Football Federation Australia (FFA) has today announced it had received nominations from its Members for four candidates for election as directors at its Annual General Meeting in November.
The four candidates nominated by FFA Members are: Steven Lowy AM, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Westfield Corporation; Daniel Moulis, a former Socceroo and principal of Moulis Legal, a specialist legal firm based in Canberra and Brisbane and operating across Australia and in Asia; Crispin Murray, Head of Equity Strategies, BT Investment Management; and Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Group Executive for Institutional Banking and Markets at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Under the FFA Constitution, to stand for election candidates must be nominated by two proposers and a third seconder. Each of the nine State and Territory Members of FFA acted in the capacity of proposer and/or seconder across one or more of the four nominations.
The nominations followed the conclusion of a selection process conducted by the FFA Nominations Committee that commenced in September 2013.
The chairman of the Nominations Committee, Mr Brian Schwartz, said the selection process was conducted with the help of respected international board advisory firm Egon Zehnder (EZ). The other members of the committee were board members Joseph Healy and Peter Tredinnick and the President of Football Federation South Australia, Judge Rauf Soulio.
The process resulted in six candidates being recommended as directors in two phases. In the first phase two were appointed to fill vacancies in 2014 – Melbourne lawyer Chris Nikou and the Chief Financial Officer of Caltex, Simon Hepworth, both of whom went through the EZ review process.
The second phase of the EZ process concluded with the four current candidates being unanimously recommended by the Nominations Committee.
The four vacancies arise from the mandatory retirement of the Chairman, Mr Frank Lowy AC; Deputy Chairman Brian Schwartz AM; and Phill Wolanski AM and the recent resignation of Peter Tredinnick.
Given the proximity of Mr Tredinnick’s resignation to the upcoming Annual General Meeting the board agreed that the fourth candidate be also put forward for election by the Members in November rather than being appointed by the board as is usual practice.
Mr Schwartz said that the committee’s recommendations took into account the experience and qualifications of each individual as well as the extent to which these would complement the skills of other candidates and existing board members.
“The Committee’s charter was to identify candidates that would result in a board with a blend of corporate experience in strategy, governance, finance, marketing and new technology combined with football experience and international business at the highest levels,” he said.
Mr Schwartz acknowledged the efforts of his colleagues on the Nominations Committee and thanked them for their contribution.
“I would also like to thank Kokkong Chan and his team at Egon Zehnder who conducted a thoroughly professional and diligent process on a pro bono basis. They have made an invaluable contribution to the game of football in Australia,” he said.