Bill Pulver Announced As New ARU CEO

Hugh Cavill January 9, 2013 21

Here is the announcement the whole nation had been waiting for. Crowds gathered in town squares and pubs, or huddled around office TVs. Workplaces got into the spirit of the day, with sweeps and fancy dress activities (I drew Jim Carmichael, and thought I was on a good thing). And so it came to 2pm and ARU Chairman Michael Hawker said the words a nation was dying to hear….

Bill Pulver

Bill Pulver is the new Chief Executive Officer of the ARU. He has an extensive background in internet business, currently working as the CEO of Appin Butler Hill, a company that provides speech and language tools and services to technology companies. Previously he served as President and CEO of NetRatings, a NASDAQ-listed company headquartered in New York and specialising in internet media and market research.

He is an old boy of Shore, a GPS school in North Sydney, and is a long-time player and supporter of rugby. His youngest son Angus represented his country in the 2012 Australian Schoolboys, playing halfback in their defeat of New Zealand.

According to Michael Hawker, the ARU wanted someone with proven commercial success at CEO level with international business experience and a love of rugby. Fifty candidates were examined and 14 were interviewed.

‘The Board also set priorities around good communication skills and an understanding of the world of sports marketing and media,’ Hawker said. ‘Bill has all those attributes. He has enjoyed success in large and small businesses, through growth cycles and tough times.

‘He has worked in Japan, the UK, the USA and Australia. His love of rugby dates back to his school days and he has coached at the junior levels. Bill also has an impressive background as president and chairman of significant sports marketing and internet media research companies.’

Here is what Pulver himself had to say:

For 20 years I have been a Chief Executive in a diverse range of industries and now I have the opportunity to focus my efforts on this great game, the game I love. Today there are many exciting investment opportunities that are capable of igniting growth in our game.

However, the success of our financial model relies on a passionate and participative supporter base.

In the short term the challenge for our team in the ARU headquarters is to work with all the game’s stakeholders to ensure Rugby in Australia powers forward as a unified and energised force. I would like to see the ARU as an innovative and profitable leader in a prosperous global Rugby community.

To achieve this I feel there are several guiding principles we need to consider:

Never forget that we play a team sport for fun, fitness and friendship;

Acknowledge that in our game Character, Integrity and Team First are paramount;

Communicate & collaborate relentlessly with all stakeholders to ensure a united approach to achieving our objectives;

Support every effort in community Rugby to expand participation in the game, including a focus on encouraging the involvement of women;

Embrace Rugby Sevens as a major growth opportunity;

In a world where our supporters are distracted by an endless range of entertainment options, we must aim to constantly enhance our entertainment experience; and

Maintain a high performance culture to be the No. 1 team in the world.

2013 is going to be a wonderful year for Australian Rugby with 14 Test matches scheduled for the Qantas Wallabies, including the British & Irish Lions, The Castrol EDGE Rugby Championship, the Bledisloe Cup and the Spring tour to Europe to wrap it all up.

What do I think of the appointment? It’s too early to tell. Pulver’s business credentials look solid enough, and he clearly has an understanding and love of our game. What I need to see is a vision to take our game forward. We are at a crossroads at the moment — the Lions are on our doorstep but support for the game is dwindling in some areas. The CEO needs to lead from the front on these issues, and I look forward to seeing what direction Pulver takes us.

He will start the job on 1 February. We wish him the best of luck in the role.

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About the author: Hugh Cavill View all posts by Hugh Cavill

The artist formerly known as Barbarian, but now using my real name. A pretty average writer and an even worse player. Subbies struggler and Tahs fan. I know I've said it before, but 2013 will be our year. Trust me.

Discussion »

Johnny-boy

As it was for Deans, it is worth giving him a go initially. Like you say Barbs he does seem to have pretty good business credentials and the marketing in particular should be valuable.

His ratings background will quickly tell him some parts of rugby aren’t happy..

The ‘stakeholders’ need to have hold of the stake, not be told what stake they get to look at from a distance and screw them if it’s not Australian. The Wallabies are mean’t to be our national team representing our nation in mortal battle against other nations. Not a second tier team for other countries to develop their depth.
Mark

Well, if he focuses things around the guiding principles, rugby will be better off. Growing the sport at grass routes level is imperative, and is one of the reasons why we should all be fearing AFL than any other sport.
- Grunter
  
  Bring Back Bill. Rugby should never forget where it’s grassroots are and where it has come from. I have spoken to a lot of long supporters of Australian rugby and a fair few of them are either not going to games or even watching on tv. Lets give Bill a fair chance.
Grandmaster Flash

No mention of the collar-bomb hoax? Reads a bit like the ARU press release…
- Barbarian
  
  How is that relevant to Bill or his appointment to the ARU?
  - http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/ Brumby Jack
    
    Grandmaster Flash obviously didn’t get The Message
  - http://ihaveissu.es Christian Biggins
    
    Ask that to every other media outlet in Australia. Sensationalism much? I was happy to see it wasn’t mentioned. Kudos there.
Nick

New twitter account coming up !
Johnno

2 ex SHORE boys who were only 1 year apart at school. They both played together in the SHORE 1st 15, Mick Hawker and Bill Pulver. I hope there was no conflict of interest, or old school tie, if Mick Hawker was part of the recruitment process.
- ooaahh
  
  I had concerns enough we had picked another GPS person to run our national game. If what you write is true then this stinks even more. Wouldn’t someone outside of the holy lands bring a fresher perspective to the running of our game?
  - sheekabout
    
    It’s a truth that most often the next job you get will be through someone you know. The old boys network worked very well for Bill Pulver here.
skip

while credit must go to J’ON for putting the ARU on a sound financial footing, it became like squeezing blood (the Scotland test last year, the EOY tour the year before for e.g.) and while it helped the balance sheet in the short term, the longer term damage was significant and will take time to repair. I hope this is addressed.
Witness

Is it possible that bill Pulver was a groom at Mike Hawker’s wedding?
abr

CEO of a company that provides speech and language tools and services….perhaps finally someone can understand Robbie?
Bay35Pablo

Bit of buzzword bingo in that comment, but the spirit seems there. Hopefully he cleans out some dead wood.
Robson

I have never heard of Bill Pulver so I can’t comment on his suitability for the job. But one thing encourages me immediately. He has said that Deans would have to re apply for his job at the end of the year and that they (the ARU I guess) would be working on a template for what they want in a Wallabies coach. That seems to say two things to me. Firstly there is no question of Deans getting the automatic nod to go through to the nex RWC as he reportedly is very keen to do. Secondly the ARU acknowledge that there is a need to re visit the whole area of what is needed most in the coach of the nation’s top team. If that isn’t a tacit admission that the “Dean’s way” is on veritably shaky ground ( ie a cartload of horseshit), I don’t know what is.
- Johnny-boy
  
  Only 354 days left until Deans is …..Pulver ised – woohoo – something to get excited about for the Wallabies, at last !
  - Robson
    
    Ha ha ha, but maybe several hundred days late. But it’s never too late…or is it?
sheekabout

I’m willing to give Bill Pulver a go. Like Australian rugby, he’s been through some tough times. Both Pulver & the ARU are due for a change of luck.

Buuuuttt……….

Ex-Shore school, Mosman resident. Gloriously qualified, but he WILL need to get outside of fortress ‘North Shore’ & explore the countryside, even the badlands (where the heathens of other footy codes reside).

The problem with the rugby “establishment” is that what worked so well 30 years ago & indeed might continue to work well for the elite & well connected, no longer applies to rugby on a national level.

John O’Neill was in danger of turning Australian rugby into a viable but niche sport. Bill Pulver needs to move away from that perception & potential fact.

I trust I made some sense there…..!
- http://twitter.com/mistermouse666 Pat
  
  I’ll be honest, this is one of my biggest concerns with Pulver’s appointment. Not so much the fact that he went to Shore, big whoop, but the fact that the ARU still feel that promoting this fact is to the benefit of the game. Once you are through university, what school you went to shouldn’t matter a damn, and in Rugby this is doubly so, where the sport is battling an entrenched sense of bigotry and elitism.
Jim

Any chance that next time he speaks, someone can provide simultaneous translation from management jargon BS to English. Maybe his former company can help