AFL icon and former CEO of Collingwood Football Club — on leadership, high performance culture, and building champions
Gary Pert is a former AFL champion who played 163 games for the Fitzroy Football Club — earning a place in the Fitzroy Team of the Century — before crossing to Collingwood, where he played a further 70 games for the Magpies. After retiring from football, he moved into executive roles across some of Melbourne's most recognisable organisations, including a stint as head of Austereo and a senior position at the Nine Network, before being appointed CEO of the Collingwood Football Club in 2007.
As CEO of one of Australia's biggest sporting brands, Pert became one of the most highly regarded chief executives in the AFL, playing a central role in the Magpies' rise to a perennial powerhouse in the competition. His experience spans elite performance on the field and high-stakes organisational leadership off it — a combination that gives him a rare vantage point on what separates good teams from great ones.
Gary speaks from lived experience at the highest level of Australian sport and business. He brings practical authority to conversations about building high-performance cultures, aligning teams behind a single strategy, and what it takes to sustain excellence over time. Organisations looking for a speaker who has actually done it — not just studied it — will find Gary Pert a compelling choice.
Gary Pert is a keynote speaker based in Victoria who speaks on business strategy, change management and leadership. Book through Executive Speakers Australia.
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