Cricket Australia creates history by appointing first woman director in 107 years

Sydney: Cricket Australia (CA) is set to appoint Jacquie Hey as the first woman director in their history of 107 years, and, this step is being seen as a part of revolutionising of its boardroom structure.

Hey, a former chief executive of telecommunications company Ericsson in Australia and New Zealand, will sit on CA``s new nine-member board as one of three independent directors. Hey was one of three directors to be recommended collectively by the board at a meeting on Friday, with the others being executive David Peever and Adidas boss Kevin Roberts. Hey is expected to be confirmed as the organisation`s first female board member at the CA annual meeting on October 25. These three unanimously selected independent members will join chairman Wally Edwards, John Bannon, Tony Harrison, Earl Eddings, Dr Harry Harinath and Michael Kasprowicz on the streamlined board which, under recent reforms brought about by the Crawford-Carter report, replaces the former state-based 14-member body controlling the game. “They all bring a close interest in and knowledge of cricket, combined with significant experience and success at very senior corporate levels dealing with a wide range of diverse contemporary business challenges relevant to cricket, plus understanding and experience working with different cultures which is important to us as we strive to ensure cricket is a sport for all Australians of all backgrounds,” the Age quoted Edwards, as saying. “Most importantly, they offer us independent, expert insight from outside the day-to-day cricket world. We were focused on finding three high-calibre candidates completely independent of cricket,” he added. ANI