Rowen Craigie appointed to Racing Victoria board

Former Crown CEO Rowen Craigie. Pic: Aaron Francis

The $9.3 million man Rowen Craigie has just been appointed to the Racing Victoria board — his first director role since leaving James Packer’s Crown Resorts in February.

Craigie is one of five new directors that Labor Premier Dan Andrews’ racing minister Martin Pakula has appointed to the board that oversees Victoria’s mighty racing industry.

Former Toll Holdings managing director Brian Kruger is the new chairman. Along with Craigie, he will be joined on the board by business consultant Kate Joel, Elliott Newspaper Group MD Ross Lanyon and Sharon McCrohan, once the feared gatekeeper to Premier John Brumby.

Bendigo Bank CEO Mike Hirst, who had been acting as Racing Victoria’s chairman, will continue on the board as deputy chairman — a position that could leave him enough capacity to take over from Andrew Thorburn as the chairman of the Australian Bankers’ Association, if required.

Brian Kruger. Pic: Mark Stewart

It’s been a big week for Craigie, who has been out of the limelight since Crown’s cost cutting executive chairman John Alexander negotiated his departure from the gaming giant in February.

Crown’s annual report this week revealed Craigie, who had worked in the Packer empire for more than 20 years, received a final payout of nearly $10 million, made up of $3.14 million in severance pay, $3.14 million in notice pay and a $3 million bundle of shares.

The word in racing circles is that under Kruger’s chairmanship, the new Racing Victoria board will soon engage a bit of cost pruning itself, with its middle to upper management levels said to be a bit bloated.