Announced to a packed media conference at the Lexus Centre on Thursday by Collingwood President Eddie McGuire, Pert will replace Greg Swann, who quit the club on the eve of round one.
Former Chief Operating Officer Eugene Arocca, who has so capably performed the role of acting CEO since Swann’s departure, will take up the position of Director of Commercial Operations in what is part of a major management restructure.
As a result of the restructure, Pert will relinquish his place on the Collingwood board to join the club’s administration, a situation that excites him enormously.
“It (Collingwood) is an amazing place, it’s got an amazing culture, amazing people,” Pert exclaimed.
“There’s something about being around Collingwood, and being on the board has helped this along.
“You can’t help but get caught up in the passion and the excitement and the environment of Collingwood and that, as part of being on the board and working with the various parts of the club, it pretty quickly drags you in from a passion point of view, so that’s how it unfolded.”
Pert, who leaves his job as Managing Director of Channel Nine in Melbourne, a position he held for six months after a long and successful reign as General Manager of the Austereo Network, was initially encouraged to consider the CEO job.
“When it first came up as a scenario if you like, when Swanny stepped out of the role, it wasn’t something that I automatically threw my hand up and thought of.
“It was after a series of board members and people around the club said they would like me to be involved in the process.”
“I might’ve only worked at GTV Nine for the last six months but I’ve been in media now for the last 15 years, and it (Collingwood CEO) is probably the only job that I can think of in Melbourne that could’ve pulled me away from GTV Nine.”
The new Collingwood boss made it clear on Thursday about the direction he, the board and other senior members of management want the club to head in, after McGuire stated he wants the club to double its current annual turnover mark of around $50million in the coming years, but also achieve the ultimate goal of a premiership.
“It’s more than just about the team that plays out on the field. It’s about having the money from a sponsorship/corporate point of view, the most fantastic facilities for sponsors to be involved in.
“It’s for the supporters, to have new media and new technologies coming into the mix that we need to be at the forefront, and embrace, and give the supporters an experience that they can’t get at any other club.
“We’re literally wanting to establish a benchmark organisation and sporting franchise that is not only respected and admired by the players that want to come and play here, but supporters and sponsors to want to be part of.
“We won’t have achieved what we’re setting out to achieve until we have international sporting companies and bodies coming to Collingwood to study the way we go about it, and learn form a best practice point of view.
“That’s the sort of benchmark we’ll be working towards.”
Pert will take up his new position on Monday.
