Mayo GAA to recruit full-time Chief Executive Officer
Mayo GAA is to make the bold move of appointing a Chief Executive Officer to oversee its operations, believing it's time to capitalise better on its brand.
Croke Park has given the green light for Mayo GAA to employ a Chief Executive Officer.
Approval was also received from delegates at Thursday night’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Board, with the two-pronged approach of inviting applications and targeting potential candidates for the new position already underway.
The decision to appoint a Chief Executive Officer, who in the initial phase will take responsibility for governance, finance, commercial revenue, marketing and communication, volunteer engagement and performance development, comes after an internal review of the corporate structures of Mayo GAA found that professional leadership and structural oversight was needed to help the organisation operate to the best of its ability.
“We’ve been brilliant on the pitch, there’s no question, we have the guts of 20 years of serious branding but we have to now work on that and utilise that and capitalise on that,” said Donal Walshe who together with Daithí Gallagher oversaw the review which recommended that Mayo GAA appoints a CEO.
Walshe, owner of Shrule-based Turin Components since 2008, is chairperson of South Mayo GAA while Gallagher, Mayo GAA’s cultural officer, is a manager of the Wild Atlantic Way for Fáilte Ireland.
“We have incredible effort and incredible professionalism in our volunteers and now it’s really important to introduce a professional structure to bring us to the next level,” said Gallagher who described the future appointment of a Chief Executive Officer as “potentially a game changer” for Mayo GAA.
The review came at the behest of Mayo GAA chairman Seamus Tuohy who at the 2024 County Convention expressed an opinion that the days of volunteers alone running Mayo County Board was coming to an end and that “more professional support, particularly on the financial side” was required.
“Some people might say why don’t you do what other counties are doing and put in a commercial manager, but our answer is that if you do the same as any other business, you are the same as another business,” Donal Walshe told delegates gathered at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.
Explaining in a detailed presentation his review committee’s recommendation that Mayo instead begin at the top and build a team down from the CEO down, as opposed to only “playing catch-up” with other counties if appointing a commercial manager, Walshe said that Mayo GAA’s professionalism in its on-field structures needed to be matched with administrative professionalism.
“To be realistic, the CEO should be cost neutral – worse-case scenario, within a year. And if there’s any other appointment after that, that also has to be cost neutral. They have to bring in the money to pay for themselves,” said Donal Walshe who explained that the Chief Executive Officer would be managed by a new Strategic Leadership Committee (SLC) and answerable to Mayo County Board. The SLC will consist of Mayo GAA’s chairperson, secretary, treasurer and two members of the Coiste Bainistí, with Walshe and Daithí Gallagher already ratified as the latter pair.
The CEO will be expected to furnish Coiste Bainistí with two reports per year and four quarterly updates along with and monthly progress updates to the Strategic Leadership Committee.
“We need to take this step forward. We need to take this leap of faith,” urged Donal Walshe who said the SLC would set out the commercial targets that the CEO would be expected to meet.
The recruitment process is being managed by the SLC with the ideal candidate having a minimum of five years’ proven senior leadership management experience, ideally as CEO or at director-level in the commercial, sports, community or non-profit sectors.
The closing date for expressions of interest in the role of Mayo GAA Chief Executive Officer role is December 20, 2025. Applications can be submitted to the Mayo GAA secretary.
