How did Andrew Thorburn’s Essendon appointment get past diversity hero Dorothy Hisgrove

KPMG diversity executive and Essendon director Dorothy Hisgrove, was a key figure in the company’s search for a CEO. Picture- Nicole Cleary

Among the more puzzling aspects of the Andrew Thorburn saga is how his appointment made it past Dorothy Hisgrove, a club director, diversity champion and leading figure of Essendon’s search for a new chief executive.

Hisgrove was appointed to the club’s board last year, but her nine-to-five is at KPMG where she’s the National Managing Partner for People and Inclusion, a loathsome title with considerable power to instil dread in just about anyone.

To say matters of equity and diversity are concerns dear to her heart would be something of an understatement. Hisgrove led the AFL’s diversity push during her tenure as one of the game’s executives between 2013 and 2016, while her LinkedIn account remains a veritable paradise of inclusion and other very modern, purple-bearing concerns.

It’s therefore strange that her antennae didn’t twitch during Thorburn’s overtures for the job, given the very clear governance failures attributed to him by Kenneth Hayne during the banking royal commission – and which ultimately forced his resignation as chief executive at the National Australia Bank.

Nor, apparently, was there much reaction from Hisgrove to Thorburn’s chairmanship of City on a Hill, a Christian church known to have espoused some rather repugnant injunctions on homosexuality and abortion, along with a most morally confused comparison of the latter to deaths in concentration camps.

The remarks were made prior to Thorburn’s appointment at the church, but given an ultimatum by the board – to choose between the church and the CEO position – he made his bed accordingly.

We would have thought Hisgrove might have been especially alert to these scandal-bearing anomalies. Wasn’t that the whole point of her nomination to Essendon’s review panel – the one expressly tasked with finding a CEO?

As club president David Barham said: “Dorothy … (will) provide the latest testing protocols to ensure the panel has a clear picture of the personality and leadership capabilities of each candidate.”

A fat lot of good that did. The panel seems to have been completely ambushed by matters already on the public record, and the results of those “testing protocols” are playing out for everyone in real time, with Barham himself now facing calls to walk the plank.

If Hisgrove did twig to any of these concerns, she wouldn’t tell us about them. We contacted her for comment.

Gillon pad unwanted

Meanwhile, in other first-world problems, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan appears to be having some serious trouble offloading his home, which first went to market in mid-August.

The six-bedroom, five bathroom pad in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran comes with a pool and tennis court – one of only two in homes in the suburb to sport the amenity. It was first listed by prestige market specialist Marcus Chiminello with a price guide of $10m to $11m.

Alas, the ensuing six-week campaign has seen no interest, with the price tag slashed this week by more than 10 per cent. It’s now on offer for between $8.8m and $9.3m.

That’s just as the RBA lifted the cash rate for the sixth-straight month to 2.6 per cent, its highest level in nine years.

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Rubic heads for exit

Healthscope boss Steven Rubic is exiting the top office at the private hospital operator after more than three years in the job.

Now owned by Canadian private equity giant Brookfield, Rubic told staff on Wednesday he was stepping aside and the business would be led from next Monday by Brookfield managing director Greg Horan.

“It is after much soul searching and with a great deal of sadness that I am writing to let you know I am stepping down as CEO,” Rubic wrote in his all staff memo.

The news comes amid reports that a consultant has been engaged to cut costs at the business, which is Australia’s second biggest private hospital operator, and boost earnings, with staff reductions and redeployments already underway.

“As Healthscope emerges from the pandemic and the organisational changes draw to a close, I feel that now represents a natural transition point,” Rubic said.

Rubic, who described the past three years helming the company as “tough” and “challenging”, will remain in an executive capacity for a month-long hand over to Horan and will then join the Healthscope board as a director.

It is understood that Horan has spent at least the past six months in the Healthscope business and is already a director of the holding company. He was also a key part of the team that drove the 2019 buyout, which cost the private equity group $4.4bn.

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Long queue

Investors have begun queuing up to try scrape back funds from Magnolia Capital and its elusive founder Mitchell Atkins. We wish them luck on that journey, with Atkins apparently rather difficult to reach these days.

The investment firm very quietly and abruptly closed up shop in late July, according to an email dispatched by Atkins while the ship was keeling.

“Over the past five years, I have worked extremely hard to build a robust financial services business that delivers strong returns to investors,” Atkins wrote.

“We have been forced to make the difficult decision to cease all operations, restructure Magnolia Capital, and return money to investors.”

A difficult decision indeed. We imagine the firm’s swag of lawsuits and efforts to meet several margin calls might have something to do with the matter.

Melbourne businessman David Koadlow is seeking the return of almost $12m from Atkins through the Federal Court, while another suit from investor Dong Zhang led to a NSW Supreme Court judge placing a $750,000 freeze on Magnolia’s assets.

As for Atkins and his pledge to return the funds, we’re hearing from a number of investors who are yet to see a dime. The 30-year-old is not so easy to contact, either.

“Sincere apologies for not providing you with an update earlier. I am working to come back to all enquiries as soon as possible,” he wrote to one investor with about $1m on the line. That was in September. No contact from Atkins since, and we suspect there may be further legal consequences to follow.

Asked whether the business was finished, a spokeswoman for the Magnolia founder said: “Mr Atkins has nothing to add for the moment.”