After three and a half years as President, David Barham has decided to step down.
Dear Members,
After nearly three and a half years serving as your President, I have decided to step down from my role and hand over to Vice President Andrew Welsh.
My love for the Essendon Football Club is second only to the love I have for my family. In every decision and every action I have taken, my guiding principle has always been what is in the best interests of the Club. This is another. It is time for a new President. It is a voluntary role that requires someone with the time, drive and energy to take us forward.
I have given my all over the past three and a half years and tackled every challenge with everything that I have. I took my responsibility to fight for and defend our Club, our players, coaches and administrators extremely seriously. I’m proud of what we have achieved in transforming the Club and making the hard decisions to set it up for long-term, sustained success. I have no doubt we are now on the right track, and I leave excited about the future.
When I became President in 2022, I invited Andrew Welsh to join the board and take on the role of Director of Football Governance. He has developed close working relationships with our coaches Brad Scott and Natalie Wood and our CEO Craig Vozzo, and been heavily involved in developing our football programs.
Last year, Andrew took on a wider leadership role as Vice President. Andrew, the Board and I have been working collaboratively to put a succession plan in place for some time, and I am delighted that Andrew is now able to take on the role, and he will take over responsibility from today. I have been thinking about this decision for a while, and feel the timing is right.
I convened a meeting of the Board this morning where I informed them of this decision. I will now take steps to fully exit the board in the coming weeks to ensure a smooth transition.
Since becoming President, I have repeatedly said that sustained, long-term success relies on unity, stability and alignment and this transition to Andrew Welsh ensures that is maintained.
Andrew will be an outstanding President, and it has been a privilege to work with him. He is driven and will bring fresh energy to the role, an energy we need to continue to build and develop the Club and achieve on-field success. As we all loved him as a player, Andrew’s uncompromising but compassionate approach, football knowledge and strategic thinking have been brilliant to watch and are great assets to the Club.
I have served on the Board since the start of 2016. I would like to thank all the members who elected me and placed their trust in me. It has been an enormous honour, and I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the Club. I have met amazing people, both inside and outside the Club.
I have enormous faith in both Brad Scott, Natalie Wood and Craig Vozzo. They are the future and will lead us to success. They are talented, committed professionals who have outstanding values, and it has been a pleasure to work with them. They both put the Club first always.
To the people who work at the Club, including the players, coaches, administration team and volunteers, I have loved getting to know you all and have the utmost respect for you.
To the Board, you are an amazing group of dedicated volunteers who only want the best for the Club. Your work ethic is elite, and I value the friendships made.
To all our members, I look forward to rejoining you in the crowd and yelling my support for our team. I won’t miss going to the footy in a suit and will reacquaint myself with a pie and a beer in the outer. Thank you for all the support and I consider myself lucky to be a Bomber supporter amongst all of you.
Finally, to my wife Tash, and my daughters, Mia and Sophie, thank you for all the support and help over the past few years. I could not have done this job without you. As a family, we have enjoyed some great times.
Go Bombers.
David Barham