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OUR BOARD

Richmond Football Club and the Richmond Institute comprises of Board members who come from highly experienced & diverse backgrounds.

John o'Rourke

President

Henriette Rothschild

Vice President

Emmett Dunne

Brendon Gale

Chief Executive Officer

Kate Palmer, AM

Tina De Young

Dr Andrew Peters

Mark Ward

mary padbury

Joe Powell

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Peggy O'Neal

President

Peggy was appointed President of the Richmond Football Club in October 2013, having served on the board since November 2005.
In April 2018, she was appointed to the AFL’s Competition Committee.

Peggy is a consultant to Lander & Rogers and has specialised in superannuation and financial services law for more than 20 years. She was previously a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills.

In August 2014 she was appointed to chair the Victorian Minister for Sport’s year-long inquiry into ‘Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation’ and was convenor of the Minister’s Change Our Game Champions program until July 2018. In August 2017, Peggy was appointed to Victoria’s Ministerial Council on Women’s Equality.

Peggy is presently a non-executive director of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation as well as NULIS Nominees Limited, a subsidiary of National Australia Bank which acts as trustee of the bank’s superannuation business. Peggy also serves as an independent member of the External Compliance Committee of Vanguard Investments Australia and is a director of Infrastructure Specialist Asset Management Limited.

In the not-for-profit sector, she is on the board of Women’s Housing, on the investment advisory panel of Home for Homes (an initiative of the Big Issue) and is an ambassador for micro-finance organisation, Opportunity International.

In September 2014 Peggy was named as one of the Financial Review/Westpac 100 Women of Influence and as one of the Women’s Weekly 50 Most Powerful Women in Australia. Peggy is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a member of Chief Executive Women.

In December 2018, Peggy was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Swinburne University. In June 2019, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Peggy became a Life Member of the Club in 2015.

Henriette Rothschild

Henriette was appointed to the board in February 2017.

Henriette is the Chief Operating Officer of ASX-listed iSelect, Australia’s leading digital broker across insurance, utilities and personal finance products. Previously, Henriette was the Managing Director of Hay Group Australia/NZ, Japan and Korea, a global management consulting firm.

Henriette has worked with boards, CEOs and executive teams in areas of organisational performance, transformation and building high performance cultures. Through her leadership roles, she has significant experience locally and across geographies of developing and advising high performance teams.

Henriette is also on the board of Brown Family Wine Group, an Australian family owned wine company.

Emmet Dunne

Vice President

Emmett was appointed to the board in September 2016.

Emmett was recruited to the Richmond Football Club as a 15 year old from its metropolitan zone. He played in premiership sides in the under 19s and reserves competitions, and was a member of the 1980 premiership team. After his playing career, he continued his involvement in football in various coaching positions and as a member of the VFL/AFL Tribunal for 20 years, until his appointment to the Club’s board.
Emmett served in the Victoria Police for more than 39 years and retired in 2015 at the rank of Assistant Commissioner. During his policing career, he performed many roles including as the head of the Professional Standards Command and of the Eastern Region of Victoria, when he led more than 4,500 staff. In the 2011 Australia Day Honours Emmett was awarded the Australian Police Medal.

Emmett is also on the board of Greyhound Racing Victoria.

Emmett became a Life Member of the Club in 1989, and is also a Patron of the Club’s Bequest Society.

Brendon Gale

Chief Executive Officer (2009 – 2024)

Brendon served as CEO of Richmond Football Club for 15 years from August 2009 until 2024, and as Executive Director in December 2015. Brendon practiced law with a leading Australian commercial law firm, King Wood Mallesons, prior to serving as CEO of the AFL Players Association.

Brendon is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and served on the board of the Victorian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission from 2009 to 2013. He has also been an owner and director of several businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector. Brendon is a current non-executive director of ASX listed company, Home Consortium Limited.

Brendon played 244 AFL games with the Club from 1990 to 2001 and was awarded Life Membership in 2000.

Malcolm Speed

Malcolm was appointed to the board in October 2011

Malcolm is a former barrister and sports administrator. He was CEO of Cricket Australia (1997-2001) and the International Cricket Council (2001-2008), as well as holding senior positions in basketball during the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2012, Malcolm was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Malcolm is now occupied in a range of sport-related activities as a university lecturer, consultant, and company director where his appointments include Sports Environment Alliance, Deakin University and Melbourne University.

Tina De Young

Tina was appointed to the board in December 2018.

Tina is currently working at Bendigo & Adelaide Bank in the corporate strategy team and prior to this had her own consulting business, assisting companies with acquisitions, divestments, and other business initiatives. Tina worked at the boutique corporate advisory firm, Grant Samuel, for 12 years. In this role, Tina worked closely with boards and senior managers of clients operating in a range of industries, including banking and finance, resources, health, agriculture, and infrastructure in implementing their strategic objectives.

Prior to Grant Samuel, Tina worked in London at Morgan Stanley Investment Management as a buy side research analyst on the Global Equities team. Tina completed her CFA while in London.
Tina is also on the board of the Victorian Institute of Sport.

Mark Ward

Mark was appointed to the board in January 2018.

Mark’s career in retailing extends 40 years, beginning in 1978 on the shop floor at McEwans. In 1993, Mark joined Bunnings where he progressed through a number of senior roles during a significant period of that company’s growth, including as General Manager of Operations. Mark was appointed Managing Director of Officeworks in 2007, where he oversaw the growth of the store network to more than 165 stores. He has since returned to Bunnings, where he holds the position of Chief Operating Officer Commercial.

Kerry Ryan

Kerry was appointed to the board in October 2013.

Kerry is an experienced non-executive director across different industries and organisations, including membership bodies. She is a former executive committee member of the Australia India Business Council and the Australia Indonesia Business Council.

Kerry’s professional background is in law, and she was a lawyer and commercial partner at international law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, for over 15 years. She worked predominately in the consumer markets area and acted for many well-known brands in relation to their business dealings in Australia and offshore.

Kerry was awarded an Austrade Business Fellowship to Indonesia where she worked for several years. She also worked as in-house counsel with the Packer Group in India.

Kerry is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.
Kerry has also been actively involved in local community and grass roots organisations.

Joe Powell

Joe was appointed to the board in February 2017.

Currently a consultant with Hume Partners, Joe has extensive experience managing and operating multinational businesses in the technology sector.

Prior to Hume Partners Joe was the Chief Executive Officer of publicly listed, global sports technology leader – Catapult Sports for 2.5 years. Prior to Catapult Joe spent 10 years with SEEK Ltd. In that time, he was Managing Director of SEEK Education where he oversaw various education businesses in Australia and internationally. Joe also spent six years as Managing Director of SEEK Employment, responsible for the day-to-day management of SEEK’s core Online Employment business in Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to SEEK, Joe spent 11 years at Optus in various management roles, after starting his career as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Joe also has significant board experience with Online Education Services and IDP Education and is a current director of the Migration Council Australia.

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Richmond
Institute

Peggy O'Neal

Leadership

Peggy was appointed president of the Richmond Football Club in October 2013, having served on the board since November 2005.

Peggy is a consultant to Lander & Rogers and has specialised in superannuation and financial services law for more than 20 years. She was a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills until July 2009.

In August 2014 she was appointed to chair the Victorian Minister for Sport’s year-long inquiry into ‘Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation’.

Peggy is presently a non-executive director on the board of Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation as well as three subsidiaries of National Australia Bank. In the not for profit sector, she is on the board of Women’s Housing, on the investment advisory panel of Home for Homes (an initiative of the Big Issue) and an ambassador for micro-finance organisation, Opportunity International.

In September 2014 she was named as one of The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence and as one of the Women’s Weekly 50 Most Powerful Women in Australia. She is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

As the leadership module program ambassador, students will learn from the AFL’s first female president about what it takes to lead a football club. Peggy will talk with students about her extensive leadership experience and philosophies on how to authentically lead teams.