Board
President - Nick Johnstone
Nick has been on the Club’s board for four and a half years and has been the President since December 2017. He has been responsible for establishing the Team 25 sponsorship group which has raised over $370,000 in its five years.
Outside of his involvement with Sandringham Football Club, Nick started his professional career with Penfold Motors. He worked with the business for 15 years before getting into real estate. Nick believes that since getting into real estate, he hasn’t worked a day in his life as his passion for it continues to grow. Nick has developed his own business which has grown from having one employee and selling 23 houses to now employing 20 people and selling well over 200 properties under management.
Vice President - John Fowler OAM
John had previously been a sponsor of the Club before resuming his current role of Vice President in 2007. He has also been the Coterie President for the last 10 years.
Outside of his involvement with Sandringham Football Club, John has made a name for himself within the funeral industry. Since entering the industry in 1974, John has held numerous roles including Manager of W D Rose in Cheltenham, Regional Manager for the Southern Suburbs for LePine Funerals, General Manager of Blackwell Funerals, White Lady Funerals and Simplicity Funerals in Adelaide. John was formerly with Le Pine Funerals, and is now with Tobin Brothers Funerals where he is acting and conducting funeral services.
John’s involvement in the funeral industry also saw him become the National President of the Australian Funeral Directors Association and received an OAM for Services to the Community. Outside of his professional life, John previously clocked horses at Caulfield for trainers for 20 years and was a member of the Mordialloc Rotary Club for 28 years, as well as being President.
Secretary - Dennis Galimberti
Dennis has been involved with Sandringham Football Club since 1983, holding the position of Secretary since then also. In his time at the club Dennis has also held the position of Chairman of the Team of the Century Fundraising Committee, Chairman of Risk and Governance Sub Committee and also the Legal Counsel to club [Honorary].
Dennis began his time in football when he made the senior list at Box Hill in 1974. Since then he has held the position of Under 19 Team Manager of Hawthorn Football Club before becoming involved with Sandringham. Dennis is perhaps most famously known for blowing the whistle on 3AW when he found out that the Western Bulldogs and Fitzroy boards had merged in 1989. He was the CEO of the Western Bulldogs at the time and resigned from his position on air.
Treasurer - Chris Salamousas
Chris has been involved with Sandringham Football Club since 2017 and has taken over the Treasurer role at the Club.
Chris has 30 years of experience primarily in the financial management of superannuation and retirement funds of Australian workers. Chris started his career as an accountant/auditor with KPMG. He is now a financial controller of an industry superfund. Chris has held this position for over 20 years. Strictly speaking Chris is an investment accountant.
Chris has been a local resident of Bayside for almost 20 years and is passionate about his local community and AFL.
CEO - Marcus Ashcroft
The first ever Queenslander to post 300 AFL games Ashcroft’s career with the Brisbane Bears/Lions spanned 15 years and 318 games, and culminated in the historic premiership hat-trick of 2001-02-03.
A Gold Coast product, he came through the ranks at Surfers Paradise and Southport, and was a standout Queensland junior who made his AFL debut in 1989. During his playing career Ashcroft completed a Bachelor of Business (Accounting Major).
A member of the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame, and chosen in the back pocket in the Queensland Team of the Century, Ashcroft spent 12 months as Club Development Manager with AFLQ club Broadbeach in 2004 before four years as Football Administration Manager at the Lions 2005-08. In 2009 he joined the Gold Coast Football Club as an assistant coach in the TAC Cup and VFL before taking the reins as General Manager - Football Operations from 2011 to 2017.
Ashcroft and his family moved to Melbourne when he took up the role of National Talent Manager with the AFL in 2018 before joining Sandringham as CEO in November 2020. Now a local Bayside resident where his wife and three kids work and attend school.
Danielle Bleazby
Danielle is the newly appointed Executive Manager of the South Melbourne Market, responsible for the strategy, infrastructure, licensing, marketing, events, staff, finances and more.
In previous roles with the AFL, Peter Jones Special Events and Hawthorn Football Club she has over 20 years’ experience in the event industry and 16 years’ within the AFL industry via Club and the AFL.
Danielle also Chairs the Women for Challenge Committee which delivers the very popular Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend Gala Dinner, raising much needed funds for Challenge, Kids with Cancer and sits on the Million Dollar Lunch Committee which runs an event that raises money for childhood cancer research.
Danielle is excited to join the Board of the Sandringham Football Club and looks forward to contributing her knowledge and expertise to the Club, whilst forging great relationships with Club members.
Peta Allan
Peta is a professional sports, business and legal administrator with a genuine and long-standing passion for sport, health and wellbeing. Peta has worked in sport since 2007, having held various roles at Tennis Australia and the AFL, and is now the List, Legal & Football Operations Officer at St Kilda Football Club.
Peta was raised in Bayside and remains a local resident which she absolutely loves. She is passionate about both the local community and AFL football and is excited to be on the Board of Sandringham Football Club.
Vic Rajah
Vic is the Principal of Vic Rajah Family Lawyers, a boutique family law practice with offices in the Melbourne CBD, Sandringham, Mt Eliza and Essendon.
Vic is a proud sponsor of Sandringham Football Club and is a passionate St Kilda Football Club supporter and has been a member of the Halo Coterie for the past 16 years.
Outside of work, Vic supports a number of charitable organisations and has received a Centenary of Federation Medal for service to the community in youth affairs. He has been instrumental in facilitating the Zebras’ hosting of annual Charity Matches promoting Maddie Riewoldt’s Vision and the Pat Cronin Foundation.
Vic is also Chairman of Bestchance, a leading not-for-profit organisation which offers children’s therapy and education services. He brings governance and stakeholder relations expertise to the Board.