Virgin's finance boss heads for the departure gate | The Australian
Steve Creedy From: The Australian December 22, 2010 12:00AM
VIRGIN Blue expects to announce a new chief financial officer early next year after Keith Neate announced his resignation yesterday.
His departure will complete the exodus of Brett Godfrey's original senior management team.
Mr Neate cited the relentless nature of the aviation industry and a desire to spend more time with his family as reasons for leaving after more than seven years at the carrier.
A Virgin source said Mr Neate's departure was amicable.
It is understood the airline already has a short list of possible candidates to replace Mr Neate, who will remain until March.
The CFO is the latest in a series of high-profile management departures since the arrival in may of new chief executive John Borghetti.
Others include head of corporate affairs Heather Jeffery, operations chief Andrew David, V Australia general manager Scott Swift and former head of government relations Tony Wheelen.
Group executive commercial and former EasyJet executive Liz Savage, who joined the airline in the months before Mr Godfrey's departure, remains.
New faces include former Qantas executives Will Owens (yield management), Jane McKeon (group executive government relations) and Roger Lindeman (head of service experience) as well as group executive operations Sean Donohue, who was formerly with United Airlines.
Mr Neate's departure did not surprise analysts who said he was closely aligned with the airline's previous strategy.
There was speculation he may not have been comfortable with the pace of reform as Virgin tries to snare more corporate customers.
"While Keith's corporate knowledge and experience may be missed, we do not expect the announcement to be taken negatively by the market, given the new direction VBA is heading in and the fresh perspective that a new CFO is likely to bring," RBS analyst Mark Williams said.
"The CFO's resignation gives CEO John Borghetti the opportunity to further build his own core management team."
Thanking Mr Neate for agreeing to stay for a seamless handover, Mr Borghetti said he had played an integral role in the management of the company, "successfully steering it through some extremely difficult times, including most recently the global financial crisis".