Catalogue coup claims Chris Lee-Brown

Long-serving CEO, Chris Lee-Brown given the flick from Australian Catalogue Association at exclusive Extraordinary General Meeting.

Lee-Brown, (pictured), who has served the association for over nine years, was voted out his position during an Extraordinary General Meeting last week which consisted of only four out of 12 of the association’s directors. Lee-Brown was not present at the meeting, or aware that it was taking place.

“It wasn’t voluntary and certainly came without any warning so it’s still a bit of a shock for me,” said Lee-Brown. “A lot of members were unaware of the coup.”
According to Lee-Brown, the quorum consisted of “major printers backed up by their paper suppliers,” but he refused to name the plotters.

A new CEO for the associatiion has not been named, though it is believed that the replacement is a member who was previously unemployed.

Lee-Brown claims the four directors staged the coup in an attempt for the association to reinvent itself. The decision comes at a time when catalogues are receiving plenty of bad press following accusations that major distributor, PMP, pulped large quantities instead of delivering them. Another major catalogue user, Myer, is reported to be opting for newspaper distribution.

“They [the quorum] thought I’d been in the role too long and needed someone to change the association. They thought that I wasn’t the person to do it,” Lee-Brown said.

Lee-Brown officially finishes his time as CEO at the end of March, though he will stay with the association longer to complete some freelance projects.

“I still intend to keep in touch with what’s happening,” he said.