Two years and more pay for former AWI chief executive

Former AWI boss Stuart McCullough was moved into another role two years ago. He’s still on the wool growers’ payroll.

Wool industry executive Stuart McCullough will continue to be paid by growers to work overseas until next April.

Mr McCullough, the former chief executive with Australian Wool Innovation, was seconded on October 15, 2021, stepping aside from his role as the head of the organisation to work internationally in a specially created role.

Australian Wool Innovation former chief executive Stuart McCullough.

At the time, the secondment was for two years, meaning his time was up this month.

But AWI chief executive officer John Roberts told The Weekly Times Mr McCullough’s term of appointment – which has seen him based in London and the US – would now run until next April.

The role, which was never advertised, was criticised at the time as a “job for the boys” position. In a performance review of AWI by the Australian National Audit Office, it was found there were no board resolutions in relation to the job’s creation, its remuneration or appointment process.

Mr McCullough was AWI’s CEO for 12 years, and was at the helm in 2017 when the “man in the mirror” scandal emerged, after then-chairman Wal Merriman observed a meeting of sheep breeders without them knowing though a one-way mirror.

Mr Roberts said Mr McCullough had been based in Australia until February 2022 “to facilitate a smooth transition of the role CEO”.

“The secondment part of the role commenced in February 2022 when he moved overseas, and that secondment will be completed in April 2024,” Mr Roberts said.

“The extension in time for the secondment was to allow for the completion of additional tasks including the consolidation of the broader international operations.”

Mr Roberts said in his role as chief marketing and information officer, Mr McCullough made regular reports to the AWI board.

He said Mr McCullough had overseen a reduction in senior staff, use of consultants and office space to deliver “substantial savings”.

“There is better co-ordination of projects across Europe with the appointment of two regional managers rather than five country managers,” Mr Roberts said.

“While we do not attribute projects to individuals and regard them as team efforts, the regional teams have benefited from Stuart’s experience and are delivering marketing and product innovation projects that are aligned with our strategic objectives and are yielding for wool growers.”

Australian Wool Innovation current chief executive officer John Roberts.

Mr Roberts said the role “maximises his skill set and deep knowledge of the wool industry to the benefit of wool growers”.

Meanwhile, the AWI annual report was released last week, and showed the organisation had spent $82.1 million in the past financial year against revenue of $65.21 million.

Drawdown on reserves was about $17 million, with reserves at $83.8 million at the end of June this year, the lowest in a decade.

AWI chairman Jock Laurie said in the four years since the wool levy was reduced from 2 per cent to 1.5 per cent, “the company’s once healthy financial reserves have fallen by about a third”.

“AWI’s expenditure has exceeded its revenue for the past four years, in 2022-23 by nearly $17 million, and expenditure is again forecast to exceed revenue in the current 2023-24 year by more than $10 million,” Mr Laurie said.

“We realise that this level of expenditure cannot go on; during the next couple of years, we will have to make tough decisions to cut expenditure in some key projects.”