An update from President Fred Oldfield and Committee announcement

It has been a privilege to serve on the Committee of our great Club for the last ten years and a great honour to be elected to the role of President. I look forward to working with our highly talented Committee and management team to keep the MCG as the beating heart of Melbourne and at the forefront of world sport.

The Melbourne Cricket Club has the unique ability to bring many people together from across the community through the power of the MCG, whether that’s for sport, concerts, MCG Tours or the Australian Sports Museum. I fully believe the Club is an important contributor to the vitality of the city and state as we continue to celebrate, champion and protect the role of live sport and entertainment.

To help do that, the Committee aims to have members who not only represent the broadness of our membership base but also the community. The Committee members are selected through a succession process to ensure we have a cross-section of skills that align with our strategic plan and future major projects.

In line with the Committee tenure policy, we farewell two long-serving members this week – Michael Happell and Peter King.

Our most recent President Michael Happell first joined the Committee in 2011 and served as both Treasurer and Vice-President before being elected President in 2019. His years as President saw the Club experience the most challenging period in its 185-year history with the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns, long periods of closures for the MCG, the halting of Club Sport seasons and the move of two AFL Grand Finals interstate. Despite this, Michael’s tenure has also seen some extraordinary projects delivered including the unveiling of the $17 million Australian Sports Museum rebrand and renovation, the launch of the Club’s first Reconciliation Action Plan, the Club’s new five-year strategic plan and last year he led the changes to the arrangements for the 50-Year membership classification and introduction of a new category, 50-Year Social membership.

Peter King joined the Committee in 2014 and has been a passionate Chair of Cricket, overseeing all cricket activities under the Club’s banner, Chair of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame as well as a Director of MCC Sports Limited and the Australian Sports Museum Limited. Peter has been deeply involved in the evolution of Club cricket, seeing multiple premierships won across the male and female competitions and the renovation of the Albert Ground where our Premier sides continue to play and train.

On behalf of all members, I would like to thank Michael and Peter for their exceptional contribution to the Club and look forward to seeing them in the Reserve for many years to come.

As per the Club Rules, a third Vice-President needs to be appointed and we will also be taking the Committee to its full complement of 14 members. Therefore, it is my great pleasure to announce Adrian Anderson as the Club’s newest Vice-President to join Christian Johnston and Sally Macindoe. Adrian joined the Committee in 2016 and is a barrister who specialises in media law, sports law and disciplinary tribunals. A former partner of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, General Manager of Football Operations at the AFL and Interim CEO of Cycling Australia, Adrian brings a wealth of relevant knowledge to the Committee’s executive team.

I’m also happy to announce the three members who will fill casual vacancies on the Committee.

Carolyn Bendall is an experienced marketing and communications executive with over 30 years of experience in various services sectors. She is currently Chief Marketing Officer at Swinburne University of Technology and prior to that role, was General Manager of Marketing at ANZ Australia.

Tony Johnson was previously a Partner and Chief Executive Officer of EY in Oceania and a member of EY Asia Pacific and Global leadership teams. He is a Director of Bupa Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and E&P Financial, an Advisory Board member (Chair) of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and Kieser Australia, a Board member of the Australian Business Community Network (ABCN) and a member of the Executive Committee of UNSW Business Advisory Council and The Royal Melbourne Hospital Foundation Committee.

Alice Robinson has over 25 years of experience in senior operational roles within fast-paced, global and commercial organisations across Asia, Europe and the USA. Now a non-executive director and independent consultant, Alice holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and Commerce, an MBA from Melbourne Business School and was previously Senior Vice President of Strategy & Technology at the Fung Group, a global supply chain company headquartered in Hong Kong.

Please join me in congratulating Adrian, Carolyn, Tony and Alice on their appointments.

To view all members of the Melbourne Cricket Club Committee, please click here.

Enjoy Round 3 of the AFL Premiership Season and I look forward to seeing you in the Reserve or at other Club activities soon,

Fred Oldfield
President
Melbourne Cricket Club