Adnan Mansour
Secretary & Chief Operating Officer- Adnan Mansour came to the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) from the world of business, rather than agriculture. He relished the transition during a period of significant change, supporting four Presidents & three CEOs. He played a central role in the redevelopment of the Showgrounds.
Adnan Mansour came to the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) from the world of business, rather than agriculture. In many ways, it was a steep learning curve for Adnan, but one he relished.
To this day, I can’t pretend I can remember every breed of dog, or every breed of horse … it was a huge learning curve for me. And I was learning until the last day I was at the showgrounds, you can’t stop learning.
Adnan joined RASV in October 1996, initially as General Manager of Corporate Services. In that role, he was responsible for administration, finance and human resources. From 2001, Adnan became Chief Operating Officer, a position he retained until 2009. It was a busy time, made even more so with the redevelopment of the showgrounds, which began in 2005. Adnan played an active role in negotiations with the state government during the redevelopment. ‘It was an interesting period’, he recalls, ‘we used to measure life in Shows and I have had 13 Shows … a very interesting period of my time’.
During his time at RASV, Adnan focused on trying to pull the organisation out of debt and on making the Royal Melbourne Show and the showgrounds more profitable. While he was very conscious of increasing profitability and efficiency, Adnan also had a fine appreciation of the history and heritage of RASV. ‘I was conscious of not throwing out the baby with the bath water, so to speak’, he reflects. ‘It was important to preserve some of the cultures, but it was also important to transition the organisation to more modern thinking.’
Adnan also played a key role in the redevelopment of the showgrounds; something that he is particularly proud of. Well aware that there are some critics of the redevelopment, Adnan believes there was no other option.
If we didn’t manage to secure the redevelopment of the showgrounds, it would have had to shut down, it was becoming unsafe … the redevelopment secured the future of the showgrounds for the foreseeable future.
Adnan has very fond memories of his time at RASV and counts it as a highlight of his career.
The last 13 years with the 13 Shows put me in contact with so many different people of different backgrounds … it was all challenging, it was all exciting. I loved every