New Racing Victoria chairman sets spring agenda, as CEO search ramps up

Racing Victoria has started an independent recruitment for a permanent chief executive as its new chairman unveils his vision for the future in an exclusive interview.

Racing Victoria chairman Tim Eddy. Picture: George Sal/Racing Photos

Racing Victoria has started an independent recruitment for a permanent chief executive.

New chairman Tim Eddy and the board want to fill the role before the Spring Carnival.

Aaron Morrison, RV chief operating and financial officer, has acted in the position for two months since the resignation of Andrew Jones.

The search for a chief executive could not begin officially until a renewed RV board was finalised with the appointment of new directors and election of a chair and deputy.

Eddy and deputy Sharon McCrohan led their first meeting last Friday with new directors Mark Player and Tim Rourke a welcome “fresh set of eyes” on the board.

* ‘Not good enough 12 months ago’: Owners boss questions new RV chairman

While yet to formalise a selection criteria, Eddy said the next chief executive would need a “really clear” understanding of racing, wagering and participant needs.

“Clearly Aaron is a really good candidate and we’ll start looking at some other candidates,” Eddy said.

“We would be really hopeful, now we have some stability, it would be an attractive role for a number of people.”

* ‘Out of their depth’: Owners boss applauds exit of Racing Victoria CEO

Aaron Morrison.

Racenet understands Racing Integrity Commission Sean Carroll and former club chief executives Steve Rosich and Josh Blanksby are among potential candidates.

Eddy would not be drawn on speculation.

He said effective communication and understanding of the industry, from participants to wagering and club and government relations, would be sought after credentials.

“It doesn’t mean the new CEO has all those things in place, but they need the agility of mind to understand those things because racing is full of moving parts,” Eddy said.

Eddy said an independent recruitment would help streamline the process, with a number of priorities the new-look board wants to work on before the Spring Carnival.

“We know where we want to be … we’ll use an independent person to help us do it, particularly as we have got a candidate that’s internal,” Eddy said.

* Contenders line up to replace Jones as Racing Victoria CEO

Josh Blanksby.

“We got to make sure we have proper governance around that, we would hope it wouldn’t be a long process.”

In a first wide-ranging interview as chairman, Eddy said co-operation, collaboration and action would be hallmarks of the tenure.

“I don’t need to be famous, it’s as simple as that,” Eddy said.

“I don’t play games, it’s not me … people can judge for themselves, what they will see is someone who gets things done, with action and proper engagement.

“What I would really like is people to say he talked, he listened, they made a decision and they acted, now, you’re not going to make everyone happy.”

Eddy extended an olive branch to Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Association boss Jonathan Munz last Saturday.

Steve Rosich.

“TROA and Jonathan Munz have some views they put forward in a very strong way,” Eddy said.

“I look forward to engaging with him and with TROA, we want that, in a right way, we’ll see how that goes.”

Munz last week said RV would make a big mistake if an incumbent director (Eddy) was appointed chairman.

Eddy wants to also mend bridges with Racing NSW, mindful of an ongoing legal action.

“We would like to find the things we should be able to co-operate on, particularly welfare,” Eddy said.

Eddy on … the new board

“It’s great to have two new board members and we had our first directors meeting (last Friday), there was a really good feeling in the room about fresh eyes and people then thinking what about this and what about that, that’s a really good thing, we need to capture that and get that right.

“(Mark Player and Tim Rourke) have been terrific already with adding some different perspectives, which then I think helps existing board members to go now what about this, I’ve always thought great ideas come from a number of good ideas and I still believe that.

“Tim has got a very good business brain, he’s a horse enthusiast, Mark is fully across the global side of things and some of his business dealings … the board is a team, it’s not just one or two people, so this is now a strengthened team.”

Eddy on … the future

“We have got a number of priorities, first of all really engage with our stakeholders under the banner of co-operation and collegiality and get some actions going.

“The spring carnival is very close, we have got to resolve some issues there (programming and prizemoney), and we got to get a permanent CEO, so that process has started now … the normal things we got to concentrate on, welfare, participant welfare, equine welfare, integrity, they’re all givens.

“Something we’re really keen to do is continue the investment in infrastructure and at least holding prizemoney, those things are vital, and it’s tough times, so we need to make sure we have really smart spending.

“No one wants to talk about the good things, they want to talk about the bad things.

“We achieved a lot of good things with pretty serious headwinds, wagering continuing to decrease, so we’re pretty pleased with what we’ve done, we know there’s some things we haven’t done as well as we should’ve, and one of those is that engagement and communication.”

Eddy on … the role and support

“I never coveted the (chairman) role, I always said I’m happy to do what people think I can do and I said some time back I was happy to step into whatever role people wanted me to, I feel very privileged to go into the role and I’m very excited about it.

“We got lots of things to do, I’m getting some really nice comments about we want to work with you, not against you, so really good support from everyone really.

“It’s been frustrating (past 6-12 months), I think now we’ve got some certainty and some stability so we can move forward.”

Originally published as New Racing Victoria chairman sets spring agenda, as CEO search ramps up