The decision by Steadfast COO Cameron McCullagh to resign from the broker group’s board was prudent in light of the group’s upcoming public float, according to industry sources.

But some Steadfast members have criticised the group’s management for not telling them of Mr McCullagh’s resignation in March, particularly as many were making decisions at that time whether to sell shareholdings of their companies into the group prior to the float.

Mr McCullagh, a former MD of Employers Mutual and an experienced finance professional, joined Steadfast in 2011 and remains the company’s COO. He is a key player in the group’s complex pre-float strategy.

A Sydney newspaper last week linked him to a controversial $100,000 political donation.

In a Breaking News bulletin on Friday, Steadfast MD and CEO Robert Kelly told insuranceNEWS.com.au that Mr McCullagh “has my support and the support of the Steadfast board”.

“There is nothing to suggest he has done anything wrong,” he said.

Mr McCullagh was appointed to the Steadfast board in December and Mr Kelly says his decision to resign from it three months later was “of his own volition”.

He says Mr McCullagh will not rejoin the board “until the matter is cleared up and his position is clarified”. He is confident this will happen.

Sources experienced in public floats told insuranceNEWS.com.au that Mr McCullagh’s decision to step aside immediately he realised his name could be linked with that of former MP Richard Torbay – who resigned from the NSW Parliament in March after allegations against him were referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) – was prudent “and obviously in the best interests of the company”.

However, some Steadfast members have contacted insuranceNEWS.com.au to criticise Steadfast for not informing them of Mr McCullagh’s resignation.

One said the group’s alleged silence over the resignation “makes me wonder what else we haven’t been told”.

“In my view it would have been appropriate to inform the members, particularly as many of them were in the midst of deciding whether or not to commit to the IPO (initial public offering).

“You couldn’t help but think members who have signed up to the IPO might be reconsidering given [Mr McCullagh’s] pivotal role in the float.”

Another member said nothing about the resignation was mentioned at the Steadfast Convention in Sydney in April. “I think we should have been told. This whole IPO thing needs to be above-board.”

The Sydney Morning Herald’s front-page article says that in 2010 then-NSW planning minister Tony Kelly rescinded an interim heritage order that had been placed on a $3.8 million Sydney home Mr McCullagh and his wife had bought, allowing them to demolish the building.

The newspaper says Mr McCullagh wrote to Mr Torbay in June 2010 asking him to arrange a meeting with Mr Kelly, who rescinded the interim heritage order two months later.

Australian Electoral Commission records show that in December 2010 Mr McCullagh’s wife’s private company donated $100,000 to Mr Torbay.

Mr McCullagh is quoted in the article as saying last year that the donation was made because Mr Torbay was “highly effective and the sort of person I want in politics”.

Mr Torbay was referred to ICAC over donations that are not related to the McCullagh donation. In June 2011 Mr Kelly resigned from the NSW Parliament, and in December that year ICAC recommended criminal charges be considered against him over a backdated letter covering a controversial property sale.