The University Co-Operative Bookshop has appointed one of its directors, Ted Seng, to a senior position and appointed a new chief executive, John Oldmeadow.
The appointments follow the sacking last month of the three most senior executives.
Mr Oldmeadow was formerly general manager at Murdoch Magazines.
The sacking of the previous executive followed changes to the composition of the board after the past several elections, removing academics and people experienced in publishing. A third of the board is elected every three years on rotation.
The last academic on the board, Maurice Dunlevy, resigned this week citing petty intrigue and saying the sackings had caused great disquiet among staff and members of the 570,000 member co-op which has bookstores at most tertiary institutions. Very few of the members vote at elections for directors.
Ted Seng, a Sydney accountant, who was elected to the board two years ago, was appointed this week as “”an adviser on corporate strategy, reporting directly to Mr Oldmeadow”, according to a statement issued by the co-op’s new public relations consultant, Jane Singleton Pty Ltd.
Co-op sources say Mr Seng’s salary would be $90,000. Asked on Thursday about whether a rumour he would be getting a $90,000 job with the co-op was true, Mr Seng denied he would be taking a full-time job with the co-op. I told him then that seeing the rumour was not true, I would not write a story about it.
Mr Seng said last night that he had been offered a consultancy on Monday, and the fees were confidential.
Mr Seng will resign from the board to take up his consultantcy and he has left his job with a Sydney accounting firm. The chairman of the board, James Emerson, said last night he could not discuss salaries or fees, but indicated that $90,000 was not correct. The board has power to co-opt two new members to replace Mr Dunlevy and Mr Seng.
Mr Emerson said his personal view was that the two positions should go to academics.
A new financial controller, George Podvinec, and a new head of the schools division, Bill Robbins, were also appointed. Mr Podvinec is a chartered accountant and Mr Robbins was the head of the co-op’s legal and professional branch. Mr Emerson said he was delighted with the appointments and the priority for the co-op would be to provide all books for all courses at the lowest possible price.