Saints Appoint New CEO

[Kildonan]

Saints appoint new CEO
14 June 2006
St Kilda Football Club

As part of its planned succession strategy, the St Kilda Football Club board is pleased to announce that Archie Fraser will be appointed to Chief Executive Officer at the end of this season.

Current caretaker CEO Jim Watts has served the Club for the past six years and, over that time, has held the roles of Director, Vice President, and Chief Executive Officer.

The hand over of leadership will be phased in over the remainder of the 2006 season to allow Archie to hit the ground running.

Archie Fraser joined the club in October 2005 as General Manager Commercial Operations with a view to restructuring the Club’s commercial departments prior to moving into the CEO role at some stage in 2006.


St Kilda Football Club President, Rod Butterss said, “On behalf of the board I would like to sincerely thank Jim for the significant contribution he has made to the Club over the past six years.

When Jim stepped back into the CEO role two years ago he set himself some punishing targets including getting the Club debt free under his leadership and delivering the Moorabbin Redevelopment project. He has achieved both of these and many other significant outcomes over that time.”

Jim Watts said, “It has been an honour for me to have such a long and rewarding association with the Club. I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had in working with such a talented and visionary organisation. There are many more objectives to be achieved by the St Kilda Football Club in season 2006 and I continue to be totally focussed on delivering those to our members.”

Archie Fraser said of the appointment, “I am excited that the board have selected me for the role of CEO at the Club. In my view, the CEO position at the St Kilda FC is the most exciting job in Australian sport today. The Saints are poised to achieve outstanding results both on and off the field over the next few years. There is no doubt that as a Club we can write our own history and I intend to be a major part of this success.”

 

[Kildonan]

Archie Fraser – Profile
Born and educated in Scotland, Archie has lived in Australia since 1980, moving to Brisbane initially to play professional soccer.

Archie and his family have lived in Melbourne since 1992.

Over the past 18 years he has worked with major companies in General Management or CEO roles having national and or international responsibilities with;
• Inchcape PLC ,
• Fuji Xerox,
• Adecco, Lee Hecht Harrison,
• Cendant Mobility,

Responsibilities ranged from annual Revenues of AUD$2m to AUD$420m and employee numbers from 8 to 500. He has been directly involved in leading, establishing, growing and branding businesses across Australia and the Asian region. His exposure to businesses and brands in different markets has provided a depth of experience.

From 1996 to 1999 he worked with the global recruitment giant Adecco, holding the role as CEO for Australia & New Zealand for the Adecco brand.
In 1999 Archie was appointed a partner and CEO of a Melbourne based HR Consulting firm Hamilton Watts International (HWI) with operations in: Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and UK. In July 2000 the global NYSE listed Cendant Corporation (annual net revenue in excess of US$20 billion) acquired HWI. Following the acquisition, he joined Cendant Mobility as Managing Director Asia Pacific reporting to the US parent and was appointed as the company’s Australian director.

Archie joined the St Kilda Football Club late last year after a number of consulting assignments with the club over the previous 2 years. He has held the position as General Manager Commercial Operations at the St Kilda Football Club since October 2005, making a significant contribution while working to develop the St Kilda Football club into the #1 AFL club and #1 brand in Australian sport.