New CEOs For Opera House, Etihad Stadium

Louise Herron becomes the first female chief executive of the Sydney Opera House, effective Aug. 6.

With a background in law and corporate advice, she chaired Belvoir St Theatre for 10 years and last June became chair of the Major Performing Arts board of the government’s funding body, the Australia Council.
Opera House Trust chairman Kim Williams revealed her appointment came after an international and Australia-wide search.

Herron replaces Richard Evans who left Feb. 24 after four years in the job to become managing director of BridgeClimb, which operates tourist climbs of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Evans expanded the Opera House’s demographic with more family-friendly shows and festival-type events. Herron will have to find funding of up to $1 billion for renovations to the iconic venue.

Paul Sergeant becomes the CEO of Etihad Stadium in Melbourne effective Oct 1. He is GM of Allphones Arena.

Rod Pilbeam, executive director of venue manager at AEG Ogden, thanked Sergeant “for the fabulous job he did in cementing the Arena’s dominant position in the Sydney marketplace.”

He added, “While his departure is unfortunate, the upside is that it does provide the Arena’s business with a great opportunity and the chance for the Arena’s team to benefit from fresh leadership.

“We are already in discussion with some outstanding candidates – internal and external from AEG Ogden – who we believe can further develop the success that the Allphones Arena business has enjoyed over the past six years.”