By Michael Gleeson
West Coast Eagles executive and former football head Craig Vozzo will be the new chief executive at Essendon.
In a coup for the club after Andrew Thorburn’s brief and controversial tenure, sources confirmed the Bombers had secured the highly respected Vozzo for the top job.
Craig Vozzo will be Essendon chief executive.Credit: Getty Images
Vozzo had been groomed as a potential successor for Trevor Nisbett as chief executive of the Eagles.
Originally practising as a lawyer in Adelaide before moving into player management, Vozzo moved to the Eagles to head up list management and became their head of football for eight years until last November when moved across to become senior corporate counsel, a position that exposed him to the commercial side of the business.
He presents as having an ideal blend of skills for the Bombers after they parted ways with Xavier Campbell, citing a desire to improve the focus on football as a key concern for the club.
Essendon acknowledged that while they had enjoyed significant improvements in the commercial side of the business, the football department needed more attention.
Essendon’s then-chief executive Xavier Campbell and club president David Barham in August.Credit: Paul Jeffers, The Age
Former North Melbourne chief executive Carl Dilena, now working at St Kilda, had also been on the shortlist for the job.
The appointment is important for president David Barham after the drama surrounding the short-lived appointment of Thorburn, which is now the subject of legal action.
The former NAB boss who had been hired by Essendon to conduct a review of the club and the board was then hired to replace Campbell. That appointment proved short-lived as he quit the club barely 24 hours after his appointment following criticism of his role as chair of the conservative church City on a Hill, which had hosted sermons likening abortion rates to the Holocaust and posted offensive views on the church’s website.
Essendon said Thorburn’s dual roles were incompatible and it was untenable for him to remain as chief executive if he continued as chair of the church. Thorburn refused to stand down from the church position and quit the club.
He has since hired legal counsel to pursue a claim for unfair dismissal in being forced to resign.
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