Shareholder revolt looms at VA
I don’t think EB gets anymore say than other board members, if she is outvoted by the board/shareholders it’s game on. Unfortunately this is what happened when Luxon tried to oust JB, lost the vote- just.
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Has JT ever been at the helm of a large company? to my knowledge he has only ever been a consultant. big difference between the two!
JT held a comparable position at Virgin to JB’s position at QANTAS.
The big difference was JT understood how an airline actually operates. JB still doesn’t have a clue.
You’d have to search pretty hard to find any frontline staff who can’t wait for JB to go.
Conversely, almost all of the actual workers at Virgin are hoping that JT will return.
Staff engagement plays a major role in a successful business and sadly, there has been very little staff engagement under the current executive management.
Bring back JT and “Make Virgin Great Again”
Had JB ever been at the helm of a large company before Virgin? No!
JT held a comparable position at Virgin to JB’s position at QANTAS.
The big difference was JT understood how an airline actually operates. JB still doesn’t have a clue.
You’d have to search pretty hard to find any frontline staff who can’t wait for JB to go.
Conversely, almost all of the actual workers at Virgin are hoping that JT will return.
Staff engagement plays a major role in a successful business and sadly, there has been very little staff engagement under the current executive management.
Bring back JT and “Make Virgin Great Again”
The only decent senior exec I think VA had in the last 5 years was the former CIO. Don’t know JT but if the rumor is true, he’s probably worth a shot.
Really the whole thing has got to the point where a trained chimpanzee could do better. The comments on here, many of them, just reinforce the impression by the people the MRB has pushed forward that he is one of these image over substance people... used to call people like that ‘mud guard’... all shiny on top and a lot of rubbish underneath.
JT will be an excellent replacement for JB.
The argument that he’s under-qualified is CLEARLY IRRELEVANT - as the Virgin Australia Board appointed him to second-in-charge Group Executive in the first place!
You can’t make a sh*t stirring claim that he doesn’t have what it takes when the Board clearly thought he had the goods 18 months ago or they wouldn’t have given him the job!
Now not only does 90% of the staff seem to think he’s qualified, so does over 50% of the shareholders! Let our lord and saviour JT take the reigns!
The argument that he’s under-qualified is CLEARLY IRRELEVANT - as the Virgin Australia Board appointed him to second-in-charge Group Executive in the first place!
You can’t make a sh*t stirring claim that he doesn’t have what it takes when the Board clearly thought he had the goods 18 months ago or they wouldn’t have given him the job!
Now not only does 90% of the staff seem to think he’s qualified, so does over 50% of the shareholders! Let our lord and saviour JT take the reigns!
I've met JT several times and I'm definitely a supporter, but I am also cognisant of the fact that everyone (including me) was behind JB when he arrived as well. It's very easy to say what you would do when you don't have the authority to do it, (and let me say at the outset, pilots are the world champions in that area), but until you actually have the reins, it's all speculation. My support for JT stems from the fact that he at least had some ideas (JB seems to have been bereft of them since he decided to order the 330's) and the one that he was allowed to implement (economy X) has been a huge success, so on that basis I figure we can't be any worse off and I hope the shareholders let him have a roll of the dice.
Don't forget also that JT implemented the "Champions of Better" slogan and he may even have coined the "uptimism" crap. I'm not a big fan of stupid words and slogans. I prefer policy and vision.
Don't forget also that JT implemented the "Champions of Better" slogan and he may even have coined the "uptimism" crap. I'm not a big fan of stupid words and slogans. I prefer policy and vision.
Last edited by virginexcess; 25th Jun 2018 at 03:56.
Don't forget business is warfare...
Let's look at the share price as an indication of success. Remember in WW1 the phrase was coined....'lions led by donkeys' rings true...
Let's look at the share price as an indication of success. Remember in WW1 the phrase was coined....'lions led by donkeys' rings true...
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Can anyone fill me on the status of the Virgin Pilot forum. Too much of a coincidence for the site to be shutdown with the current topics raised and recent media talk....
However, I thought it was run by the pilot group? Surely an explanation is needed.
Why am I not surprised.....
However, I thought it was run by the pilot group? Surely an explanation is needed.
Why am I not surprised.....
In Today’s Australian
EB is conducting the search it seems! Oh and there is no culture problem too.
EB is conducting the search it seems! Oh and there is no culture problem too.
Virgin Australia chairman Elizabeth Bryan is moving swiftly to replace outgoing chief executive John Borghetti, appointing two executive search firms just two weeks after he announced his intention to depart by 2020.
Ms Bryan describes a new CEO appointment as "the biggest thing a board ever does" and wants to ensure the transition is managed well. "We've said to John 'will you give us to the beginning of 2020?' He hopes he won't stay that long and I wouldn't expect he would have to," said Ms Bryan, who also chairs Insurance Australia Group.
Maritana Partners, a relatively new boutique firm with domestic airline expertise, and Russell Reynolds have been appointed and the board will consider both external and internal candidates.
Mr Borghetti has been chief executive for eight years and implemented a strategy to transform Virgin from a budget carrier to a full-service competitor to Qantas Airways.
"The John Borghetti era was the era of taking that start-up and making it a full-service airline," she said. "I came in at the beginning of the fourth phase, which is what I think of as corporate stability, taking what we've got, improving the balance sheet, improving the costs, positioning of the company, formalising the systems and processes."
The next phase was a consolidation and growth phase, she added, which would include expanding the North Asia international network and further growing the Chinese domestic travel market.
Ms Bryan says one of Virgin's advantages in being a relatively new company is its culture, which has always included consideration of all its stakeholders, rather than just shareholders.
"If you talk to big, big organisations, you will be talking to them about cultural problems. We don't have cultural problems here because the culture is very clear."
But she added culture alone is not enough, and that Virgin's recent focus had been building out systems, processes and support structures to allow it to continue to grow.
Ms Bryan is facing ongoing calls from some investors, including Wilson Asset Management, to privatise the airline as 92 per cent of Virgin's share register is held by five large shareholders, including Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, China's HNA Group, Nanshan Group, which each own about 20 per cent, and Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which owns 10 per cent. There is frequent speculation about whether one will seek to sell its holding. The company bought back shares from many minority shareholders, but Ms Bryan said the large shareholders – at this stage – preferred to keep the company as a listed entity.
Ms Bryan said juggling different shareholder interests was an everyday, albeit demanding, part of a board's role. And she stressed that while it was important to listen to all investors, the board had a clear role to stay focused on managing the company for perpetuity.
"That's the job to be able to manage it. It's manageable. You stay focused on what the company needs to do, and for Virgin, that's keeping our second airline competitive," Ms Bryan said.
"There are different interests and different pressures all over the place, and there always have been... but you've got to find a way that's right for the company."
In response to a question about whether directors were able to be across all relevant detail, Ms Bryan said that under the Corporations Act, that was what was required, though noted it wasn't possible to do so personally on a daily basis, which meant that strong systems and processes were necessary. She added that experience helped identify problems quickly.
"I know it's not fashionable to talk about experience now. If you are experienced and you have sat on a lot of these companies and worked through these companies, by the time you get to my age you have got a very good smoke detector," she said. "You don't have to go one on one in the murky side of IT, but you've heard what an IT program that isn't working sounds like... you have that experience, and that instinct across the board. If someone doesn't get it, someone else with a slightly different background will pick it up.
"I came up the hard way. I was sort of in the first wave of women that came through; it was for me for, step by step, bit by bit, there was no kind of jumping. I think personally it's very hard to come onto a board now with all the responsibilities of a board without a really good grounding in businesses and how they run."
Ms Bryan describes a new CEO appointment as "the biggest thing a board ever does" and wants to ensure the transition is managed well. "We've said to John 'will you give us to the beginning of 2020?' He hopes he won't stay that long and I wouldn't expect he would have to," said Ms Bryan, who also chairs Insurance Australia Group.
Maritana Partners, a relatively new boutique firm with domestic airline expertise, and Russell Reynolds have been appointed and the board will consider both external and internal candidates.
Mr Borghetti has been chief executive for eight years and implemented a strategy to transform Virgin from a budget carrier to a full-service competitor to Qantas Airways.
"The John Borghetti era was the era of taking that start-up and making it a full-service airline," she said. "I came in at the beginning of the fourth phase, which is what I think of as corporate stability, taking what we've got, improving the balance sheet, improving the costs, positioning of the company, formalising the systems and processes."
The next phase was a consolidation and growth phase, she added, which would include expanding the North Asia international network and further growing the Chinese domestic travel market.
Ms Bryan says one of Virgin's advantages in being a relatively new company is its culture, which has always included consideration of all its stakeholders, rather than just shareholders.
"If you talk to big, big organisations, you will be talking to them about cultural problems. We don't have cultural problems here because the culture is very clear."
But she added culture alone is not enough, and that Virgin's recent focus had been building out systems, processes and support structures to allow it to continue to grow.
Ms Bryan is facing ongoing calls from some investors, including Wilson Asset Management, to privatise the airline as 92 per cent of Virgin's share register is held by five large shareholders, including Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, China's HNA Group, Nanshan Group, which each own about 20 per cent, and Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which owns 10 per cent. There is frequent speculation about whether one will seek to sell its holding. The company bought back shares from many minority shareholders, but Ms Bryan said the large shareholders – at this stage – preferred to keep the company as a listed entity.
Ms Bryan said juggling different shareholder interests was an everyday, albeit demanding, part of a board's role. And she stressed that while it was important to listen to all investors, the board had a clear role to stay focused on managing the company for perpetuity.
"That's the job to be able to manage it. It's manageable. You stay focused on what the company needs to do, and for Virgin, that's keeping our second airline competitive," Ms Bryan said.
"There are different interests and different pressures all over the place, and there always have been... but you've got to find a way that's right for the company."
In response to a question about whether directors were able to be across all relevant detail, Ms Bryan said that under the Corporations Act, that was what was required, though noted it wasn't possible to do so personally on a daily basis, which meant that strong systems and processes were necessary. She added that experience helped identify problems quickly.
"I know it's not fashionable to talk about experience now. If you are experienced and you have sat on a lot of these companies and worked through these companies, by the time you get to my age you have got a very good smoke detector," she said. "You don't have to go one on one in the murky side of IT, but you've heard what an IT program that isn't working sounds like... you have that experience, and that instinct across the board. If someone doesn't get it, someone else with a slightly different background will pick it up.
"I came up the hard way. I was sort of in the first wave of women that came through; it was for me for, step by step, bit by bit, there was no kind of jumping. I think personally it's very hard to come onto a board now with all the responsibilities of a board without a really good grounding in businesses and how they run."
EB has absolutely no idea what she’s talking about. She’s an embarrassment. It might be time to get out of the boardroom and take a walk around the terminal and I’m not talking “The Club” or “The Chaimans Lounge” which she has previously admitted to being a member of.
She has no farkin idea. Seriously.
"we dont have cultural problems" says the person, along with the incumbent CEO that has created the mile long list of issues and lowest staff engagement/morale in Virgin's history. Even worse than BG.
Geez that article has made my blood boil.
"we dont have cultural problems" says the person, along with the incumbent CEO that has created the mile long list of issues and lowest staff engagement/morale in Virgin's history. Even worse than BG.
Geez that article has made my blood boil.
EB is a joke with her hands over her eyes and ears. If she had/has spoken to any honest staff member, that would prove her wrong on most of that BS article. Flight crew in particular have all been almost unanimous in their support of: hating Virgin Australia's biggest issue - their management. She has no idea.
Time to start looking for a new board I think.
Time to start looking for a new board I think.
I am all for empowering women in the work force, as well as equilising wages, even if it was a male that replied in such a way as that article, how on earth does she have ANY idea what is going on at the coalface? What level of aviation or airline experience does she have again?
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My impression is that the ‘culture’ is SO bad that most people won’t tell truth to power for fear of recriminations... a lot of small minded empire builders in that organization who care not one jot for anything other than heir own self- aggrandizement and prosperity, even at the cost of the company...
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