The Leaders Under 40 Awards, created by Leaders and Aspire Academy, is back for a second year. The Annual Awards searches out, evaluates and celebrates the best talent in the business of sport globally.
Marketing & Communication Manager
Assistant Secretary General, Tournament Affairs
Director
Finance and Operations Director
Executive Director of Competitions & Football Development
Mr Al Harmi has worked in football with varies roles and responsibilities over the years. He worked as the Educational Director in the Under-17 Qatar national team in 2004, which was undertaken parallel to his studies in Physical Education and Sports Science at Qatar University. During his professional career in the world of football, he has worked in many positions such as the Department of Marketing and Competition and later became the supervisor for that department in the Qatar Stars League. He has also ventured abroad, working as a general coordinator assistant for FIFA during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Then Mr Al Harmi worked as the Assistant General Manager of Department of Competition for the national team in the 2011 Asian Cup that was held in Doha, Qatar. He has also worked in the Development Project offices for his Excellency the president of the QFA, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Thani.
Vice-President
Chief Executive Officer
Head of BBC TV Sport
Philip is responsible for all TV Sport output, including all regular weekend programmes and major annual events. His team oversees all major sport events, including Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Cup and Euros. In 2014 his team helped deliver comprehensive coverage of the Winter Olympic Games with six live HD streams covering every moment of the Games, delivering over 650 hours of live action.
Chief Executive Officer
Richard was appointed to the post of Chief Executive of the League Managers Association in January 2008. Richard is a prominent character in the world of sport and business. He joined the Professional Cricketers’ Association in 1996 & became Chief Executive in 2001 to 2007, developing the profile and business of the organisation to becoming a major player in world of cricket. Richard was also a founding Director of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations. He is also a Trustee of the Team England Player Partnership & member of the Professional Players’ Federation (the umbrella body for all players’ associations including the PFA, PGA, PRA, PCA and Jockeys’ Association). Richard Bevan, has also recently been appointed Chairman of The board of The Caribbean Premier League (CPL). The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is the newest addition to the yearly cricket calendar drawing some of the most talented cricket players to the colourful Caribbean.
Owner
Over 20 years Senior Management experience. 17 years working with The English Football Association along with working at 5 Fifa World Cups and 3 UEFA European Championships with the England National Team. Now is currently the owner for Adrian Bevington Sport & PR Ltd and a PR and Communications Advisor for Star Sixes.
Executive Director, Communications
Heather has worked in international communications for multinational business groups in the UK, USA, and France. In her illustrious career, she has worked for the British-American Chamber of Commerce in the US, Time Out, Lintas, Ralph Lauren, Initiative Media and Eurosport, before moving to the WTA.
Founder & Chief Executive
Henry, who started his career in 1994 at IMG, has almost 20 years’ experience working for major global brands, events and rights holders across the sport and sponsorship industries. Since its formation in 2002, Pitch has established itself as one of Europe’s leading sports communications consultancies.
Most recently the agency has overseen global activation programmes for Heineken’s sponsorships of the UEFA Champions League and the IRB Rugby World Cup, as well as international communications campaigns for major sports rights holders such as the NBA, FIFA, and UEFA.
Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
Philip Clement is the Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Aon Corporation. Previously, Phil was a managing partner of The Clement Group, a management consulting firm that he founded in Chicago. In that role, Phil served a wide variety of clients from the Fortune 50 to venture-backed start-ups as an expert in revenue-oriented growth strategies, particularly in marketing, sales processes, go-to-market channels and new product launches.
Phil served as President of Chicago’s Business Marketing Association and Board Member of the Better Government Association, the nation’s oldest government watch-dog organisation.
Chairman
Consultant
In a 20-year career at the top levels of British sport, Nic has been the General Secretary of the Premier League, the chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, joint chief executive of the Football Association and a director of Wembley Stadium. He has also been a non-executive director of the FA, was treasurer of the CCPR (now the Sport and Recreation Alliance) and first chair of the global Sports Rights Owners Coalition. He now consults to a number of sports and entertainment businesses in the UK and around the world, as well as non-executive roles away from sport.
Executive Director
Donna-Maria Cullen graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1984 with a double Masters in Politics and English. She has spent over 25 years in management consultancy and corporate affairs. Donna was previously with Lord Bell’s group of companies, Chime plc. She specialised in the field of corporate and financial communications and marketing, having also worked in public affairs. Early major campaigns included the privatization of BP, Thames Water and AEA Technology. She advised the Club over a period of 14 years prior to joining the Board in 2006. Donna currently oversees the Club’s Commercial Partnerships, Marketing, Communications and New Business Departments. She is also a Trustee of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and a Director of the Tottenham University Technical College.
Chief Executive
Neil joined Norwich in 1997 becoming their youngest ever Chief Executive. Over his 12 years at the club, season ticket numbers trebled and the club received a number of awards for community, business development and innovation. During this time, Neil was also elected to the Board of the Football League and the Football Association.
In 2009, Neil left Norwich City to become the Chief Executive of the Scottish Premier League. In 2013, Neil oversaw the merger of the SPL and the Scottish Football League to form the Scottish Professional Football League – responsible for all 42 senior clubs in Scotland. In July 2013, Neil was appointed as the first Chief Executive of the newly formed SPFL.
Director of Strategy
Markus Egger has extensive experience in building, growing and managing international ventures in the sports industry.
For nearly 10 years, Markus was with Red Bull – one of the world´s leading companies when it comes to leveraging sports to support growth and strength of a global brand. After assuming management responsibilities for Red Bull-owned teams in Formula 1, NASCAR, hockey and football, Markus served as General Manager of Red Bull´s Football Division. In this position, he led the company´s professional football clubs and academies in Brazil, Ghana, United States, Austria and Germany and was responsible for their strategy and performance, on both the sports and business sides.
During his tenure, the New York Red Bulls reached the finals of the Major League Soccer Cup for the first time in their history, Red Bull entered the German Football market with newly founded RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg became the first Austrian football club to win all their games in the group-stage of the Europa League.
Markus Egger, who also assumed different board-level positions with multinational companies outside the world of sports, holds a Master´s degree in Business Administration from Universities in Austria and Spain.
Managing Director - Global Events and Marketing
Since his retirement as a professional cricketer, Elworthy started his successful cricket administrator career as Cricket South Africa‘s commercial and communications manager. Following this he was appointed as tournament director for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in 2007, and in February 2010, Elworthy was appointed as Director of Marketing and Communications for the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Communications
Chief Media Officer
Mathieu Ficot joined LFP in March 2013 as Chief Commercial Officer. From Paris, he manages LFP’s media and international activities in relation with Ligue 1, Ligue 2, Coupe de la Ligue and French Supercup.
Prior to joining LFP, Mathieu’s experience included various positions in the sport business area. In 1996, he spent one year in the legal department of The French Olympic Committee. The following year, he joined one of Paris’ professional clubs, the “Paris Saint Germain Omnisports”, as General Manager. His field of responsibilities covered sports issues (player management and recruitment), commercial strategy and financial controlling. During the summer of 2000, Mathieu joined the public broadcasting group “France Televisions” as Deputy Head of Sports. His role was based on the acquisition of broadcasting rights, from both rights holders and agencies, of sports events for the benefit of the television channels France 2 and France 3. Further to this, Mathieu was elected Vice President of the European Broadcasting Union Sports
Group in 2002, chairing the “new technologies and development” commission for two years. In January 2005, he joined SPORTFIVE SA in Paris. As Vice-President Media he was notably responsible for international acquisitions and tenders. In 2009, he was made Executive Vice President at SPORTFIVE INTERNATIONAL. From Geneva, Mathieu has led for 18 months the worldwide Media activities of SPORTFIVE group; he was notably in charge of the management of major accounts (including IOC and
UEFA).
Executive Director
Director - Group Content & Advertising Products
Director of Media and Communications
Chief Executive Officer
Richard Gould is the Chief Executive Officer of Surrey County Cricket Club. He assumed the role in 2011 after leaving Somerset in a similar position. He had been at Somerset for six years. In his three years as CEO he has led the county team to profit and the team has had success on the field as well in the CB40 in 2011. In his role Gould is looking to boost the Surrey brand especially with the revamping of the domestic Twenty20 competition coming into place.
Head of UK Sport
Commercial Director
Dominic joined Premiership Rugby in early 2012, overseeing the Commercial Operation of top flight English Club Rugby and maximizing revenues from the collective rights of the 12 top English Rugby Union Clubs. Prior to that Dominic spent 10 years at WWE, heading up the International Business of the sports entertainment powerhouse and overseeing the growth of WWE’s international television, Pay Per View, digital, sponsorship and film distribution businesses.
Before joining WWE, Dominic led the Clear Channel and WWE accounts for marketing communications agency, RDA. Prior to this he spent two years at the Football Association, working on their international marketing and communications.
Chief Commercial Officer
Head of Venue & Brand
Director
Jamie is a director for JAJ Sports Marketing Consultancy and Football Champions Tour, his specialities include sports marketing and management, events, sponsorship sales and talent recruitment. Former roles include being a Senior Marketing officer with SFX Sports Group and is currently launching Star Sixes with Pitch International, the newly formed six a side tournament with International retired footballers.
Director of Communications
Premier League Director of Communications, Dan Johnson is the man at the heart of Premier League’s media strategy, whether it is the issue of club versus country or the role of football in society. He has overall responsibility for external, internal and stakeholder communications as well as editorial control of digital and social channels. He also contributes to the Premier League’s public affairs strategy. Dan joined the Premier League in 2001 as Press Officer after having worked as a lobbyist and policy advisor. Dan has been a member of various industry groups in the past, most notably the Football Foundation’s Facilities Assessment Panel and the Home Office Football Disorder Group.
Managing Director, UK
Kerr joined Eurosport in 2005 as director of British Eurosport, responsible for local rights acquisition and scheduling for British Eurosport, British Eurosport 2 and all Eurosport online operations.
As Eurosport’s UK managing director, Kerr oversees the British Eurosport channels, along with all other UK-based operations.
Head of Sponsoring
Media, Marketing and CRM Director
Michael has been responsible for the growth of Arsenal’s digital business for over half a decade. He is one of European Football’s most accomplished digital executives, specialising in the management of cross platform media organisations with a specific focus on sport and entertainment. Throughout his career Michael has also played leading roles in sports media rights negotiations and the design of broadcast syndication models. Prior to taking up his current role of Media, Marketing and CRM Director earlier this year, Michael spent over 5 years as the General Manager of Arsenal Broadband.
General Secretary
Chief Executive
Chief Executive Officer
Martin is a Sports and Entertainment Marketing expert, with more than 20 years experience working with brands, talent and rights holders.
He is CEO for M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, the UK’s most awarded Sports Marketing Agency over the last 8 years. It has been Sport Agency of the Year at the Sport Industry Awards 4 out of the last 5 years and is recognised as the Creative agency in the world of sponsorship, based on very strong insight and a ‘Brutally Simple’ approach.
Managing Director of Business Development, Marketing & Sales
Chief Operating Officer
Barry McNeill is an experienced, business savvy executive motivated to lead, develop talent, build commercial sustainability and create enduring cultures. Leading up to his position with Catapult, McNeill established a portfolio of activities, including Consultancy, Non-Executive, Advisory and Executive Coaching roles under BPM Performance Ltd, a strategic consulting and advisory business which he owns.
CEO
Managing Director
Paul spent 6 years as the Group HR Director for The English Football Association and Wembley Stadium, where he worked closely with the board, Chairman and Chief Executives to build leadership teams, handling every senior executive and non-executive appointment. Prior to this, Paul spent 13 years in consumer facing international businesses, including a position on the board of a division of a FTSE 250 business with a specific responsibility for acquiring and developing leadership talent. Paul has conducted significant work in the betting & gaming industry, including several Executive board level searches at Ladbrokes plc and William Hill plc. Paul sits on a number of boards, including the Advisory Board of the UCFB, which offers world-class degrees in the business of sport; the Advisory Board of the Thoroughbred Horseracing Industry MBA at Liverpool University. Paul also sits on the board of Positive Futures, a charity supporting hard to reach young people in North Liverpool.
Chief Executive Officer
First VP, Head of Group Strategic Sponsorships
Co-Chief Revenue Officer, Head of Global Partnerships and Corporate Revenues
Born in Asti on 27 May 1976, Ricci graduated in Marketing from Pavia University and began his consumer goods marketing career with Egidio Galbani SpA (at that stage part of the Danone group) in 2001, where he worked on several company brands before joining Juventus in 2003.
From then until 2012 he assumed roles of increasing responsibility in the club’s marketing and sponsorship departments, first becoming Marketing Manager before, in November 2008, taking up the position of Head of Partnerships.
In December 2012 he embarked on a new professional adventure as Inter Milan’s Chief Commercial Officer before returning to Turin, in March 2015, as Juventus’ Head of Global Partnerships and Corporate Revenues. In 2016 he also took on the title of Co-Chief Revenue Officer.
Board Member - Marketing, Media & Commercial
Peter has been involved in a managing role at PSV for over five years. He was responsible for Marketing, Media Merchandising and Business Development in that era and he was also Commercial Manager the past few years. Peter Rovers played a huge role in realising big and important commercial deals for PSV such as energiedirect.nl as main sponsor, Umbro to replace Nike and Philips as biggest co-sponsor in the Eredivisie.
Marketing and Audiovisual Rights Director
Fabio is currently the Marketing and Audio-visual Rights Director for the Italian Football League Serie A. He’s been involved with the Italian Football League’s top two divisions since 1997, which has seen him progress from his past roles as Vice Secretary and Marketing Director and a Research Department Project Director, to his current role now.
European Sales Director
Tim Shaw joined the European Tour in 1997, initially working in a commercial capacity for European Tour Productions, the European Tour’s television production and distribution company. In 1999 Tim moved to the European Tour’s headquarters at Wentworth where he became the European Sales Director for the Tour and the Ryder Cup (when played in Europe).
Tim’s responsibilities are focussed in 3 key areas: Corporate Partnerships, Sponsorship of Tour owned assets/tournaments and the Ryder Cup Commercial Programme.
Chairman
David Sheepshanks is best known for his extensive career in Football and Charity, serving The FA, The Football League and Ipswich Town over the last 25 years and in the voluntary sector for Suffolk & UK Community Foundations. Today he is Chairman of the new Advisory Board at St George’s Park (The FA’s National Football Centre), Chairman of UK Community Foundations and Regional Chairman for Coutts Bank. In 2015, he became a Vistage Group Chairman and now operates 2 successful Leadership Peer Groups, coaching business leaders in East Anglia and London. His business background was in the food industry including Starfish Ltd and Suffolk Foods Ltd, both of which he started and later sold, and local radio (Director Radio Orwell/SGR & Chairman Vibe FM).
Chief Commercial Officer
Juliet joined Ascot after three years as Managing Director of leading sports marketing and communications agency, Pitch, where she has overseen significant business growth.
Previous roles include five years on the Board of Fulham Football Club as Sales and Marketing Director, where she redeveloped the brand, secured high profile partnerships and significantly increased both season ticket sales and memberships.
In 2006, Juliet was brought in by publishing giant, Haymarket Network, as Managing Director, to grow the client portfolio and oversee content for sports brands such as Sky Sports, Manchester United, IAAF and the FA. Juliet also worked for London’s 2012 Olympic bid where she was responsible for raising sponsorship and managing partner relationships.
Chief Executive Officer
Rod Street is Chief Executive of Racing Enterprises Limited, Racing for Change and British Champions Series Limited. He was formerly Group Managing Director of Northern Racing PLC—helping to build the business from one to nine racecourses to become the UK’s second largest racecourse operator—and led the company to its flotation on AIM in 2003. He has served on the boards of the broadcaster At the Races, the Racecourse Association, Racing Enterprises Limited and numerous racing industry bodies and was Chairman of the Professional Jockeys Association until April 2011.
Chief Executive Officer
Steve Tew joined New Zealand Rugby in 2001. He has a strong rugby and sports background and also has a Masters degree in Recreation Administration (Sports Management). Prior to joining New Zealand Rugby, Steve was Chief Executive Officer of the Canterbury Rugby Union and the Crusaders Franchise. He became Chief Executive Officer of NZR on 1 January 2008.
Chief Executive Officer
Alex has served as the CEO/Director for Eredivisie since 2004. Alex has specifically focused his efforts on launching a sports channel and building a Business to Consumer brand from scratch. He established a new company for this (Eredivisie Media and Marketing CV) and sold that company for 51% to Fox Network Group in 2012. He has experience in setting up strategies for sponsorships and activation programs in Football. Prior to his work for Eredivisie he was a managing director NEC Football club in Nijmegen.
Director of Public Affairs (Europe)
David Tossell, director of Public Affairs (Europe) for the National Football League (NFL), has been involved in journalism for more than three decades. He is the author of twelve sports books and a five-time nominee in the British Sports Book Awards. He attended the full-year NCTJ pre-entry course at Harlow College in 1979-80 before completing his NCTJ qualifications in 1982 while at the Barnet Press, where he worked from 1980 to 1984. After a four-year spell at the Slough and Windsor Observer, where he served as sports editor and then assistant editor, he joined the sports desk of the Today Newspaper in 1988.
Group Chief Executive Officer
The official black tie Leaders Under 40 Awards Dinner will be held at the iconic Natural History Museum on 4 October 2016. Over 500 aspiring and established leaders from across the globe will be in attendance for an evening of recognition, celebration and networking. If you would like to apply to attend the awards ceremony, please don’t hesitate to drop us an email below.
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