The Fremantle Football Club has appointed Steve Rosich as its new chief executive officer.

The 38-year-old  Rosich, who joined Fremantle in 2004 as general manager of commercial operations before taking on the role of general manager of strategy in April this year, replaces outgoing CEO Cameron Schwab.

A married father of three, Mr Rosich has spent the past eight years working as a football administrator.

Prior to taking on a senior role at Fremantle, Mr Rosich was business operations manager at West Coast under CEO Trevor Nisbett.

Previously, Mr Rosich, a chartered accountant, spent more than a decade working in corporate advisory, including nine years at Deloitte with the last three years there as an associate director of corporate finance.

Fremantle president Rick Hart said after a thorough recruiting process, Mr Rosich had emerged as the best person for the job.

“Along with the external candidates, we had three very good internal candidates, which says something about our own recruiting and staff development policies,” Mr Hart said.

“It meant that there was a logical successor in the pipeline internally for the board to choose from.”

However, Mr Hart said the club had undertaken a rigorous process to identify possible external candidates.

“We targeted some high profile people to ensure that we were able to appoint the best person for the job,” he said.

“During the recruiting process it became evident that our three internal applicants were clearly the best candidates for the job.

“Given the process that we have been through, the board of the Fremantle Football Club has no doubt that Steve Rosich is the right choice.”

Mr Hart said that Mr Rosich, who is Fremantle’s third CEO since the club’s inception into the AFL in 1994, had the benefit of a strong commercial background combined with wide experience in football administration.

Since joining the club four years ago, Mr Rosich has been given increased responsibilities.

As general manager of commercial operations he oversaw outstanding growth in membership, corporate support and merchandise sales.

In the past 18 months, Mr Rosich has managed player contracting at the club and has re-signed key players, including Matthew Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin.

“Steve understands the game and has occupied senior strategic roles at Fremantle since 2004 and before that at West Coast,”  Mr Hart said.

“He is young, enthusiastic, dynamic and we have no doubt that he will become one of the leading lights in football club administration in the AFL.”

Mr Rosich was a talented junior footballer from the Subiaco district and played State U18s in 1987. He was a league squad member at WAFL clubs Subiaco (1988-89) and West Perth (1990-91), playing a handful of games before his football career was cut short by persistent shoulder injuries.

Mr Hart said he wanted to acknowledge the quality of all the candidates, particularly internal applicants chief operating officer Gary Walton and general manager of strategic partnerships Darren Beazley, who were highly professional in their presentations to the board.

“I have spoken to Gary Walton and Darren Beazley and we are very keen for both of them to stay on,” he said.

“We believe there are exciting times ahead for Fremantle and we very much want  Gary Walton and Darren Beazley to be a part of that.”

Mr Hart said that Mr Rosich’s appointment was effective immediately.

Outgoing CEO Cameron Schwab will finish up at the club after Sunday week’s Carlton Mid Derby against West Coast.