weekender the western Thursday, March 3, 2016 • Issue 1242
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Brad Drew joins our NRL coverage See centre pull-out
Focus on the future Major shake-up at Panthers as Brian Fletcher is appointed new CEO
Your best guide to what’s on in Penrith p.53-65
Fury over new toll for M4 p.16 NEW COLUMN Look good thanks to our brand new fashion column p.69
Panthers Deputy Chairman Greg Alexander, CEO Brian Fletcher and Chairman David O’Neill. Photo: Megan Dunn TROY DODDS
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ew Panthers CEO Brian Fletcher is determined to ensure the organisation is debt free, focused on football and most importantly, stable. Mr Fletcher has stepped down from his position as Chairman of the Board to take on the CEO role vacated by Warren Wilson last month. It has forced a re-shuffle on the Board with respected local businessman David O’Neill to take
over as Chairman and club legend Greg Alexander to take on the role of Deputy Chairman. With so many administrative changes at Panthers in the last 12 months, Mr Fletcher is determined to ensure things settle down moving forward. “Stability is so important. We’ve got a young Board on average – it’s very important to get stability,” Mr Fletcher said. “We have got the structures right now, we have the right people in the right positions and I think success is assured for us.”
While Mr Fletcher, who has been CEO of Hawkesbury Race Club for more than 25 years, will take on the role as Group CEO, there will still be a CEO specifically in charge of the rugby league side of the business, with the club to go to market to find the right person for that role, which was vacated by Justin Pascoe more than six months ago. “Football is our core business. The better we go there, the better we’ll go everywhere. We’ll be looking at getting the best CEO of football we can get our hands on,” Mr Fletcher said. Story continues on » p. 7
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