The rich listers and business titans powering your AFL team
The board of directors at AFL clubs are far more than devoted fans. These are the Melbourne powerbrokers who run your club.
Fiona Byrne
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AFL club boards have become the home of the rich, the powerful and the well-connected with business titans and leadership experts sittings as directors and leaders of your favourite team.
Eddie McGuire’s recent high-profile and very public dethroning as the president of Collingwood has made the make-up of footy boards a talking point.
While a passion for the team is a necessity, the board of directors at AFL clubs in this era are far more than devoted fans.
Many have grown substantial and significant business, some have held public office, others have extensive knowledge of governance and management.
But the one thing they all have in common is a desire to fight to make their club’s successful on and off the field.
So who are the Melbourne powerbrokers who run your club?
*Melbourne clubs listed in alphabetical order
CARLTON
Mark LoGiudice – President
Mark LoGiudice is the managing director of Crawfords Group, a family owned investment and development company involved in commercial, industrial and retail property. He is a director of LaManna Premier Group.
Jeanne Pratt
Jeanne Pratt is a long-time supporter of Carlton and a celebrated philanthropist and supporter of the Arts.
Chris Judd
An AFL superstar, twice Brownlow Medallist and Carlton favourite, Chris Judd has extensive media experience. He is a shareholder in the athletic clothing brand Jaggad and runs two investment focused podcasts.
Luke Sayers
Luke Sayers is the founder and executive chairman of Sayers. He was previously the CEO of PwC for eight years before stepping down in May 2020. He is the chairman of the not-for-profit organisation The Inclusion Foundation (formerly e.motion21). He is a member of the Australian Women in Sport Advisory Group, Monash University’s Industry Council of Advisers (MICA), and the Victorian branch of the Male Champions of Change.
Craig Mathieson
Craig Mathieson is managing director of the Mathieson Group. He was previously the CEO of DMS Glass and is a non-executive director of the Shaver Shop Ltd and Abiliene Oil.
David Campbell
David Campbell is a partner of Egon Zehnder International, a management consulting and executive recruitment business. He leads the firm’s Consumer, Health and Technology practice in Australasia.
Patty Kinnersly
Patty Kinnersly is the chief executive officer of Our Watch, an organisation dedicated to preventing violence against women and children.
Christopher Townshend QC
A barrister with over 26 years experience, Chris Townshend QC specialises in planning and environment law with a focus on major infrastructure and development projects.
COLLINGWOOD
Mark Korda – co-President (interim)
Mark Korda and Mark Mentha founded the KordaMentha group in 2002. He specialises in insolvencies and is an expert in the restructuring and administration of troubled businesses.
Peter Murphy – co-President (interim)
Peter Murphy is described in his Collingwood biography as an entrepreneur and philanthropist passionate about empowering individuals to chase their dreams and change the world. He founded the PAN Australia Group and is involved in the Global Citizen organisation. He previously held executive roles with Australian Pacific Paper Products, Levi Strauss and independent Distillers.
Alex Waislitz
Executive chairman and founder of the Thorney Investment Group, Alex Waislitz has significant investments in public securities, private companies and property.
Christine Holgate
Christine Holgate is the former chief executive officer of Australia Post. She has held various board and executive positions over the past 20 years including CEO and Managing Director of Blackmores. She was a non-executive director of Network Ten and a Managing Director of Telstra. She is currently the Chair of the Board of the Australian-ASEAN Council.
Jodie Sizer
Jodie Sizer is a founding partner and co-CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers Indigenous Consulting and one of Australia’s foremost Indigenous leaders.
She has worked with tertiary institutions, governments, sports codes and major businesses in creating meaningful change for Aboriginal people.
Paul Licuria
Paul Licuria played 182 games for Collingwood between 1999-2007, winning two Copeland Trophies, and was admitted into the Collingwood Hall of Fame in 2011. He is the chief executive of Alffie.com, an online training organisation delivering education to the employment, disability employment, rehabilitation and corporate training sectors.
ESSENDON
Paul Brasher – President
Paul Brasher was a partner in the accounting and professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) from 1982 to 2009. He chaired the Australian firm and was chairman of the global board of PwC from 2005 to 2009. His previous roles include chairman of Incitec Pivot Limited, director of Amcor Limited and Perpetual Limited, board member of the Victorian Arts Centre Trust, chairman of the Reach Foundation and a board member of Teach for Australia from 2016 – 2020.
Peter Allen
Peter Allen is an executive director and chief executive officer of Scentre Group. Prior to the establishment of Scentre Group in 2014, Peter was an executive director and chief financial officer of Westfield Group. He’s also chairman of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia, a director of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, a director of the Property Council of Australia and a member of the President’s Council of the Art Gallery of NSW.
Dave Barham
Dave Barham has vast experience in sports media. He established the AFL’s film and videotape library in the early 1990s. He produced Channel 10’s AFL programming, including eight Grand Finals, for 10 years. From late 2010 until the end of 2015, David was head of sport for the Ten Network. He is on the board of the Victorian Racing Club, RSN (Radio and Sports Network), and is managing director of Vuecast Media.
Melissa Green
Melissa Green has over 30 years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry. She is national agency lead at Facebook Australia. Previously she was head of Melbourne, agency and government.
Sean Wellman
Sean Wellman has been involved in the AFL industry for over 20 years as an assistant coach and player. He played 178 games for Essendon in a 212 game career and was part of the club’s 2000 premiership team. He was a partner in the Waterside Group, which owned and operated hotels in Melbourne from 2004 to 2017. He runs his own mortgage broker business Wellman Finance.
Simon Madden
Simon Madden played 378 games for Essendon and was part of the 1984 and 1985 premiership teams. He is a life member of Essendon, the AFL and the AFL Players’ Association, and is also a member of the Essendon Hall of Fame and the AFL Hall of Fame. He runs Simon Madden Consulting (SMC).
Andrew Muir
Andrew Muir was executive chairman of The Good Guys household appliances and electronics business from 2005 to 2017 after being CEO of The Good Guys from 1993. He founded the Best Friends Pet Care business in 2007 and in 2016 launched the private photo album app Momatu.
Kate O’Sullivan
Kate O’Sullivan was the chief executive officer of the Pegasus Leisure Group (subsidiary of the Melbourne Racing Club) prior to joining the Essendon board. She is also the managing director of Portishead Pty Ltd, specialising in executive coaching for women. She was a board member at the Moonee Valley Racing Club and is also a member of the Marcus Oldham Agriculture College Council and Melbourne Girls Grammar School Foundation.
Kevin Sheedy
The AFL Hall of Fame member, Kevin Sheedy is a four-time Essendon premiership coach who helmed the Bombers from 1981 and 2007.
GEELONG
Craig Drummond – President
Craig Drummond is the CEO of Medibank. Prior to joining Medibank, Drummond was group executive finance and strategy of National Australia Bank (NAB). Earlier in his career he was CEO and country head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Australia). Previous to that he held various roles at Goldman Sachs JB Were including chief executive officer.
Diana Taylor
Diana Taylor is a qualified lawyer, company director and consultant. She operates her own consulting business and on a part-time basis is the general counsel for Netball Australia. She is the Chair of Anam Cara House Geelong and Chair of GOTAFE and is a board member of the Geelong Authority and is on the board of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust.
Grant McCabe
Grant McCabe is the managing director and partner of global consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group.
Hugh Seward
Hugh Seward served as Geelong’s club doctor for 25 years from 1982 to 2006 and is a Life Member of the Cats. He was the president, then CEO of the AFL Doctors Association over a 25 year period and is an AFL Life Member. He was director of Games Village Medical Services at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. He is a director of Geelong College.
Kate Spargo
Kate Spargo is a non-executive director of Sigma Healthcare, Sonic Healthcare Limited, Adairs Limited, and CIMIC Ltd.
James Sutherland
James Sutherland spent 17 years as CEO of Cricket Australia. He is currently the CEO of Golf Australia and chairman of PlayHQ Sports.
Barry Fagg
Barry Fagg is part of the family business, Fagg’s Mitre 10, in Geelong. He has been a director of the Victorian and National Mitre 10 boards including two years as Chairman of Mitre 10 Australia. He is on the board of the Geelong Art Gallery and Geelong College.
He is a previous president of Give Where You Live (previously United Way Geelong), and was a past director and past chairman of the Geelong Community Foundation.
Brian Cook – Chief Executive Officer
Brian Cook is a director of the club as well as CEO. He was appointed CEO in 1999 after spending nine years as CEO of the West Coast Eagles. He is the chairman of Barwon Health and an ambassador for Active Geelong.
HAWTHORN
Jeff Kennett – President
Former Victorian premier and founder and former chairman of Beyondblue, Jeff Kennett needs no introduction. Kennett is chairman of Open Windows Software Pty Ltd and CT Management Group Pty Ltd and a director of Amtek Corporation Pty Ltd. He is chairman of The Torch.
Peter Nankivell
Peter Nankivell is a commercial lawyer with more than 25 years’ experience in the areas of corporate advisory, finance and mergers and acquisitions. He is currently a consultant to Thomson Geer.
Richard Vandenberg
A former Hawthorn player and captain, Richie Vandenberg is now the director and CEO of wine business LCW Corp. Armed with a business degree and a 25-year association with the wine industry, Richie co-founded Vandenberg Wines in 2013 with the goal of creating premium wine, and continuing family tradition.
Tim Shearer
Tim Shearer has been the director of development at Scotch College since 2012 where he manages the college’s building and scholarship fundraising programs and is also the executive director of the Scotch College Foundation.
Radek Sali
Radek Sali is the former CEO of Swisse Wellness and was the major investor in, and chairman of, the collapsed restaurant group Made Establishment. Sali is the chairman of Light Warrior investment group, and a director of Hydralyte, myDNA, Made By Cow and Stratosphere. He is the co-founder of the Lightfolk Foundation, the chairman of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and a director of the National Institute of Integrative Medicine.
Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson is a director and shareholder in Yarra Capital Management. She was previously managing director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a partner at JBWere.
Anne-Marie Pellizzer
Dr Anne-Marie Pellizzer is a peri-operative physician and holds specialist qualifications in both Intensive Care Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology as well as a PhD in cardiovascular medicine.
Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson is the CEO of the Real Estate Australia (REA) Group. The Group operates the residential and commercial property websites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au in Australia.
Luke Stambolis
Luke Stambolis is the managing director of Probuild Constructions and has more than 20 years of experience in the large scale commercial building sector.
MELBOURNE
Glen Bartlett – President
Glen Bartlett is the managing director of Bartlett Workplace.
Mohan Jesudason
Mohan Jesudason is the chief executive officer of technology company Freestyle Technology.
He is an advisory board member of Enterprise Victoria and a past director of Racing Victoria, Telecom Mobile Ltd, and Hutchison 3 Ltd. He was previously the managing director of gaming and marketing for Tabcorp.
Kate Roffey
Kate Roffey is the director of deals, investment and major projects at Wyndham City and is also the chair of the Victorian Regional Channels Authority and the Metro Trains Advisory Board. Kate is the former CEO of the Committee for Melbourne and former CEO of VicSport.
John Trotter
John Trotter retired as chairman Entity Solutions in May 2020. He is an advisory board member of Ewert Leaf Architects and Landchecker, a tech start-up.
Steve Morris
Steve Morris is the non-executive chairman of Auric Mining Ltd and a consultant to Conrad Capital Group. He was the founder of Peloton Shareholder Services.
David Robb
David Robb is a director of the WA Cricket Foundation. He was previously a director of Navitas Limited and until 2016 was the managing director and CEO of Iluka Resources Limited.
David Rennick
David Rennick has more than 25 years experience in the legal and property industries.
He is a partner of Pinsent Masons.
Brad Green
Brad Green played 254 games for Melbourne. He is the managing director of GMH Fire and Safety Australia.
NORTH MELBOURNE
Ben Buckley – President
Ben Buckley has held senior executive roles in sport and sport related consumer brands for over 20 years. He is an executive director of BKD Executive Leaders.
His previous positions include chief executive officer of Football Federation Australia (FFA) and chief operating officer at the Australian Football League.
He played for North Melbourne from 1986 to 1993.
Julie Laycock
Julie Laycock is the general manager of Marketing for 7-Eleven Stores Pty Ltd. She is the chair of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores.
Paul Dwyer
Paul Dwyer is the non-executive director and deputy chairman of the PSC Insurance Group and is a director of the Melissa and Paul Dwyer Foundation.
Brady Scanlon
Brady Scanlon is the executive chairman of his private investment company Scanlon Capital.
Dr Sonja Hood
Dr Sonja Hood is CEO of Community Hubs Australia (CHA) and the chair of McAuley Community Services for Women.
Dr Harry Unglik
Dr Harry Unglik is a sports medicine specialist. He was the medical officer for the North Melbourne Football Club from 1983 to 2001 and is a life member of the club.
From 2001 to 2017 Harry served as the medical director of the AFL.
Harry was instrumental in designing the AFL’s Illicit Drug Policy and was involved in devising protocols for concussion, now used by the AFL.
Glenn Archer
Glenn Archer is a director of Kode Entertainment and was a director of Stride Sports before it was bought by QMS Media in September 2019.
RICHMOND
Peggy O’Neal – President
Peggy O’Neal is a consultant to Lander & Rogers and has specialised in superannuation and financial services law for more than 20 years. She was previously a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills.
Emmett Dunne
Emmett Dunne was a member of Richmond’s 1980 premiership team.
Dunne served in the Victoria Police for more than 39 years retiring in 2015 with the rank of Assistant Commissioner.
Brendon Gale – Chief Executive Officer
Brendon Gale worked for commercial law firm, King Wood Mallesons, before becoming CEO of the AFL Players Association. He was on the board of the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission from 2009 to 2013. He is a non-executive director of Home Consortium Limited and a director of Aligned Leisure. He is Richmond’s CEO and a board member.
John O’Rourke
John O’Rourke is the founder and chairman of Plenary, a property and infrastructure investment company and a director of Flagship Property Holdings. Prior to establishing Plenary in 2004, O’Rourke worked in investment banking and held corporate finance positions with Coles Myer Ltd and Caterpillar Inc. He was a director of the Victoria Racing Club for eight years.
Kate Palmer
Kate Palmer is a director of Athletics Australia and a director of cancer support charity Canteen. She was previously the chief executive of Netball Australia and the Australian Sports Commission and has served as chair of the Victorian Institute of Sport.
Joe Powell
Joe Powell is a consultant with Hume Partners. Previously he was the chief executive officer of Catapult Sports and spent 10 years with SEEK Ltd. He is a board member of the Migration Council Australia, is a non-executive director of Tellus Holdings and is the executive chairman of e-learning business Alffie.
Henriette Rothschild
Henriette Rothschild is a partner at KordaMentha. She was previously the chief operating officer of iSelect and before that the managing director of management consulting firm Hay Group.
Kerry Ryan
Kerry Ryan has a background in commercial law. She is a non-executive director of the Retail Food Group, the charity Kids First Australia, Mental Health First Aid International and Aligned Leisure. She was a non-executive director of CPR Australia and a partner and consultant at Norton Rose Fulbright.
Mark Ward
Mark Ward’s experience includes being the chief operating officer (commercial) for Bunnings and the Managing Director of Officeworks.
Tina de Young
Tina de Young has experience across banking, finance, health, infrastructure and agriculture. She worked for Morgan Stanley Investment Management in London before spending 12 years with corporate finance advisory firm Grant Samuel. She is a consultant to the Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and is a board member of the Victorian Institute of Sport.
ST KILDA
Andrew Bassat – President
Andrew Bassat is the co-founder and executive chairman of SEEK, a mega online employment marketplace. He co-founded SEEK with his brother Paul in 1997 and listed it in 2005.
Russell Caplan
Russell Caplan is the chairman of the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust, chairman of Horizon Roads Pty Ltd, a director of rail freight company Aurizon Ltd and is a board member of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. He was previously a chairman of Shell in Australia.
Matt Finnis
Matt Finnis was appointed chief executive officer of the St Kilda Football Club in 2014. Prior to joining St Kilda, Finnis was CEO of the AFL Players’ Association.
Dean Anderson
Dean Anderson has more than 26 years experience in the finance and banking industry. He played 67 games for St Kilda from 1993 to 1996 and 83 games for Hawthorn.
Jennifer Douglas
Jennifer Douglas comes to the board with more than 25 years experience in the technology and media industries. She held senior leadership roles at Sensis and Telstra. She is currently a director of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation.
Paul Kirk
Corporate advisor, Paul Kirk previously held the position of senior partner of PwC. He is a special advisor to Lazard, a leading Corporate Advisory firm and is the managing director of his own corporate restructuring consultancy, Collins Pitt Associates.
Danni Roche
Danni Roche won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Australian women’s hockey team in Atlanta in 1996. Roche has held finance and commercial positions with Telstra and has been a Director at UBS, a partner at Evans and Partners and a director of a privately owned fraud and risk management business. She is chair of the National Australia Day Council and a trustee at the State Sport Centres Trust of Victoria.
Jack Rush
An esteemed Queen’s Counsel, Jack Rush, is a former chairman of the Victorian Bar Council and from 2013 to 2015 served as a Supreme Court Judge returning to the Bar in February 2016.
Adam Hilton
Adam Hilton is the CEO and partner of Stratosphere Advertising agency which represents brands such as Chemist Warehouse and The Good Guys. Previously, he was managing director and founder of advertising agency Noisy Beast.
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Kylie Watson-Wheeler – President
Kylie Watson-Wheeler is the senior vice president and managing director, for The Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand. Her role covers film, TV, digital and streaming services. She is on the board of Mentone Grammar School and the Motion Pictures Distribution Association of Australia (MPDAA).
Armeet Bains – Chief Executive Officer
Armeet Bains was the chief operating officer of the St Kilda Football Club before moving to the Western Bulldogs as chief executive officer.
A lawyer by training, Bains was the Head of Legal at Toyota Australia before moving into sports administration. He is a director of the SpiritWest Foundation, the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation, and is a member of the West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance.
Fiona McGauchie
Fiona McGauchie is a consultant at global executive search firm Egon Zehnder. A lawyer by training she has worked at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Linfox and Minter Ellison. She is the chair of the Malthouse Theatre.
Jerril Rechter
Jerril Rechter is the CEO of Basketball Australia. Prior to her role at Basketball Australia, Rechter was the chief executive officer of VicHealth.
Mark Evans
Mark Evans is the executive director of Normanby Capital, executive director of Edge Early Learning, a partner in Heal Partners and chairman of Removery, which is the largest tattoo removal clinic operator in North America.
Chris Nolan
Chris Nolan is the director of Principle Media Group, a board member of the Alfred Hospital Foundation and chairman of the Audited Media Association of Australia. He was previously the chief operations officer (ANZ) of Publicis Media and chief executive officer of Starcom MediaVest Group (Australia).
Levent Shevki
Levent Shevki is a partner at legal firm Cornwalls, and chief executive officer of Cornwalls Capital. He is a director of Twenty3 Sport and Entertainment.
Belinda Duarte
Belinda Duarte is on the board of the MCG Trust and Chief Executive Officer of Culture Is Life. She was the inaugural director of Richmond Football Club’s Korin Gamadji Institute and was named AFL Woman of the Year in 2012.
Lisa Fitzpatrick
Lisa Fitzpatrick is the Victorian State Secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation. She was a trustee director of First State Superannuation and a previous president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council.
Luke Darcy
A decorated former Bulldog who played 226 games for the club between 1994 and 2007. Darcy is a polished media performer having co-hosted the Hot Breakfast for Triple M for 11 years. He is part of the Channel 7 and Triple M footy commentary teams. He has investments in hospitality businesses in Melbourne and is a part-owner of a wellness retreat in Bali.
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