Richmond Football Club is pleased to announce that Shane Dunne has been appointed as the Club’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.
Dunne, 42, is the current CEO of Richmond’s fully-owned subsidiary business, Aligned Leisure, which since its inception in 2016, has grown from an organisation of 100 employees, to now having 1800.
A member of the Club’s executive team, Dunne has also overseen Richmond’s education arm, namely the successful Richmond Institute, the pioneering sports education program delivered in collaboration with Swinburne University of Technology that has helped over 1,000 graduates enter the sports industry or tertiary studies.
Richmond President John O’Rourke said that in June, the Board spent important time defining the Club's needs and the key attributes we would seek in a new leader and appointed a subcommittee of the Board to work with an external search firm and undertake a thorough selection process over the last two months.
The committee assessed candidates locally and globally, from within and outside the AFL industry before recommending to the Board last week that Dunne be appointed as CEO.
“The Club has entered a transition period, and we need a leader with the dynamism and confidence to harness the talents of our people to both face the immediate challenges, but also capitalise on the opportunities that will present themselves through this next phase,” O’Rourke said.
“In Shane we have a CEO who can develop, communicate with, and galvanise our broad and diverse stakeholder groups, including members, staff, commercial partners, and community groups, while providing trusted guidance and support to the leaders of our AFL and AFLW programs.
“Shane is well known to many – he is a highly valued executive and has consistently demonstrated strong, values driven leadership. His ability to form and communicate a direction for others to align around was a feature of his presentations through the selection process.
“We identified the importance of strong commercial skill to navigate the immediate financial pressures we face and, importantly, the Punt Road Redevelopment project as a key priority for the Club in this next phase.
"Shane has navigated some tough times with the Aligned Leisure business, especially during Covid. Here, his commercial, communication, and stakeholder skills were needed as he actively leaned into the challenges. Many of these experiences and skills have helped prepare him for this role”.
O’Rourke added that being able to appoint an internal candidate as the next CEO was a great testament to outgoing CEO Brendon Gale and the broader Club.
“There is a need for renewal and change, but the fundamentals, values, and strong culture are a legacy to Brendon and his leadership of the existing management team.
“We wish Shane well and are looking forward to the Tiger Army getting to know him because he will be a great leader to everyone who is involved with the Richmond Football Club.”
Dunne has been employed by the Richmond Football Club for the past 10 years. He previously worked at YMCA Victoria for 14 years and was a Board Member with Life Saving Victoria for a maximum term between 2018 and 2024.
The experienced sports administrator was the Event Services Deputy Manager for the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Dunne has a Master of Business Administration, and completed a Negotiation program at Harvard Law School. He has two children Lewis and Mabel with partner Tara.
