It’s been five years since CPA Australia sacked chief executive Alex Malley, who walked away with a handsome $4.9 million payout after months of ructions among the accounting association’s board, and widespread anger at his penchant for naked self-promotion.
Now Malley’s back – literally, kicking off a new gig as chief executive of the Australian Chiropractors Association.
Former CPA Australia head Alex Malley in 2013.Credit:Peter Braig
Perhaps the back scratchers have short memories. Malley’s ousting followed revelations the organisation had spent $6 million worth of members’ money plugging the boss’s book, The Naked CEO (including on a Times Square billboard) and his Sunday morning television show In Conversation With Alex Malley. That was on top of the $1 million a year spent trying to make Malley a social media influencer on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Revelations Malley was on a salary of $1.79 million a year poured more fuel on the bonfire of anger among CPA’s membership, and helped accelerate his demise – he was finally fired after board directors had rushed for the exits.
CPA Australia spent millions raising the profile of its former CEO, Alex Malley.Credit:
But all that’s clearly in the past for Malley. Reflecting on his unceremonious defenestration from the CPA, he was oddly sanguine, describing that nine-year tenure as a “fantastic period,” where the organisation “really revolutionised the way people saw us,” in a video interview with ACA president David Cahill.
He had fewer warm words for the journalists who helped tear down his attempted cult of celebrity.
“As can happen in Australia, through the process of being successful, particularly in the media, that attracted the ire of a particular segment of the media,” he said.
“It was probably the first cancel culture example that we’ve seen in this country.”
Proof, if ever, that there’s hope for the cancelled yet.
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