Phil Thomson will stay at the helm of the ACT Brumbies for the next three years to help the club in "setting ourselves up for the future" as they navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Canberra Times can reveal Thomson has signed a three-year extension to remain as Brumbies chief executive until the end of 2024, with the club expected to announce a profit at Wednesday's annual general meeting.
Thomson's new deal will bring him to six years in the position and make him one of the longest-serving bosses in club history, offering the club stability as the code continues to deal with the effects of a global pandemic.
The Brumbies had used five different chief executives from November 2013 to October 2018, at which point Thomson stepped in to lead the club into the future.
The past two years have offered an "extremely tough" challenge for the club amid the pandemic but Thomson's retention is seen as a boost for the Brumbies' long-term viability.
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"We had to look at the survival of the organisation through the COVID-19 pandemic and how we'd come out the other end of it," Thomson said.
"The sporting landscape like a lot of other business during COVID were hit very hard. We're not an organisation that has a lot of cash reserves, assets or things we can fall back on.
"It was a lot of hard work done by a lot of people from the board right through to the staff to ensure we stayed together, we worked together, and we came out of it with the organisation in tact.
"It's probably no different to when I started at the Brumbies in 1996. We have financial challenges every year, nothing really seems to have changed too much on that front.
"What we're working towards as an organisation with our strategy for long-term viability and sustainability, there are still tough times ahead, but we're working towards setting ourselves up for the future."
Thomson's decision to stay, coupled with minimal turnover at board level and the early appointment of Stephen Larkham as head coach for the 2023 and 2024 Super Rugby seasons, shows "we know the direction we want to head".
Now Thomson will continue to work with deputy chief Craig Leseberg, chief financial officer Mark Grieb, commercial boss Gavin Hunt, and rugby general manager Chris Tindall to provide the club with a clear path forward.
"It's important right across the organisation to have stability from the board, to the executive, to the team. The whole environment needs to have certainty in the direction they're going," Thomson said.
"They've been a great team to work with and I look forward to continuing to work with them.
"Everyone is there for the right reasons and we've got a lot of good quality people within the organisation."
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