INCOMING Demons CEO Paul Guerra says the opportunity to make his mark on the rich history of the Melbourne Football Club was simply too good to refuse.
The current CEO of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce comes to the club with an impressive history of leading businesses on the world stage and can’t wait to delve into elite sport.
Time leading Motorola and the largest healthcare organisation in the world, UnitedHealth Group in the Asia Pacific as well as taking charge of the southern half of Australia for Vodafone, puts him in good stead to be the man at the helm of a historic sporting organisation.
“Melbourne - the history that it has with football is so significant,” Guerra told Melbourne Media.
“An opportunity to join a great club in elite sporting competition was too good to resist.
“As I met the board and understood what the board was wanting terms of a CEO, it made it even more appealing, and I was just delighted to get the phone call last night.”
Guerra has a firm vision for the Melbourne Football Club and how he can help guide it through its next chapter.
For the highly respected CEO, it boils down to values, strategy and a new home base for the club.
“It's pretty clear we want to be an elite off the field. We want to be elite on the field in both the men's and the women's competition,” he says.
“We need a home for the Melbourne Football Club where we can have our high-performance facilities, where we can welcome our fans, members and sponsors and a place where past players are happy to come back to as well.
“We want Melbourne to have a real home that everybody can enjoy, but we can get elite performance out of it.
“I'm really clear around values. I think the football club has a wonderful set of values. I can bind to those and I'm sure everyone in the organisation does
“I'm also really clear on strategy. If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. Let's be really clear around where we're going. The values then lead to a culture.”
Guerra says he’s along for the ride with the Demon Faithful and wants to walk hand-in-hand with the club’s passionate members.
“If you see me, chat to me, I'm a pretty social person,” he says.
“If you've got something to say then please come and tell me, we're all in this.
“All demons fans I know are passionate – how do we make the club better? How do we make sure that we take the club forward? And how do we enjoy the journey together?”
