Crows eye board diversity with new advisory panel
The Adelaide Football Club is setting up a new panel – headlined by a Reserve Bank director – to advise the club on its selection process for board members.
The Crows have appointed Reserve Bank board member Carolyn Hewson, experienced company director Jim Hazel and club board member Richard Fennell to a new “independent advisory group” which will have input on how the club makes appointments to its 10-person board.
The club said the new panel would advise on the selection process for both club-appointed and member-elected board members, taking into account factors such as diversity objectives, club policies, skills and succession requirements.
Crows chair John Olsen said the panel would have an “immediate focus on enhancing the diversity” of the club’s board.
“The panel represents good governance and it drives new levels of independence, and ensures we have the right people guiding and driving our club forward,” he said in a statement.
“There will also be an immediate focus on enhancing the diversity of our board so it better reflects our needs and the expectations of our member and supporter base, as well as the wider community.
“Both Carolyn and Jim bring a wealth of experience from the highest levels of corporate Australia and I would like to sincerely thank them for taking up this opportunity.”
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Hewson has been on the Reserve Bank of Australia board since March 2021. The former investment banker is also a director at Infrastructure SA and part of the state government-commissioned review into the $200m Aboriginal art and cultures centre at Lot Fourteen.
A long-time Crows supporter, she was named a joint-number one ticket holder in 2018.
Hazel is a professional company director who currently holds board roles with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, the University of South Australia and the Precision Group of Companies. He was on the Crows board from 2010 to 2021, including as deputy chair.
Fennell is an executive at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and a former consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He was appointed to the Crows board in 2017.
The Crows have long faced calls for governance reforms, particularly regarding the lack of term limits for directors.
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Olsen has previously told InDaily that introducing term limits is “under active consideration” and “it does not serve a club’s best interests to have directors on the board for 15, 20 years”.
It’s understood the new advisory panel will have an input on the issue of term limits along with its immediate focus on increasing diversity.
The current Crows board consists of three women: SAPOL assistant commissioner Linda Fellows (also deputy chair), former federal MP Kate Ellis and Optus lawyer Shanti Berggren.
The introduction of nine or 10-year term limits, applied retrospectively, would see the departure over the next few years of several long-term board members including Fellows (appointed 2015), club legend Mark Riccuito (appointed 2014) and premiership player Rod Jameson (elected 2015).
The Crows constitution allows only two member-elected directors, with the remaining board members appointed and ratified by the AFL.
In March, club members elected media personality Graeme Goodings and re-elected Jameson to the board.
The club posted a $1.24m statutory profit for its 2021 financial year.
The Crows men’s side has missed the finals for the last five years – the longest drought in the club’s 31-year history.
The men’s side finished 14th last season, four wins outside the top eight.
