in 2009 really is? I did like his - assist businesses ... get absolute clarity on what is their competitive advantage and then annoy them to ensure that they execute what they say they want to - line. Maybe he could annoy our board re China and on field success. Also trying to become a wine consultant - I have specific passion for the wine industry and import quality small producer products from Italy. I also use my corporate experience to help wine companies, local and international, to launch brands (inc distribution).......

Helps his old man was part of the Golden generation. Sounds like at the least he should be on the Sydney / Melbourne based advisory team that Koch has set up since 2012.

But all these candidates should be allowed to - don't know if the club bans this - have a link a to their web page where they set out their experience in full, and set out their manifesto of what they want to do when they are on the board. 250 words is useless. You really learn SFA about the candidates.

If Thompson was appointed to replace one of the lame ducks who act as nothing but a handbrake for China, that’s a different story.

But my belief is the members have a responsibility to appoint people who will be their voice, and we already appointed Thiele as our off-field club matters representative, so we need to appoint someone who represents the views of the members with regards to on-field matters.

Gavin knows what it takes to win a flag in the AFL era, and as such his opinion at board level on football matters and on-field appointments should carry significant weight.

P.S Head of Sales Relationship Banking Division is just a fancy way of saying Craig was Head of Mortgages i.e another risk adverse person.
 
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