Hibs kick-off search for new chief executive in the mould of departing Leeann Dempster

Hibernian owner Ron Gordon is hoping to have a new chief executive lined up within the month, following the announcement that Leeann Dempster is preparing to step down after six years in the post.

Out-going chief executive Leeann Dempster is expected to help Hibs owner Ron Gordon in his search for her replacement. Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group

It is understood that the Easter Road club have already put out feelers with the intention of making a swift appointment and attempting to minimise disruption as much as possible.

In the statement released yesterday the US-based businessman, who took over the club in July last year, said that he was happy to report that Dempster would continue to work with him to ensure a smooth transition and decide the best way forward and the outgoing chief’s insight could prove vital as she looks to leave the club she has worked to revitalise in safe hands.

She joined the newly-relegated Leith outfit in 2014 and has guided it through the tumult of managerial changes, fan protests, that spell in the second tier as well as the change of ownership and the unchartered territory of last summer’s curtailed league campaign and the political and financial fallout from the ongoing Covid pandemic.

An experienced head in the SPFL, during her time at Hibs and in her previous spell at Motherwell, she is also a former board member.

With that in mind, it is understood that experience of Scottish football is high on the wishlist.

Gordon is still a relative newcomer to this country’s football fraternity and he recognises the need to ensure Dempster’s replacement is familiar with the administrative side of the Scottish game and the diplomatic manoeuvering that goes on at that highest level.

But the search will need to be a quick one.

The January transfer window is looming and the newcomer will have to be familiar with negotiations and dealing with managers, agents and players, as well as the day to day running of a massive company, which, with thousands of people emotionally as well as financially invested in its success, they will have to recognise is different from other businesses if they are to retain that hard-earned connect with the fanbase, which had been on the wain but Dempster has spent the past six years restoring.

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