SAJC--report of inquiry into suitability of close associates - Portellos ...

Inquiry into the suitability of certain close associates of the
South Australian Jockey Club
Report
4.2 First round
4.2.1 Brenton Wilkinson
Mr Brenton Wayne Wilkinson was, at the time of examination, the acting chief
executive officer of the SAJC, a position he had held since 5 December 2008. Mr
Wilkinson had commenced with the SAJC in December 2002 in the capacity of
operations and facilities manager.
As operations and facilities manager, Mr Wilkinson stated that he was essentially the
second in charge to the chief executive and, while his principal responsibilities related
to race day operations, his executive duties involved him in routine attendance at
board meetings from the time of his appointment.
The board chairs in his time had been Mr Peter Lewis and Mr John Naffine. Mr
Wilkinson observed that the conduct of meetings was “very official”. He understood
that all the necessary formalities were attended to, and that the agenda was completed.
In terms of the functionality of the board, Mr Wilkinson observed that there were
sources of aggression principally relating to questions being asked by a group of
board members about the CEO’s employment contract. These queries were not
answered, on Mr Wilkinson’s understanding, because the information was
confidential and privileged—being confined to the board chair, his deputy and the
chief executive.
It was Mr Wilkinson’s opinion that the board was generally unified on questions of
broad strategy. In terms of day-to-day operations, there was a board policy that board
members were not to engage staff except through the CEO or the operations and
facilities manager, a protocol which was basically followed. In summary, Mr
Wilkinson regarded the board as functional in its discharge of day-to-day operational
matters.
In terms of personalities, Mr Wilkinson accepted that some board members were
more demanding than others for information in meetings. He accepted the suggestion
that this might have arisen from some members being better briefed prior to the
meeting than others. However, he noted that John Naffine as chairman had insisted on
more details of projects being included in the plenary 7 papers presented to the board.
Mr Wilkinson was asked about a strategic need to address a missing generation of
race goers. He responded that the issue had been discussed in marketing plans going
back to mid-2006, with a number of initiatives put forward. When asked about any
structured activity to recruit numbers of new members in September and October
2008, Mr Wilkinson responded that there was nothing in the plenary papers about a
membership drive in that period.
Mr Wilkinson was asked whether any process existed within the SAJC to ascertain
whether membership forms, and other materials provided to new members, formally
7
Mr Wilkinson explained that this was the internal language used to describe the covering
paper presented to the board in support of an agenda item.
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