Bell Potter suffers Poidevin brain drain

Cartoon: Rod Clement.

The legendary Simon Poidevin has left his role as Bell Potter’s managing director of corporate broking after seven eventful years.

The rugby World Cup winner has joined Total Brain, a company which has produced what’s been described as the “Fitbit” for the brain.

He’s now the president of the ASX-listed company for its Australia and New Zealand division. His main task will be to promote its mental health and wellness app in the Australian market after the company made big strides in the US with the likes of Boeing, Accenture and IBM from its San Fransisco base.

The origins of the company go back several decades to the work done at the brain dynamics centre at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital, where TTB’s founder and chairman Dr Evian Gordon worked.

Poidevin’s association with the company began when he was managing director of equity sales at Citigroup Australia, helping with its IPO in 2001 and then assisting with subsequent capital raisings.

Poidevin’s interest in the mental health fitness platform then saw Total Brain being used by the Wallabies for their wellbeing under coach Robbie Deans.

Religious conversion

Venture capitalist Mark Carnegie has sold his con­verted Darlinghurst church, pocketing a very nice $20.25m last week. The confirmed buyer is the Paul Ramsay Foundation, which will convert the amazing residential space into offices.

Carnegie, now ensconced safely on his 89ha New Zealand riverfront retreat, purchased the property in 2010 for $8.75m.

The grand old classical 1920s church closed in 2010 and was smartly refurbished in 2011 into an award-winning home. The First Church of Christ Scientist premises retains its monumental facade, which was designed by church member S. George Thorp from Peddle Thorp and Walker in an era when Beaux-Arts was fancied by institutions wishing to express wealth and stability.

Carnegie, who studied science at the University of Melbourne, majoring in zoology because he wanted to be a marine biologist, joined the business world after taking a summer job in the mid-1980s on Wall Street at a venture capital firm set up by James Wolfensohn.

Late last year Carnegie hosted a 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald-themed house-moving party which was attended by the glitterati gang.

Carnegie and partner Lady Katie Percy since been welcomed by the NZ locals in the even more bohemian Takaka community.

“To me, it’s like, ‘here’s another interesting person’,” said his local Golden Bay council ward representative Celia Butler.

“It makes for a really interesting place,” Butler said.

“A lot of people who move in have a shared vision for environmental welfare. They’re not coming over to exploit the environment that you might get from people moving to Queenstown.”

Now in splendid isolation, Carnegie spends much of the day on Twitter.

No lounging around

The at-home staff at Channel 9 were sent an e-mail on Wednesday offering them a “great employee deal” for the Motion Sync office chair.

It was priced at $270, plus an extra $30 for any colour other than black.

“As most of our employees are working remotely, we understand that you may not have the most optimal workstation setup,” Hugh Mark’s scattered staff were informed.

“To assist you with this, we have secured a great employee deal for the Motion Sync chair with lumbar support, the same we will be using at Nine Sydney when we relocate.”

Surely an April Fool’s stunt, Margin Call thought, while lounging on a comfortable Moran sofa in the home study watching the Netflix true crime documentary series, Tiger King, which features the stranger than fiction life of Joe Exotic.

“No not a prank, people were asking about chairs for home and we secured this offer if they want to get one,” Victoria Buchan, the director of Communications at Channel 9 advised.

No one was really taken by the curiously timed offering.

And the economic tempest that we all need to get through has some questioning the wisdom of Nine increasing their proposed North Sydney office space. From later this year they are set to occupy 25,000sq m for 12 years at 1 Denison, the $1.2bn commercial office building that will the tallest tower in North Sydney.

Virus makes its mark

The unfolding coronavirus pandemic is hitting Gillon McLachlan’s Prahan household hard.

The AFL boss has been forced to call a halt to the 2020 men’s and women’s seasons in the interests of protecting the health of the game’s players as well as that of fans.

He’s managed this week to sign a new loan deal for the league with Ross McEwan’s NAB and Shayne Elliott’s ANZ that will tide things over for a while, but is facing a significant pay cut in these tough times.

At first McLachlan said he’d take a 20 per cent cut in what is about a $1.7m-a-year gig, but then the sports administrator committed to matching the cut that will be taken by the code’s players, who have offered a 50 per cent reduction (but under negotiation).

For McLachlan’s wife Laura Blythe, the daughter of former Spotless chairman Brian Blythe, things are tough too in her role as a director of her family’s Bajle Group, whose investments are dominated by retail outlets across the country.

Bajle owns the 16-store Minimax homewares chain in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.

The group also controls Ted’s Camera Stores, which has 16 outlets. Both businesses have bolted shut their doors as the COVID-19 crisis plays out so that the only revenue flowing for the time being is via both chain’s online stores.

Go-ahead for golf

The 19th hole is no more, but watch your head when out exercising on NSW golf courses.

The decision to ban golf rounds has been overturned by the state’s golf-playing Premier after a day of confusion.

There will be no four-balls, with just twos allowed to go round together. Definitely no shared carts, given social distancing measures. No raking. And remember no touching the flags!

Players older than 70 have been told to stay home.

It was the golfing devotee, 2GB broadcaster Ray Hadley, who drove the correction. The ban was implemented on Monday, but the powers that be opined that golf counted as “exercise”.

The NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller and the Premier Gladys Berejiklian obligingly told Hadley the ban was to be lifted by the acting Sports Minister Geoff Lee after a miscommunication from the Department of Sport.

Sayers venture

It might not seem like the best time to establish a new enterprise, but for outgoing PwC chief Luke Sayers there is no time like the present.

Last week Sayers created a new vehicle from which to launch the next phase of his working life, Sayers Capital Pty Ltd, of which he is sole director.

Word is that the businessman plans to establish his own private equity outfit, seed funded by a range of Melbourne’s wealthy families.

Once the dust settles on the economy, at least there’ll likely be some good buying opportunities if and when the private cash starts rolling in the door.

The last post

Yet another surprise senior executive departure at Australia Post with Annette Carey set to courier her last parcel next month. The executive general manager of international services has overseen a stellar performance growing the international parcel division — some 30 per cent year on year — since her July 2018 appointment. She’d been coaxed away from logistics giant LinFox by Christine Holgate, with the duo featured on the cover of The Deal magazine in happier times. Colgate advised her remaining executives that Carey had formed a “strong team well positioned to lead our international efforts through this crisis and beyond”. It comes as the postal system struggles, with volumes down.