Gabriel Szondy is an Australian accountant in the taxation and superannuation industries. Szondy is, however, best known for being a former president of the Melbourne Football Club. He is currently the Chair of the Centre for Institutional Investors (CII) and is an independent Director of CareSuper, on Military Super's Board of Trustees and is Chair of the Board of Frontier Advisors. Previously Szondy has been a senior accounting partner at PriceWaterhouesCoopers and head of their Melbourne-based superannuation tax practice. He has also been Chairman of Association of Superannuation Funds in Australia's (ASFA) National Taxation Policy Committee, Chairman of the ASFA's Victorian Executive for 12 years.

Melbourne Football Club President

Szondy became president of the Melbourne Football Club on 18 December 2001, ousting previous and controversial president, Joseph Gutnick, with approximately 65% of the vote. All ten members of Szondy's "Team Vision" running ticket were elected to the Board, which included former players, Robert Flower and

Gary Hardeman Gary Hardeman (born 26 February 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Hardeman played as a half back and made his senior debut for ...

, ABC journalist

Beverley O'Connor Beverley O'Connor (born 13 November 1960) is an Australian journalist and broadcaster. She currently hosts '' The World'' on ABC News. O'Connor was born in South Africa and studied journalism in Johannesburg. She also studied drama and ballet ...

and Szondy's successor as president, Paul Gardner. During May 2003, Szondy apologised to the club's players, as a result of comments he had made about the football department the previous week. Szondy had suggested that "drastic action" would need to be taken if the team's poor form continued. The Demons, however, responded with a win the following week against Port Adelaide and Melbourne Football Club senior coach

Neale Daniher Neale Francis Daniher (born 15 February 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was later the coach of the Melbourne Football Club between 1998 an ...

was widely defended by the football community, including by fellow senior coaches

Mick Malthouse Michael Raymond Malthouse (born 17 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer, who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After finishing his playing career, Malthou ...

and

Denis Pagan Denis Leslie Pagan (born 24 September 1947) is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. Pagan is a dual AFL premiership coach, and he also won the prestigious Victoria derby in 2020 as a trainer and owner of the horse ...

. Szondy then apologised for "anything that had taken their focus off football last week", saying it was "regrettable" and that he was "sorry". Midway through the 2003 season, Szondy announced that he would step down as president of the Melbourne Football Club at the end of the season. He appointed Board member, Paul Gardner, as his successor in the role and Gardner did become president for the 2004 season.Johnson, Lyall (31 August 2003
"Quitting Szondy fires parting shot"
''The Age''. Retrieved 9 August 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szondy, Gabriel Living people Melbourne Football Club presidents Australian accountants Year of birth missing (living people)