Victor Montagliani, a candidate for the presidency of CONCACAF, says the confederation will be better off when it sheds its skin of political polarisation.

The election to fill the vacant seat will to be held at a congress in Mexico City on May 12.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer from his office in Canada on Monday, the 50-year-old business executive suggested that a better CONCACAF will emerge from its dark past if it fundamentally views itself as “one”, rather than three independent parts coming together to form a whole.

“I consider myself, first and foremost, as an executive and a football person and a CONCACAF person. The time for divisive politics, which has governed CONCACAF for the last 40 years, is over, and a lot of us are sick and tired of it, and I think I represent that,” said Montagliani.

With the last three CONCACAF presidents — Trinidadian Austin ‘Jack’ Warner, Caymanian Jeffrey Webb and Honduran Alfredo Hawit — forced out of the position in a storm of corruption-related indictments, the confederation has been operating without a president since November.

Montagliani says the criminal proceedings against the three immediate past presidents should not ultimately be viewed as an indictment on the regions that they are from, but he preferred to look at it in the context that CONCACAF has suffered from credible leadership at the top on a whole.

“I live in the north, but I think a lot of people in the Caribbean, and elsewhere, are just fed up with a lack of good leadership in CONCACAF, and it’s not specific to one region or another,” said the member of FIFA Legal Committee.

“I don’t think you necessarily have to have leadership from one region or another, and although I may live in the north, I really don’t consider myself a person from the north or anywhere else,” the CONCACAF Women’s Championships Committee chairman noted.

Montagliani, who has served as Canadian Soccer Federation president since 2012, noted that while the confederation has taken a battering of its credibility and has lost trust from key stakeholders, he is confident that with change CONCACAF can rise from the ashes.

“I think our corporate sponsors have been good and have seen us through this crisis, but we would be fooling ourselves if we don’t change and do things the right way… we want the leadership that reflects those changes, reflects a united front, not a divisive front,” he said.

The Canadian, who is facing challenges from Antiguan Gordon Derrick, Bermuda FA president Larry Mussenden and Canada-based Guyanese Mark Rodriguez for CONCACAF’s top job, believes he brings the expertise and experience to reposition the 41-member confederation, which is at the centre of a corruption scandal of seismic proportion that sent ripples through the global game.

“Notwithstanding what has happened in the world of football, I believe there are still a lot of good people. I think it’s now for those of us who love the game for the right reasons to face the challenges and this is why I am doing this (running for president),” Montagliani said.

He thinks his corporate and footballing background, plus his short, but enlightening stint at administering the game at the top level, makes him a strong candidate to take the reins.

“I think I have a unique background, starting with my footballing background, I have only been at CONCACAF for a couple of years, but long enough. Obviously the game has taught me a lot, plus I have a corporate background as with my two partners, I have a national brokerage company in the insurance industry, with over 200 employees,” Montagliani disclosed.

The Gold Cup Committee member said over the years the top leadership of CONCACAF lacked genuine pedigree at corporate governance, and believes this quality is required for anyone desirous of leading the organisation that embraces the Caribbean and North and Central America.

“I have been a successful businessman and have been on a number of corporate boards, and so I can bring that background to the game, which is something that I think is lacking in a lot of ways… people who come to the service of the game with only a footballing background, I don’t think that’s enough.

“I think our president can’t just have intimate knowledge on the game, but he must also have a background that is corporate, which is legal, like I have. The football has change and it’s a business,” Montagliani stated.

The CONCACAF Administration Panel Committee chairman says the fact he speaks three of the languages spoken across the culturally diverse confederation is added asset that he brings to the table.

“I can speak four languages, three of which are CONCACAF languages which are French, Spanish and English. And having grown up in a cross-cultural society, which is probably very unique in CONCACAF as some of the other countries are not as cross-cultural as Canada with all 41 CONCACAF countries represented in Canada, and I think that helps to deal with those kinds of environments which I believe will be required of the next president of CONCACAF,” he noted.

Montagliani said he decided to run for the hot seat after being asked to do so by his colleagues from across the three sub-regions of the confederation, and finally and crucially, after discussing the possibilities with his family.

“I think a lot of the members, whether they were from the Caribbean, Central America and obviously North America, have seen my value in terms of being a calm person who is level-headed, who is able to look at things with a different mentality, and really looking at things from a CONCACAF perspective by putting the needs of the game and the needs of the members first.

“A lot of them of the three regions have come to me and said ‘we would definitely support your candidacy if you put your name forward’, so I then sat down with my family as this is not a decision you can make alone, and having sat with them, I let them know that I have significant support, and I let them know there would be other contenders, and that’s okay, as I respect the process, and I will just now put my best foot forward,” Montagliani told the Observer.

Montagliani claims he enjoys emphatic support from the north and central regions, but knows the clincher will have to come from his ability to split the 31 votes in the Caribbean in his favour, and he thinks he can do that.

“Yes, I know I can,” he said. “We can no longer govern ourselves in the three forks — which is the 31 Caribbean members, seven Central Americans and three North Americans. Those days are gone as we have to govern as one — One CONCACAF,” Montagliani trumpeted.