Ameet Bains joined the Western Bulldogs as CEO after six years at St.Kilda, on Monday. He sat down with westernbulldogs.com.au to talk about his background, his first week in the job and how easy it was to convert his kids into Bulldogs fans.

Ameet, thanks for your time.  How have you settled into the Club?
It’s been terrific.  Everyone has been welcoming and kind in bringing me into the fold, so it’s been terrific.

So what attracted you to this Bulldogs CEO role?
There were a couple of key aspects, I suppose.  One was just looking at the club and what it stands for, the club’s values.  I thought it was a strong alignment with what I believe in, and then secondly, in terms of what the club was looking for in it’s next CEO, I felt I was well positioned to deliver that.

Can you take us through your professional background to get to the point you are today?
My journey has been a bit different compared to those that have been in football for many years.  I started out as a lawyer in town at MinterEllison a number of years ago.  After that I surfaced at Toyota Australia in a legal project strategy role before then getting an opportunity at St.Kilda, where I started in January 2011.  I was obviously there up until recently working initially in a Head of List Management role and then that role was broadened to the COO role in 2014.

Having had that vast role at St.Kilda with a number of responsibilities, and having contacts within the AFL industry, does that help in this role here at the Bulldogs?
It certainly does.  I think for any senior role in the industry, having had that experience, and as you say, that level of relationship with many different stakeholders it’s pretty important and it helps the transition coming into this role and certainly at St.Kilda I was fortunate enough to have a broad portfolio as well which has prepared me in some degree for the CEO’s role.

Obviously you got announced as CEO at the Bulldogs and then had to finish off at the Saints, including draft night, that would have been slightly awkward with the Bulldogs guys sitting across the table?
When I got appointed I obviously stayed at the Saints to help finish off some commercial matters but stepped out of the football department, and it was the first draft that I hadn’t been at the table, so sitting in the audience was awkward.  But then keeping an eye on what St.Kilda was doing knowing that the club had planned for that night for the year was one thing, then obviously keeping a close eye on our team, and Simon and the recruiting team and what we were doing was also a big thing.

So you’ve arrived this week. What does the first couple of weeks look like for a new CEO?
A lot of information, a lot of people to meet and get familiar with.  It’s obviously quite close to Christmas so there is only so much that can be done this side of returning in January but the primary thing for me is getting to know the people and what makes them tick.

And financially you see that the club is in a pretty strong position, which is pleasing.
It’s fantastic coming into a club that is in a really healthy and stable position. It’s a real testimony to Gary and the leadership team and the whole club really in terms of the performance over 2017, and the Board as well since wining the flag.

Just finally, you must have converted your family into Bulldogs fans already?
They’ve switched pretty quickly.  I’ve got a seven-year-old daughter and a five -year-old son and the Club sent them a care package with various Bulldogs paraphernalia a couple of weeks ago.  My son has barely taken off his Bulldogs jumper and Bulldogs cap in the last couple of weeks.  So it was a lot easier switch than I thought it might be.