Twenty-four hours after making a club record seven changes for this weekend's match against the Western Bulldogs, Port Adelaide added an eighth - Power chief executive John James.

Announcing his exit at Alberton while the players and coaching staff were out of town, James admitted it was not an ideal time to be moving on, as the Power battle the dual problems of an underperforming team and a plateaued, disgruntled supporter base.

But the lure of a high-powered managerial position with American funds management giant Vanguard, based in Philadelphia, proved too strong for an upwardly mobile family man who was believed to have taken a considerable pay cut to join the Power at the end of 2004.

"I certainly feel mixed emotions because I want to be part of the solution, and I will do anything I can in the time I have left at the club," James said.

"The frustrating thing is internally we run such a great business and a great organisation and the external pressure is we haven't performed on-field as we'd have wanted to, but internally we're rock solid."

After replacing Brian Cunningham as CEO at the end of the club's 2004 premiership season, James oversaw a period when the Power battled to re-build following the flag success and made a surprise appearance in last year's grand final.

However this season the club has slid down into the lower regions of the AFL ladder, with coach Mark Williams officially calling off their finals campaign last week following a home loss to Richmond.

"The next nine weeks is really critical, we see that we want to play some winning football, we want to see some changes, and we want to lead ourselves into 2009 with some real excitement," James said.

"The biggest challenge for our club is breaking down a few barriers (to find new supporters) and the AAMI Stadium development is probably the biggest single opportunity for the club."

James is the second Power official to resign this month - communications manager Hitaf Rasheed handed in her notice two weeks ago.

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