The best would be Gail Kelly.( Westpac) Ralph Norris? What about a block of flats for John Borgetti? What would get that bloke back?
If the Virgin board had any sense, they would have made sure that Borghetti's contract included a "non-compete" clause, preventing him from returning to Qantas (and taking all the intellectual knowledge) for a period of, say 5 years.
There's no chance of him returning to QF in the forseeable future and I'm sure he wants to see his current strategy play out to the end.
Forget the bankers (you know the saying - "Bankers are w*nkers!") And QF needs to look forward for a new CEO, not resurrect the nearly-dead of days gone by.
If Qantas wants to replace Alan Joyce, please don't let us suffer from Australia's dreaded "cultural cringe" mentality, whereby any executive from overseas (regardless of their poor track records and results) is considered to be streets ahead of Aussie managers. QF needs a CEO that all staff will respect and follow, someone with local knowledge but global experience.
Telstra's experience with American Sol Trujillo was a prime example of staff having absolutely no "buy-in" to his strategy and future planning. On a sporting note, the debacle of South Africa's Mickey Arthur taking charge of the Australian cricket team was nothing short of an embarrassment. Putting Aussie Darren Lehmann back in charge led to a huge improvement in performance and attitute.
I would want to see someone with extensive airline experience in their background - Etihad's Aussie-born James Hogan would be perfect, but unless he deperately wanted to come home and prove a point, leaving EY and joining QF would be a bit of a step backwards.
The talent pool here in Aus/NZ is pretty shallow and almost everyone has a history of working for AN/QF/VA/ANZ at some stage and would quickly surround themselves with their "mates" from a previous life. An outsider with a strongly articulated vision could work wonders for Qantas.
Are there any other experienced Aussie-born CEO/CFO's working in the airline industry Europe, Asia or North America who would be worthy contenders?