Ross Oakley (born 30 September 1942) is an Australian businessman and former Australian rules footballer with St Kilda in the VFL. He is CEO of the Victorian Rugby Union[1] and was appointed CEO of the new the Melbourne Rebels rugby union franchise in September 2010.[2][3][4][5]
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Oakley attended Wesley College, Melbourne[6] and began his senior VFL footballing career with the St Kilda Football Club in 1962. He went on to score 38 goals in 62 games.[7][8] His career was marred by unfortunate knee injuries; the first came in 1965 in St Kilda's semi-final victory, which meant Oakley missed the Grand Final. He suffered déjà vu in 1966, missing not only the Grand Final, but St Kilda's first VFL premiership. Following a further injury before the start of the 1967 season, Oakley retired at the age of 24.
Oakley was appointed Chairman and CEO of the then troubled Victorian Football League in 1986, taking over the role from Jack Hamilton.[7] Over the decade that followed Ross oversaw the transformation of the VFL into the Australian Football League. In 2009 Oakley was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.[2][9][10] His previous career included management of insurance companies (e.g. AAMI), and he was chief executive of Royal Insurance[2] (which may have led to media jibes that he was an "insurance salesman").
Oakley's appointment as Melbourne Rebels' CEO was announced 9 September 2010, when the Rebels also said the franchise was to join forces with the VRU to build rugby union in Victoria, at both professional and amateur levels.[2][3] Oakley became CEO to fill the gap left by the resignation of Rebels' founding CEO Brian Waldron who resigned in early 2010 in the wake of the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal.[4]
During his time with the VFL/AFL Oakley was deeply involved in mergers, such as the proposed 1989 Fitzroy - Footscray merger[10] (which would have happened if it wasn't for the Footscray supporters raising money to keep Footscray afloat). The Age reported, "Under Oakley's guidance five new clubs — Brisbane Bears and West Coast Eagles (1988), Adelaide (1991), Fremantle (1995) and Port Adelaide (1996) — joined the more professional, national competition."[10]
Oakley holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Melbourne Business School He is a former Adjunct Professor at Deakin University's Faculty Business and Law[11] where he also lectured.[12]
Ross Oakley is a former Chairman of Royal Australian Holdings Ltd, Royal Life Insurance Australia Ltd, and the State Training Board of Victoria. He is listed as Chairman of the Get Going Sport Foundation, and he has served as director on the boards of AAMI Ltd and Tisdall Wines.[13][14] Between 1997-2001 Oakley was a director of Harris Scarfe Holdings Limited.
| Preceded by Jack Hamilton |
Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) CEO 1986-1996 |
Succeeded by Wayne Jackson |