APRIL 17, 2007

A change in Melbourne

It has been announced that Tim Bamford has stepped down as the chief executive of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, he has been the chief executive officer of the race for the last three years. He is to be replaced by Drew Ward, who has been working as marketing services manager of the event. Bamford appears to have made the decision on his own accord and follows in the footsteps of several other chief executives who have moved to other positions. The original Melbourne chief executive Judith Griggs decided to return to Europe and is now a top executive at Allsport Management in Geneva, her successor John Harnden ran the event from 1998 to 2002 and then moved on to head the organisation of the Commonwealth Games. He is now the chief executive of a theme park company. His replacement Steven Wright, who in charge from 2002 to 2004, went on to become the chief executive of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League. Bamford's future plans are yet to be announced but it is probably a good time to be moving on as this year's race is expected to announce a bigger loss than in previous years because of the increase in the fees that have to be paid to Formula One Management.

Ward is a long-standing event manager who played key roles in the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and then the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.