Vince McMahon
Black Mountain Rowing Club (ACT)
The following citation appears on the Rowing ACT website Life Members page and was extracted on 30th December 2022.
Vince has made a substantial contribution to rowing in the ACT. He is a member of Black Mountain Rowing Club and was its club president from 2008 to 2011 and a committee member for a couple of years previously. In 2011 Vince published the History of Black Mountain Rowing Club in the Context of the ACT Rowing Community, which took several years of research and interviews to compile. It sits as an important part of Rowing ACT history setting out the birth of Lake Burley Griffin as a rowing venue and the evolution of both our clubs and Rowing ACT.
When David Bagnall became president in 2009, he invited Vince to fill the vacant Treasurer position on the Committee and he remained on the Committee/Board until he decided not to contest the position in 2019. David and Vince became a formidable team with Vince focusing on consolidating the financial base of Rowing ACT and bringing it within a strong corporate governance framework. During his tenure, the equity of Rowing ACT rose by more than sevenfold to over $570,000.
As Treasurer, and then Director of Finance, he settled long standing and sometimes acrimonious disagreements over Member Club debt and, to ensure that it did not occur again, enhanced financial cooperation between the parties and set standards for timely invoicing. He balanced the accounting system for the first time in many years by overseeing its move to MYOB and through rigorous adherence to accounting standards. He brought before the Board regular and comprehensive reporting and increased the level of detail available to Member Clubs in the Annual Financial Statements. He put in place strict record management and then, with the move to Xero, moved the organisation entirely to digital record keeping integrated within the accounting system.
Vince managed the IT systems of Rowing ACT, maintained the website, and provided IT support to staff, which was particularly important with the turnover of Executive Officers. Staff numbers increased over time from a part-time staff member to four plus contractors. Vince managed recruitment, pay and conditions and training. Previous Executive Officers speak highly of Vince’s mentoring skills and supervision that they received from him.
Following initiatives by the Australian Sports Commission to modernise the constitutions of sports club and introduce standards, Vince redrafted the Constitution to form a new set of Rules in 2014 and provided guides to Member Clubs to help them make the decision. He also drafted the subsidiary By-Laws and provided ongoing advice on compliance and alerted the Board where updates were required.
Rowing ACT, its Member Clubs and its key stakeholders including ACTAS and Rowing Australia, were fortunate to have Vince’s management expertise at a time of significant growth. Vince continues to support to the Board after stepping down as a Director.