The St Kilda Football Club has announced current chief operating officer, Simon Lethlean, will replace Matt Finnis as the CEO of the club at the end of the 2022 AFL season.

The announcement was made by St Kilda president, Andrew Bassat, who said Finnis informed the board the 2022 season would be his last leading the club, after spending the last eight years in the role.

Discussing Finnis’ departure and the choice to promote Lethlean at the end of the year, Bassat said: “St Kilda owes Matt [Finnis] an enormous debt of gratitude for the leadership he has provided our club to date and the changes he has made will be long-lasting.”

“There will be a time to properly recognise his work at St Kilda, but suffice to say, when he joined the Saints back in 2014 we faced numerous challenges and the club he leaves at the end of 2022 will in many respects be unrecognisable from that time…

“On behalf of the board, we are very pleased to be announcing that Simon Lethlean will become our new chief executive officer from the end of 2022.

“A process of succession planning and transition involving Matt and Simon was initiated some time ago and recently formalised via unanimous decision of the board.

“In Simon, we are extremely fortunate to have an incoming CEO who understands our club and shares our ambitious aspirations for St Kilda.

“Simon brings an unrivalled depth of experience and knowledge of all aspects of the industry – football, broadcasting, legal and game development.

“Since joining the club, he has won the trust and confidence of our people, attracted talented staff to our organisation and contributed significantly to our growth agenda,” Bassat said.

Accepting his new role, Lethlean said he is grateful for the board trusting in him to lead the club after 2022.

“I would also like to thank Matt for his support and for the partnership we have forged that has led to my appointment as the club’s next CEO,” Lethlean said.

“I’m incredibly optimistic about the journey that we’re on here at St Kilda, and our supporters should know that I’ll be leaving no stone unturned in our mission to deliver the success they are rightly impatient to enjoy,” he said.

On his departure, Finnis said: “The last couple of years have been incredibly challenging for so many but I’m really proud that St Kilda will emerge from this period stronger on field and off.”

“By the end of the year we expect to have cut our historical debt by half and have a genuine line of sight to a debt free balance sheet, at the same time as fully financing our football programs commensurate with the league leaders,” Finnis said.