BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Peter Hardgrove _________________________________________________________________________________ Peter is a 59 year old retired Police Officer. He is a Life Member of Wests Ashfield Leagues with 27 years membership. He has 22 years experience on the Board, eight of these as Chairman. Peter has also recently been re-nominated by the Board of Wests Ashfield Leagues as a Director on the NRL joint venture team of Wests Tigers. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Directors and has many qualifications in business management. Peter currently is Chairman of Leagues Clubs Australia. In this capacity he has actively lobbied the NSW Government regarding gaming tax and other issues affecting the Club Industry. Peter has also previously held numerous Directorships/Chairmanships of various sporting organisations both licensed and non-licensed.

Ron Powell ________________________________________________________________________________ Ron has been a resident of the Strathfield area for 40 years, during which time he has maintained continuous membership of Wests Ashfield Leagues; being a Director for the last 16 years and former Deputy Chairman for eight years. He was a member of Wests Ashfield Leagues Building Committee when the decision was taken to build the long awaited new Club premises and he continued in that role until the completion of the (then) new Club. Ron opted for early retirement from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia where he held numerous senior positions in Branches and Administration, including Senior Tutor, Staff Training, Senior Auditor of the Bank’s private and postal agencies network throughout NSW and ACT. Subsequently he held senior Executive Management positions in Workers Compensation, Industrial Relations, Remuneration Planning, Job Evaluation, Work Design and Payment Systems in the Bank’s Head Office.

Ron also is a Director and Life Member of Western Suburbs (Magpies) District Rugby League Football Club and Chairman of its Finance Committee, Director of Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Pty Ltd and a member of its Finance Committee, member of the NSW Rugby League’s General Committee, and he also holds Directorship of Camden Valley Golf Resort and is a Wests Ashfield representative on Narellan Properties. He also is Patron of Wests Ashfield Leagues’ Squash Club, Life Member of two Rugby League Referees’ Associations and former CEO of Wests Ashfield Leagues Magpies Metropolitan Cup Rugby League Teams. He also was a member of Wests Magpies and Wests Tigers Centenary of Rugby League Committees that organised numerous centenary celebration functions during 2008. During 2001 Ron was awarded the Australian Sports Medal by the Commonwealth Government in recognition for his services to Rugby League and he was proud to have been elected as a Life Member of Wests Ashfield Leagues in 2006. More recently, Ron was awarded Life Membership of the NSW Rugby League in 2009.

John Donnellan _______________________________________________________________________________ John is a practising solicitor. John and his family have been residents in the Wests’ area for over 40 years. John was the Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Solicitor from 1975 to 1996 and Deputy Chairman, Football Club Board from incorporation until 1996. John is currently a Debenture Holder of Western Suburbs Leagues Club and a Director on the Board since 1996. John has had sporting and Club administration experience in many sports including: Junior League, Senior League, swimming, athletics, basketball, soccer and cricket.

Dennis Burgess _______________________________________________________________________________ Dennis is a Professional Musician and Managing Director of Burgess Ventures, which encompasses Regal Records, A Red Letter Day (Event Management), Burgess Bookings, Above All Secretarial, BURGESS BURGESS (The Band) and new music website Hotsource.com.au. Through Denny Burgess Management he looks after Australian Idols, Rebekah LaVauney and Peter Ryan. He has been a Debenture Holder of ‘Western Suburbs Leagues Club Ltd’ since 1996, and a Director for the past nine years. Currently Dennis is also a Director of ‘Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club’, and ‘Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Club’. He is the Songwriter/Performer of one of Wests Magpies Club Songs – ‘Glory Boys’.

Other business involvements include him being Chairman of the ‘Australian Songwriters Association’ (ASA), Vice Chairman and Honorary Treasurer of ‘Association of Artists Managers’ (AAM), Chairman of the ‘Australian Songwriters Official National Group’ (ASONG), Director of the ‘Ronald McDonald House Charities’, and an active member of both the ‘Association of Independent Record Labels’ (AIR), and ‘Support Act Limited’ (SAL). Born and raised in West’s territory, Dennis was educated at Christian Brothers College, Burwood. He is married to Clare, with young son Cole. Dennis is passionate about Wests, its past, its present, and its future. As Chairman of Wests Magpies Events Committee, and a member of the Finance Committee, he was pleased to be involved in the Magpies Centenary Celebrations in 2008, and is excited by the Club’s new Stage II plans.

Russell Smith FAICD JP _______________________________________________________________________________ A life member after 43 years, and Director since 1991, Russell served 30 years with Qantas. At retirement he was an executive manager responsible for evolving major organisational changes in Information Technology, after earlier managing physical IT resources and projects worldwide. He established the airline’s initial IT Emergency Management Plan with business continuity and contingency planning as integral elements of management strategies. His experience as a Director goes back to the 1960s, from family business to international joint ventures, and he has consulted to corporations on IT and risk management, including a leading NSW University and Star City. He spent 6 months with the Hong Kong Airport Authority to devise and establish a continuity management strategy, including the development, testing, and implementation of operational contingency plans to address earlier catastrophic problems.

Robert Carter _______________________________________________________________________________ Robert has been a member of the Western Suburbs Leagues Club Ltd for over 30 years and a resident of the Ashfield Municipality for over 35 years. Employed by Telstra (and formerly OTC) for 31 years where Robert has held a number of senior executive positions in technical operations and service areas – he is currently Director, Business Improvement being accountable for process, systems, strategic & major projects and performance of the Network Enterprise Services which employs some 2,500 staff. Robert is a Life Member of Wests Ashfield Leagues and has had 16 years broken service as a Director as well as representing the Club on the Boards and Committees of a number of its corporate entities. Robert is Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.