Colin’s involvement with football started in 1985 when his report for the VFL proposed the national competition and the draft and salary cap strategies that would keep all clubs competitive. Two years later, he brokered agreement between the VFL and MCC which led to the return of VFL Members to the MCG and building the Great Southern Stand. Later, while on the AFL Commission, he led the working group that prepared the AFL’s strategy for grassroots development.

Colin’s working career was as a management consultant with The Boston Consulting Group. He retired in 2001 but still advises some company boards on their performance and has been an advisor to several sporting bodies.

He is a director of two public companies – SEEK and Wesfarmers and was a director of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. He is a director of World Vision and for over ten years has been involved with several organizations working with Indigenous communities across Australia. He is also a director of the Ladder Project which is the AFL's partnership with the AFL Players’ Association to combat youth homelessness.

Colin has a Commerce degree from Melbourne University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is married to Angie – from Wyoming - who is now a fanatical Geelong supporter. They have three adult sons and live in Melbourne.

Gareth is a Geelong boy, born and bred. From as early as he can recall, The Cats were always in his blood. As a young kid, he always dreamed of playing for the mighty blue and white.

That dream became a reality when he joined the club in 1965, his first year out of school. Joining the likes of Polly Farmer, Billy Goggin, Doug Wade, Peter Walker, Denis Marshall and John Sharrock, he had immediate success, winning the club goal kicking in that year and becoming a permanent member in the senior side.

He has now spent 45 years in VFL/AFL football. He played 136 games with the Cats between 1965 and 1974, was runner-up in the best and fairest in 1970, kicked 127 goals, and became a Life Member of the Club.

In 1974 he swapped clubs, joining Richmond that year, playing in the 1974 Tiger Premiership, and completing his career in 1975 with 31 games for the Tigers.

Gareth was General Manager of Richmond in 1978 – 1979. He was a joint founder of the VFL/AFL Players Association was President in 1975, and is a life member of the organisation.

Between 1979 and 1998, he was a radio/TV commentator for the ABC and football writer and analyst for The Sunday Age.

In 1998 he joined the Frank Costa-led Geelong Board and has been Director and Vice President since that date. He has played an important role in all the important decision through that time, including the appointments of Brian Cook and Mark Thompson.

Gareth was recognised for his efforts in the game with AFL Life Membership in 2011.

Gareth has extensive interests outside business and football, including writing, reading, adventure travel, exercise, meditation, theatre and the arts, international cricket and working for charitable organisations.

His children Jeremy who works for Ausaid and Georgina an Executive Assistant, have blue and white blood surging through their veins.

Sarah Albon (Birch) rejoined the Cats as community development manager in May 2011 after a stint in the United Kingdom where she worked for both the International Cricket Council and the England & Wales Cricket Board. Most recently Birch was the director of marketing for EMC group.

Sarah oversees the club’s new community development department She previously worked with the Cats from 2001-2008 in various roles in events, marketing, communications and community relations.

Sarah is currently on the boards of Tourism Geelong and the Barwon Sports Academy.
 
The community development department will be responsible for all the club’s community relations activities, including the current programs and for the development of new initiatives, including the community wellness centre that will form part of the stage three redevelopment at Simonds Stadium.

Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business

Kevin Diggerson has led Geelong’s media and public relations activities since 2003. Working with an energetic and committed staff, the Cats have instigated a highly successful strategy of communicating with their supporters through both traditional and new media. The launch of CATS TV in 2010 has seen even greater scope for the Cats’ stars to be accessible to supporters around the world.

Before joining the Cats Diggerson spent time working with the AFL website and the National Basketball League. He has worked on the media unit with the Australian teams at three summer and one winter Olympic Games.

Steve played 199 games with the Cats in an 11 year career and was recognised as one of the league's toughest players. He appeared in two grand finals and was named as the club's most determined player four times including three consecutive seasons from 1988 to 1990. Considered a back pocket specialist, Hocking played with the Cats for over a decade and fell one game short of reaching 200 games when he retired after ending up on the losing 1994 AFL Grand Final team.

In 2006, and after two seasons as chairman of the Cats match committee, Steve sold his picture framing business and returned to Simonds Stadium as Training Services Manager. Steve’s role was to be responsible for the planning, management and implementation of all training services for the club. This also included the co-ordination of all medical, physiotherapy, fitness and conditioning requirements on training and match days. Steve was duly promoted to Assistant General Manager Football Operations to support Neil Balme (General Manager Football Operations).

Steve lives in Geelong, is married to Annemarie and they have 2 children Rhys & Alana.

Master of Business Management

Rosie joined the Geelong Cats in September 2010 as the General Manager, People and Culture having previously held senior human resource roles in the commercial, not-for-profit and government sectors. During some time spent in New Zealand, Rosie was the General Manager, Organisational Development for Sport and Recreation New Zealand, where she worked with many of the high performance sporting organisations to build their HR capability.

Rosie spent several years on various Boards in the education and training sector. Rosie is committed to the philosophy of life long learning and is an advocate of vocational education. Rosie and her family live in Buninyong, a rural township near Ballarat, where she enjoys breeding cattle and hitting a few golf balls around the paddocks.

David joined the Cats in August 2009 in the role of General Manager Commercial Operations.

David brings to the team a true sports marketing specialist with fifteen years of knowledge and experience gained through senior management positions with Australia’s most high profile brands, sports and events.

With an understanding that relationships are the key to great partnerships, and a brand marketing mindset when approaching clients, major events and properties, you have a professional dedicated to delivering results on time, on budget, and with maximum impact on behalf of employers and clients alike.

Prior to joining the Cats, David spent 5 years at the AFL as the Manager, Corporate Partners. Key outcomes during this period included:

• developing and implementing marketing and leverage programs on behalf of clients to maximize their ROI in their AFL partnerships;

• increasing corporate partner revenue by more than 100%;

• strengthening relationships with key corporate clients resulting in minimal client churn; and

• developing and delivering a long term sales plan for the AFL.

Prior to the AFL, David managed the Victorian office for respected sports research and brand measurement company S-COMM Australia.

David began his career in the sports marketing industry with 10 years at global sports marketing business Octagon. During this time, he was across all facets of the business including Event Management and Production, Athlete Management, Media and PR and Consulting. Highlights of the Octagon period include leading the consulting function of the business in the lead up and through the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. This role included the delivery of key partner leverage programs on behalf of AMP, Holden and IBM, all major partners of the Games.

David lives in Melbourne with wife Nicki and primary school age children Sophie and Mitchell.

Bachelor of Commerce, CPA

Rob began in his role of General Manager Finance and Administration at the Geelong Cats in June 2000.

The core purpose of his position at the Geelong Cats is to manage the financial and administrative function of the Club and provide leadership and strategic direction in accordance with the objectives of the Board. The administration function includes information technology, facility management and company secretarial duties. Rob is also responsible for delivery of the Club’s major infrastructure developments.

Prior to joining the Geelong Cats Rob spent eight years working for Newcrest Mining Ltd, an Australian gold mining company, four years in Melbourne at Head Office and four years on secondment to Indonesia where he managed the finance and corporate affairs of the Company’s interests in Asia.

In 2008, Rob was awarded the AFL’s Graeme Samuel Scholarship to further his career development with the Club and the AFL. As a consequence, Rob completed an executive education course at Harvard Business School in Boston, MA and visited a number of sporting clubs and stadiums in New York and Boston.

Rob grew up in Geelong and completed his secondary education at St Joseph’s College.

Rob lives in Geelong, is married to Fiona and they have three school age children Ben, Sam and Meghan.