Who should replace Abi Ekoku as CEO?

[Wakefield Ram]

Ekoku was appointed as interim CEO and does not have any experience of administrating a national sport or negotiating £multi-milion TV deals, so who should replace him?

Of course the RFL will want to have a transparent recruitment process to address Sport England concerns over governance.

I would prefer someone from outside RL without any club ties. Imho Richard Lewis and David Oxley (going back there) have been two of the best CEOs.

If I was a betting man, I reckon it will be Ekoku and the sport will pay the price. 

[Eddie]

I’ve only just found out that he’s Efan Ekoku’s brother

[M j M]

9 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I would prefer someone from outside RL without any club ties. Imho Richard Lewis and David Oxley (going back there) have been two of the best CEOs.

I can imagine the reaction on here if someone with David Oxley's very thin resume go the job today.

Having the balls to appoint someone to a big job who feels right but may have an unconventional background is a real test of leadership, as would trusting them to get on with it after appointment.

[lucky 7]

35 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

Ekoku was appointed as interim CEO and does not have any experience of administrating a national sport or negotiating £multi-milion TV deals, so who should replace him?

Of course the RFL will want to have a transparent recruitment process to address Sport England concerns over governance.

I would prefer someone from outside RL without any club ties. Imho Richard Lewis and David Oxley (going back there) have been two of the best CEOs.

If I was a betting man, I reckon it will be Ekoku and the sport will pay the price. 

I can only find out he has limited CEO experience having had a brief spell as a CEO at Fev and 2 years at the Bradford Bulls from 2003 to 2005, and I can't find anywhere else where he has been a CEO, but perhaps somebody can help out where he has been a CEO in the last 20 years.

[Archie Gordon]

I look forward to a worldwide search for talent only to find the ideal candidate was under our noses the whole time.

There was/is no need for an interim CEO, placed there in a clandestine way, for who knows what reasons.

I mean: I've seen Ekoku referred to as CEO on here and elsewhere but has it even been announced?

[lucky 7]

9 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

I look forward to a worldwide search for talent only to find the ideal candidate was under our noses the whole time.

There was/is no need for an interim CEO, placed there in a clandestine way, for who knows what reasons.

I mean: I've seen Ekoku referred to as CEO on here and elsewhere but has it even been announced?

More worrying for me is who makes the final decision on who will be the CEO of the RFL?

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

9 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

I look forward to a worldwide search for talent only to find the ideal candidate was under our noses the whole time.

There was/is no need for an interim CEO, placed there in a clandestine way, for who knows what reasons.

I mean: I've seen Ekoku referred to as CEO on here and elsewhere but has it even been announced?

According to several sources, he has become Tony Sutton’s successor at the RFL.

....

An RFL spokesperson declined to comment when approached by rugbyleaguehub.com

https://www.rugbyleaguehub.com/ekoku-named-rfl-chief-executive/

[Archie Gordon]

Just now, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

According to several sources, he has become Tony Sutton’s successor at the RFL.

....

An RFL spokesperson declined to comment when approached by rugbyleaguehub.com

https://www.rugbyleaguehub.com/ekoku-named-rfl-chief-executive/

Yes - several sources naming him but the RFL refusing to comment is just odd.

[Wakefield Ram]

1 minute ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

According to several sources, he has become Tony Sutton’s successor at the RFL.

....

An RFL spokesperson declined to comment when approached by rugbyleaguehub.com

https://www.rugbyleaguehub.com/ekoku-named-rfl-chief-executive/

I bet Sport England will be delighted at the transparent selection process if this is true. If it is true it's a joke 

[lucky 7]

6 minutes ago, Les Tonks Sidestep said:

According to several sources, he has become Tony Sutton’s successor at the RFL.

....

An RFL spokesperson declined to comment when approached by rugbyleaguehub.com

https://www.rugbyleaguehub.com/ekoku-named-rfl-chief-executive/

Was it even advertised, and if so where?

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, M j M said:

I can imagine the reaction on here if someone with David Oxley's very thin resume go the job today.

Having the balls to appoint someone to a big job who feels right but may have an unconventional background is a real test of leadership, as would trusting them to get on with it after appointment.

1974 was a very different place to today. I'm not sure the fact that one person turned out to be an inspirational leader in a very simpler time is a great guide to how to recruit the type of leader the sport desperately needs in 2025.

That approach is like asking a lottery winner for wealth-creation advice. 

Edited November 14 by Worzel
Typo

[Worzel]

9 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Yes - several sources naming him but the RFL refusing to comment is just odd.

No, around these parts it's par for the course 

[Tommygilf]

Ralph Rimmer

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, M j M said:

I can imagine the reaction on here if someone with David Oxley's very thin resume go the job today.

Having the balls to appoint someone to a big job who feels right but may have an unconventional background is a real test of leadership, as would trusting them to get on with it after appointment.

Appointing a mate is a bit different to that, though.

[gingerjon]

19 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

Yes - several sources naming him but the RFL refusing to comment is just odd.

Par for the course under the current regime.

[Wakefield Ram]

16 minutes ago, Worzel said:

1974 was a very different place to today. I'm not sure the fact that one person turned out to be an inspirational leader in a very simpler time is a great guide to how to recruit the type of leader the sport desperately needs in 2025.

That approach is like asking a lottery winner for wealth-creation advice. 

I never said 1974 was a guide. I just said he was good IMHO. 

[Ethereal]

I would guess that he becomes the permanent one, if he hasn't already.

The interim was a fig leaf to cover the appointment process.

[M j M]

38 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Appointing a mate is a bit different to that, though.

Not sure what your point is? There will presumably be a proper recruitment process, like there was for Oxley, and someone from outside the RFL should get the job. 

 

[Worzel]

36 minutes ago, Wakefield Ram said:

I never said 1974 was a guide. I just said he was good IMHO. 

I know, I was responding to MJM, who implied that Oxley's success would in some way justify us picking Ekoku 

[The Gardener]

And people wonder why the Australians laugh at the way the game is run.The  reason why the RFL do not want them involved is because all the people working at the RFL will be down the job centre.

All i can say is that it must have been one hell of a Xmas party where  people who have got dirt on each other which makes them seem to find roles that they have no experience for.

Hopefully Sport England will have an report into this as Nigel loves a report, take away all the funding which will then make the RFL accept the Australian money as that is the only way Rugby League is going to move forward in this country.

[Worzel]

3 minutes ago, M j M said:

Not sure what your point is? There will presumably be a proper recruitment process, like there was for Oxley, and someone from outside the RFL should get the job. 

But we all know there won't be

Every single thing the cynics have said would happen when news of the impending coup started to circulate, has since happened. We all know why Ekoku was given the "interim" role, it's to enable them to circumvent any proper process (one of those "thorough, global search" things they do ) and just install him permanently later on. It's just another step in the roadmap the Wood Cabal mapped out in a backroom at Batley. 

Next step, Robert Hicks is given a formal role... rather than the informal one he's in there doing already, again without any commentary from the sport's compliant, in-house client media. 

[M j M]

17 minutes ago, Worzel said:

I know, I was responding to MJM, who implied that Oxley's success would in some way justify us picking Ekoku 

WTF? I did no such thing, that's completely in your mind.

[Worzel]

1 minute ago, M j M said:

WTF? I did no such thing, that's completely in your mind.

Fair play, in which case I apologise. It’s how I read it. That’s on me

[Martyn Sadler]

As far as I'm aware Abi Ekoku is the interim CEO until March next year.

Whether he will want to stay on is, as @GingerJon might say, a known unknown.

I'm told that he greatly impressed Messrs V'landys and Abdo when they met in London after the Wembley Test.

He apparently gave them quite a grilling in trying to tease out precisely what they are seeking to do.

Don't be too surprised if he is offered some sort of international role in the future.

[JonM]

2 hours ago, M j M said:

I can imagine the reaction on here if someone with David Oxley's very thin resume go the job today.

Indeed. He was deputy head of a private school before taking the job, and all his previous post-university jobs had been in teaching.

The circumstances in which he was appointed seem somewhat familiar though. Clubs were run by ex-players and local businessmen and things were going badly. There was a desire from Brian Snape to appoint someone young from outside the game - and a concern that no-one would be willing to give up a steady job to join the RFL which looked like it might be on its last legs.