Virgin Australia’s global search for a CEO has barely started but there’s one name already being pushed hard at the headhunters. A mysterious petition has been circulating online in recent weeks collecting signatures for Paul Scurrah to be returned as the airline’s chief executive. So far it’s amassed a modest number, some 121 from a target of 200.
And these are real people, too, quite amazingly. “Paul was the greatest CEO in Virgin Australia’s history,” wrote signatory Susan Davidson, who bears the same name as a Virgin captain who flies 737s out of Brisbane.
Scurrah, many would recall, led the airline for nearly two years before it was bought out of administration by the private equity bastards at Bain Capital in 2020, its leader Mike Murphy at first backing Scurrah and then flipping in egregiously uncool fashion to tap Jayne Hrdlicka for the job.
No overly hard feelings between them since, either, with Scurrah actually bumping into Murphy on a Virgin flight from Sydney to Brisbane back in August. They were seated metres from each other when a couple of hosties rushed over to their old boss to tell him – as if on cue – what a great guy he was. Even the pilot came out to shake his hand.
So the cult of personality is apparently legit and while, yes, it’s most definitely the wet dream of every CEO to be fawned over by their employees, this time it’s no mere invention. The petition, started by one “Anon Anon”, proposes that Scurrah take back his old job once Hrdlicka vacates the seat on some date hence, having announced her own retirement three weeks ago. Right now he’s the CEO of rail freight business Pacific National.
“We are a collective of individuals who have been deeply touched by the leadership and vision of Paul Scurrah, former CEO of Virgin Australia,” it begins. “He is not just a CEO; he is a symbol of what it means to be ‘Virgin’.” Even without the indefinite article that is a very odd-sounding sentence.
On it goes: “We believe that reinstating Paul Scurrah as CEO will restore confidence among employees and customers alike. His proven track record speaks volumes about his ability to lead with integrity while maintaining the unique spirit that defines Virgin Australia.”
Without the aforementioned Beatle-status one would be forgiven for wondering if Scurrah himself hadn’t ginned up this petition. We asked, and he tells us he had no knowledge of it whatsoever. To be fair, we believe him.
As for the proposition itself, Scurrah told Margin Call it was flattering but far-fetched.
“I have a deep fondness and the utmost regard for the wonderful, resilient and passionate people of Virgin Australia,” he said. “Touching gesture as this is, I think it would have to be categorised as a long shot. I have my hands full running PN at present.”
Farewell Bibby
Magnis Energy revealed on Monday that Claire Bibby would be resigning from its board as a result of a “change in her personal circumstances”, an announcement delivered to the market with accompanying thanks from chairman Frank Poullas and his very best wishes for Bibby’s future.
Timing-wise it’s a fascinating turn of events. Bibby joined Magnis in the opening months of 2022 as a former Luna Park director and senior vice president at Brookfield Property Partners. Much excitement at the time that she’d come aboard, although the good ship Magnis ain’t looking that swell for having her.
The renewable play has been suspended by the ASX since December and the company is basically at war with the market operator over disclosures (or lack thereof) and a perceivable obstinance around answering basic questions.
Bibby is perched somewhere on the edge of this. Court documents allege she took a leading role in an infamous Zoom call last year that ended with Magnis wresting control of Imperium3 New York, a gigafactory enterprise jointly owned with Charge CCCV, known as C4V.
What’s alleged by C4V is firstly that Magnis is “effectively insolvent”, but also that either Bibby or Poullas, or both, invited its reps onto the call to propose a bailout package for the ailing iM3NY, only to then mute their microphones and ram through motions to usurp control of the gigafactory board.
But that aside, the ASX released letters on Monday double-underlining its concern that Magnis may not have sufficiently disclosed the status of certain contracts signed by iM3NY. Magnis, meanwhile, is so desperate for cash that it was forced to tap lenders for a $4.6m loan, charged at 5 per cent per month and due on March 1, and which it hasn’t paid. And now off goes Bibby, citing personal circumstances as such. We expected that she would also step down as a NED from the boards of Clime Asset Management and CommsGroup but no such announcement followed, which makes us wonder if these “personal circumstances” are just another bit of polite fiction from this quirky company.
Could it be that Clime Asset’s chair John Abernethy or CommsGroup’s John Mackay might want to pose a few questions to Bibby themselves?
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