Name Gabriel Szondy | Role Accountant | |
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Gabriel Szondy is an Australian accountant in the taxation and superannuation industries. Szondy is, however, best known for being a former president of the Melbourne Football Club. He is currently the Special Advisor of the Centre for Investor Education (CIE), the Chairman of CIE and is an independent Director of CareSuper, on Military Super's Board of Trustees and is Australian Super's representative Director on the Board of Frontier Investment Consulting. Previously Szondy has been a senior accounting partner at PriceWaterhouesCoopers and head of their Melbourne-based superannuation tax practice. He has also been Chairman of Association of Superannuation Funds in Australia's (ASFA) National Taxation Policy Committee, Chairman of the ASFA's Victorian Executive for 12 years.
Melbourne Football Club
Szondy became president of the Melbourne Football Club on 18 December 2001, ousting previous and controversial president, Joseph Gutnick, with approximately 65% of the vote. All ten members of Szondy's "Team Vision" running ticket were elected to the Board, which included former players, Robert Flower and Gary Hardeman, ABC journalist Beverley O'Connor and Szondy's successor as president, Paul Gardner.
During May 2003 Szondy apologised to the club's players, as a result of comments he had made about the football department the previous week. Szondy had suggested that "drastic action" would need to be taken if the team's poor form continued. The Demons, however, responded with a win the following week against Port Adelaide and Melbourne coach Neale Daniher was widely defended by the football community, including by fellow coaches Mick Malthouse and Denis Pagan. Szondy then apologised for "anything that had taken their focus off football last week", saying it was "regrettable" and that he was "sorry".
Midway through the 2003 season Szondy announced that he would be stepping down as president at the end of the season. He anointed Board member, Paul Gardner, as his predecessor in the role and Gardner did become president for the 2004 season.