There’s change at the top at Collingwood, as executive gets key promotion

Collingwood chief executive Craig Kelly will leave the job at the end of next year and take a step back from some of his duties over the next twelve months with the club promoting executive Kerrie Brewer to be the club’s clear second in charge.

Kelly said he intends to remain at the club beyond 2027 in a consulting capacity in collaboration with the board.

The club has acknowledged there has been a need for a clear 2IC for some time.

“I am the CEO of the Collingwood Football Club and I will continue to be so for the next 12 months and from that point will work with the board on projects,” Kelly told this masthead.

“There is a CEO in the building and I am it. What we do need to do is have a chief operating officer and put someone in who understands the club and the AFL. Kerrie Brewer is an outstanding person. She worked here, she went to North Melbourne, went to Hawthorn and helped set up Dingley and I brought her back here from Hawthorn.

“She is an outstanding executive. Stepping her up allows me to focus on big projects, liaising with government, the renegotiation with Foxy [Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stuart Fox] over the MCG, the Melbourne Olympic Park Trust, the Yarra Council and Victoria Park.”

Brewer is highly rated in the industry. She was sponsorship manager at Collingwood for eight years at the start of the 2000s, went to North in a similar role, worked at James Hird’s Gemba marketing company, then moved to Hawthorn for 10 years, moving up to the role of general manager of development infrastructure and government relations. She returned to Collingwood three years ago at executive level, covering similar areas of government relations and infrastructure.

Collingwood’s contract to operate at its current home on the Yarra at the old Olympic Park expires in six years. Kelly said the club was eager to invest in the precinct but needed to see the master plan before pursuing further investment and development.

Tennis Australia has eyed the Collingwood training oval and potentially the Glasshouse facilities for use during the Australian Open, a move Kelly said Collingwood was open to.

“We are working with Melbourne Olympic Park Trust now and the government now [about renewing the lease long term] and we have made it very clear we are a crucial part of the environment in the precinct. When you drive by, Collingwood is the hub of activity.

“We have launched The Perch temporary facility this week for people to come pre-game and post-game for the next fortnight. We are constantly investing and trying new things for the precinct and our members and fans.”

Brewer’s role at Collingwood until this promotion to COO has been to manage these venues, and she is known to have had strong relationships with the key decision-makers at each organisation.