Top Cricket Australia execs out as Greenberg swings the axe to save cash
CA staff were informed of the changes on Tuesday, with two executives – head of people and culture Allison Robison and head of technology Don Elliott – to depart the organisation and Ben Oliver removed from Greenberg's executive team. Most redundant employees will leave CA by the end of the month.
A CA spokesperson confirmed the changes to this masthead, which are the biggest cutbacks since a raft of staff were made redundant during COVID-19.
The overhaul, which comes just months after Greenberg started in the top job, was the result of long hours that he spent in Jolimont in April, during the customary office shutdown at the end of the cricket season. He was sequestered with members of the finance team, looking for ways to take costs out of the CA balance sheet.
The CA board, chaired by Mike Baird, has a strategic goal of restoring the governing body's cash reserves to the kinds of $100 million-plus levels it enjoyed before the pandemic. The 2024 annual report stated that CA had around $25 million cash and cash equivalents up its sleeve.
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Also leaving CA is Megan Barnett-Smith, the head of social impact and sustainability. Her areas of responsibility, including the governing body's Indigenous reconciliation action plan, will be spread across the remaining executives.
Longtime head of sports science and former men's team physio Alex Kountouris is another significant figure to exit. His role will be restructured.
Oliver, who remains a key link man between the No.1-ranked men's and women's national teams and the top levels of the organisation, will no longer be on the executive. He will report into the executive general manager of cricket, James Allsopp, who had his role expanded last year to cover all levels of cricket, not just junior and community participation.
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Two per cent is the lowest pay rise the tribunal has approved since 2011, and public service employees will receive a 3.4 per cent hike in 2026. While this appears likely given the tribunal's past decisions, it could also decide to hold off. The tribunal must look at annual wage decisions and also weighs up APS wage increases, consumer price index and wage price index. In 2020, as the Australian economy faced the COVID-19 pandemic and public sector wages were frozen, the tribunal announced it would not offer a pay rise. "The Tribunal's primary focus is to provide competitive and equitable remuneration that is appropriate to the responsibilities and experience required of the roles, and that is sufficient to attract and retain people of calibre," it said at the time. "However, this does not happen in a vacuum. The context of the broader jobs market and the economy are also considered." 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