Melbourne Football Club Announcement

The Melbourne Football Club is pleased to announce two key appointments to the Club’s Senior Management team.

John Poulakakis will join the Club in the role of Chief Commercial Officer, with Matthew Green in the role of Chief Operations Officer.

CEO Cameron Schwab said, ‘Jim Stynes has put together a Board of Directors with outstanding business acumen and football understanding.  It is my challenge as CEO to match that with the appointment of the senior management team.  These two appointments represent an important step in achieving this outcome.’

John will oversee the Club’s entire commercial operations with a specific focus on the strategic repositioning of the Melbourne Football Club brand and business model.

Matt will be responsible for the day to day operations of the Club.  His portfolio of responsibilities will include the finance, human resource and information technology functions as well as TPP, player contract management and negotiations and the maintenance of key stakeholder relationships.

John Poulakakis – Chief Commercial Officer

John has spent over 25 years building some of the most iconic brands in Australia, including Target, Antz Pantz, Holeproof No Knickers, Lipton Tea, and the ANZ.  Half of this time was spent with Australia’s most renowned and awarded agency – The Campaign Palace, Melbourne.

As Managing Director of The Campaign Palace, John was also instrumental in the creation of some of Australia’s most enduring campaigns, including the highly successful “I’d like to see that” campaign for the Australian Football League (AFL) featuring superstars such as Shaquille O’Neill, Heather Locklear and Carl Lewis.

John has also operated his own marketing consultancy, with the aim of bringing strategic thinking to the business of sport, community and the arts.  John was the architect of what is today known as the Hyundai A League, and his clients have included the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Disney Corporation and LG Electronics, as well as elite athletes such as Grant Hackett and Lisa Curry Kenny.

John enjoys the unique honour of being on the advisory board of the AFLPA, and is Chairman of the PFA – the player association for soccer. He is also a Director of “Foundation 49” - the peak body for men’s health.

John is also a fanatical Melbourne supporter.

Matthew Green – Chief Operations Officer

Matt was most recently an Account Director within the Corporate Reorganisation Group of Deloitte.

During this career, Matt has worked extensively in the manufacturing, automotive, textiles, printing, retail and aquaculture industries, focusing on both restructuring/turnaround and formal administration appointments. One of his areas of speciality is in implementing cash and working capital improvement initiatives.

Matt has also held the position of ‘General Manager – Operations’ for Australia’s largest vertically integrated aquaculture company.  In this position, he was part of the executive team that managed a significant turnaround in the company’s profitability, involving substantial industry rationalisation and the subsequent listing of the restructured entity. This company is now a robust organisation, leading its field in Australia for all relevant benchmarks.

Like John, Matt is a fanatical Melbourne supporter.