Myer, taking more water than the Snowy Hydro, has tapped Garry Hounsell to be its next chairman. The Yarra Valley winemaker sure likes his sandwiches stuffed with punishment, having most recently chaired Spotless through its remarkably rudderless defence against Grant Fenn at Downer.

But Hounsell is only assuming the chair on a nebulous future date. Current chairman Paul McClintock is putting himself up for re-election at Myer's November annual meeting. That is despite McClintock's assurances to institutional investors and proxy advisers 18 months ago that he would be gone by now. Those assurances gave the former Commonwealth bureaucrat a stay of execution, allowing him to remain in place without facing a shareholder vote last year, a vote that would have certainly ended his tenure.