THREE new Directors were appointed to the EDFL Board of Management at Wednesday’s Annual General Meeting held at Windy Hill.
Retiring Chairman Brett Scott and Board Member Wayne Anthony have made way for newly-elected members Janette Chantry OAM, Andrea Tacono and Steele Waterman, filling all seven positions for the 2019 season.
Current members Bernie Shinners and Tanya Taylor were re-elected, with Romy Gutbier and Robert Castellas also continuing with their service.
Following the election, Shinners was confirmed as Chairman.
Shinners told essendondfl.com.au he is privileged to be serving as the new Chairman of the Board.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunities it’ll give to work with a well-resourced management team under Craig Armstead and in particular, working with him and the clubs,” Shinners said.
“It’s always important to work with people to identify what is the best strategic direction for the organisation to go and to help clubs improve and deliver a better product, both in terms of their senior football, but more particularly, junior development, which I think is very important.
“A lot of clubs do it well, but there are clubs that we need to better support at grassroots, so that they can remain strong in the competition.”
Chantry, who has family ties to both Essendon Doutta Stars and Strathmore Football Clubs, has served as Mayor of Moonee Valley and was awarded an OAM for service to the community in 2017.
Tacono boasts a wealth of experience in community sport with Hockey Victoria and currently works as an accountant in the education system.
Finally, Waterman has been involved extensively with EDFL football across multiple decades as a player, coach, administrator and most recently, served an investigator for the EDFL Tribunal.
Shinners has embraced the increased diversity of the new board.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said.
“That diversity is really important and there are other areas where we’ve got to grow that diversity, in terms of representation on our tribunal and so forth, and we need to continue the lead that’s been shown at the board level by having better representation of women in roles within the organisation.”
Shinners paid tribute to Scott and is now looking forward to building off the solid foundation the outgoing chair has left behind.
“Brett has chaired an organisation that has grown significantly with women’s football, at both junior and senior levels, but more particularly he strengthened the financial stability of the organisations and indirectly, the clubs,” Shinners explained.
“I think that’s of great interest because the board going forward can focus on the future and not look at the internal issues.
“We’re very fortunate because of the leadership shown, and I do want to wish Brett well.
“He’s left the organisation in a very good state and Wayne (Anthony) supported those initiatives and made a positive contribution to the league as well.”
Left to right: Steele Waterman, Romy Gutbier, Janette Chantry OAM, Bernie Shinners, Andrea Tacono, Tanya Taylor and Robert Castellas.
