The Sport Business Summit

Rob has served as the Chief Executive Officer and President at New Balance since April 30, 2007, and is a Director of the American Apparel & Footwear Association. He has been instrumental in New Balance’s move into football, via their Warrior brand, and the company now has kit deals with esteemed names including Liverpool, Sevilla and Porto. Rob previously worked as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Grooming Division of The Gillette Company, General Manager of Procter and Gamble’s North American snack business. In 2011 Rob was named the United States’ Most Playful Chief Executive Officer in a nationwide poll.

Dr Chung is an Honorary Vice President of FIFA and a leading candidate as football’s world governing body seeks to appoint a successor to President Sepp Blatter. Chung was instrumental in bringing the 2002 FIFA World Cup to his homeland, South Korea, which co-hosted the tournament with Japan. Between 1993 and 2009 he served as President of the Korea Football Association. It was during his tenure that South Korea progressed to the semi-finals of their home World Cup. Chung is active in South Korean politics and I a member of the national assembly. His family own car manufacturer Hyundai.

Bob Bowman is the President, Business & Media of Major League Baseball. He directs revenue-generating and media rights activities across all MLB entities while continuing to oversee MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM) and MLB Network. Equally owned by MLB’s 30 teams, MLB Advanced Media currently has a value of around $6billion and sits at number 9 in Forbes’ Fab 40 of the World’s Most Valuable Sports Brands. He held several senior management positions at ITT Corporation, a multibillion dollar organisation that owned Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks and served for eight years as Treasurer of the State of Michigan.

James Curleigh is the top marketer at Levi’s and is responsible for managing the strategic direction and execution of the brand worldwide. He is focused on building on the brand’s strong heritage by identifying innovative ways to connect with consumers around the world and masterminded the 20-year naming rights deal for the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium in 2013, which is the largest NFL naming rights deal for a single team. James’ efforts ensure that the Levi’s brand will receive premium exposure when San Francisco hosts the Super Bowl in February. He also established and led TaylorMade-adidas’ golf division in Europe.

Andrew Wilson was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Electronic Arts in September 2013. Successful titles include the FIFA, The Sims and Need for Speed series. Since joining EA in 2000 he has provided leadership on product and brand development for both packaged goods and digital services. He previously served as Executive Vice President of EA SPORTS and Origin. Electronic Arts are the biggest name in video games manufacturing and play a key role in how millions of fans across the world enjoy sports like football, basketball and golf. They are at the forefront of delivering sports entertainment across multiple devices.

Irina Pavlova was appointed President of Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holding USA, Inc. in 2010. She is one of the most powerful female executives in US sport and represents the Brooklyn Nets owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, in both management and team ownership. Irina serves on the Boards of Directors of NETS Basketball and Brooklyn Arena LLC. Prior to joining Onexim Sports and Entertainment, Pavlova was head of Google’s Strategic Partnerships in Russia, where she was Google’s first employee. She previously served as an equity analyst and portfolio manager at Wentworth, Hauser and Violich and began her career as a financial analyst with Prudential Investment Corporation.

Matt heads up Google’s business and operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He is one of Europe’s top digital executives and has been a major influence in the European tech industry. Joining Google in 2007 to help build its business in the UK, he became MD of Google UK two years later. In 2011, he was promoted to VP of Northern and Central Europe, before taking over as President of Business and Operations in EMEA in 2014. Matt has had a long career in media and marketing, joining Google from the newspaper industry, where he led commercial and digital operations at the biggest UK publisher.

Dan Reed is Facebook’s Head of Global Sports Partnerships, where he leads the company’s efforts to connect hundreds of millions of sports fans on Facebook and Instagram with their sports passions. In this role, Reed manages strategic partnerships with sports leagues, teams, athletes, broadcasters and publishers around the world to help these partners connect with fans, and build innovative social experiences that drive their business.

Reed joined Facebook after a 10-year career at the National Basketball Association where, as President of the NBA Development League, he led a turnaround of the NBA’s minor league into a financially valuable property and a thriving talent development system for the NBA. Under Reed’s leadership team franchise values increased twelve-fold, the number of NBA players with NBA D-League experience more than doubled, and the league expanded to an all-time high 18 teams while continually setting records in attendance, revenues from ticket sales and marketing partnerships, and media distribution via broadcast and digital outlets. While at the NBA, Reed also drove record NBA team business results as Senior Director of the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations unit, where he worked closely with NBA team executives to share best practices and guide change in all aspects of team business operations. 

Michael is the President of Global Sponsorships for MasterCard worldwide, having been appointed in January 2008. He has been at the forefront of MasterCard’s sponsorship platforms, which include the likes of MLB, the Rugby World Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Alongside Michael’s sponsorship expertise, he also has a wealth of experience regarding Business and Product Development after spending 9 years working at Nextel and Sprint Nextel. 

David was appointed as RBS’ first ever Chief Marketing Officer in April of this year, after spending the past 3 years as managing director of brand, reputation, citizenship and marketing at Barclays. Prior to his time at Barclays David was also global brand director at Vodafone for nearly 6 years, in which he played a major role in promoting the company to number 5 in the Most Valuable Brands in the world. David also served as Vice President of Global Director of Advertising for Coca-Cola and rose to Group Account Director at Saatchi & Saatchi.

Renowned entrepreneur William H.C. Chang is on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Giants and is a Co-Owner of D.C. United. The Giants have won the World Series three times in the last five years, while D.C. are the most decorated side in MLS history. He also serves as Chairman of Westlake International Group whose investments span private and public equities, including venture capital, professional sports, media and entertainment, emerging technologies, life sciences and real estate. He is also on the Board of Directors of USA Rugby, which is bidding to host the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens.

Andrew is one of the finest opening batsmen and captains of his generation. He has scored over 10,000 international runs for England and has captained the side to the summit of the ICC world rankings, as well as back-to-back Ashes victories in 2009 and 2011. Since hanging up his gloves in 2012, Andrew has worked as part of the Sky Sports Cricket team and was recently appointed the new ECB Director of Cricket in May 2015. His new role could not have started any better as England regained the Ashes in August this year. 

As Executive Vice President of Global Marketing Partnerships for the National Basketball Association, Emilio Collins oversees the global marketing partnerships business for the NBA, WNBA, NBA Development League and USA Basketball, including partner management, business development, media, and marketing solutions. Through operations in New York and the league’s regional offices, Emilio’s department works closely with corporate partners in developing integrated, season long marketing programmes to drive their businesses and showcase the NBA. Previously, Emilio served as Director of Event Development at SFX Sports Group where he built and managed the organisation’s consulting, hospitality, golf and tennis events business.

David is a Co-Owner and Co-Chairman of his boyhood club West Ham United, who are one of the most fabled names in the Premier League. He has helped the club to consolidate their Premier League status and was instrumental in securing West Ham’s tenancy of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, beginning from the 2016-17 season. David was previously a Co-Owner and Joint-Chairman of Birmingham City FC and oversaw their rise from the second tier and near bankruptcy to the Premier League during his tenure. He is also the Chairman of Gold Group International Ltd.

Joe has been one of the most prominent executives in Italian football in recent seasons. The former President of Bologna FC witnessed their promotion back to Serie A a mere season after their fall from the top-flight. Prior to his association with the Rossoblù Joe served as both Vice President and a Director of AS Roma. He is a defence attorney specialising in Criminal, Securities and Civil Litigation. Joe also works voluntarily as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School and lectures across the US.

Laura leads sports partnerships and programming for Amplify, Twitter’s real-time, in-Tweet video product. In her five years at CBS she devised product marketing and monetisation strategies for premium sports content from NCAA March Madness, NFL and NCAA football, The Masters, and PGA Tour golf, as well as the award-winning suite of fantasy games from CBSSports.com. Her efforts lead to multiple years of record setting revenues for the properties. Prior to CBS Interactive Laura focused her career in sales and marketing at such notable publishers as CNET, Ziff-Davis, and Condé Nast.

Klaus is the CEO of Werder Bremen one of the top clubs in the Bundesliga. He started his career as a footballer and then moved to Adidas where he reached VP of Global Football Management. In 2010 he joined Werder Bremen as CEO and runs all marketing, commercial, management and financial aspects of the team. 

Jason is the Chief Executive Officer of DraftKings, the leading provider of daily fantasy sports. He founded DraftKings in 2012 and their subsequent growth into a market leader has been phenomenal. He matches a passion for fantasy sport with a career forged in marketing and analytics at Capital One and Vistaprint. Jason has taken fantasy sports to a new level, leading to partnerships with a variety of pro teams and leagues. He is also a graduate of Duke University where he read economics and computer science.

Todd is AEG’s first Chief Revenue Officer and oversees the management, growth and financial oversight of key divisions of AEG. AEG’s sports portfolio includes the LA Lakers, Kings and Galaxy and world-famous entertainment venues including the Staples Center in LA and the 02 Arena in London. Todd previously served as President of AEG’s Global Partnerships business group. Under his direction, AEG Global Partnerships achieved over $400 million of gross sponsorship revenue and premium sales. He has initiated many of the company’s most comprehensive sponsorship and naming rights agreements on behalf of a variety of venues, sports franchises, developments and live entertainment properties.

Ben is the Director of Partnerships and oversees relationships with all domestic and international media rights holders, including the NBA, NFL, MLB, the NCAA, and Livenation. Snapchat has grown massively in the last 3 years and is now one of the leading social platforms in the US, and beginning to make its mark here in Europe. It’s most popular with 16-34 year olds which is a highly valuable demographic for sports and brand marketers.

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.

Ralph was appointed Chairman of Southampton Football Club in 2014 and, by delivering stability and strategic guidance, the club has made great strides on and off the pitch. In the 2014/15 season the club achieved its highest-ever points tally in the Premier League. His career in ice hockey as both a player and coach spanned 27 years. He coached the Swiss men’s Olympic Team at the 2010 Games in Vancouver and served as Head Coach of the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers for the 2012-2013 season. He won gold at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as part of the Management/Coaching staff for Team Canada prior to becoming the Chairman of Southampton.

Heather Rabbatts is Chair of the Football Association’s Inclusion Advisory Board. She is a lawyer, businesswoman, and broadcaster, who rose to prominence as Chief Executive of the London Borough of Lambeth. She was Executive Deputy Chair of Millwall F.C. for and in 2012 she became the first female board member of the FA, serving on the Remuneration Committee. Heather is a trustee of the Royal Opera House, and is on the boards of Crossrail and the UK Film Council. She has held a number of senior positions including governor of the LSE, the BBC, and trustee of the British Council.

Brad Sims oversees all of the Cavaliers’ commercial activities, including ticket sales, marketing, CRM, digital sales, hospitality sales and partnerships. He’s been shortlisted for the Leaders Under 40 Awards and led double digit growth of the Cavaliers business in the 2 years since he joined in 2012. At the beginning of last season, the Cav’s resigned LeBron James and signed Kevin Love, transforming the team into NBA Championship contenders after which their commercial activity has skyrocketed. 

Emile is one of the most recognised strikers in Premier League history and registered 118 top-flight goals. He rose to prominence with his hometown club Leicester City where he won the League Cup on two occasions. Emile went on win an historical treble of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup with Liverpool in 2001. He earned 62 caps and scored seven goals for England during an international career that took in two FIFA World Cups in 2002 and 2010, as well as appearances at Euro 2000 and 2004.

Jeremy is one of Microsoft’s top marketing executives, leading worldwide initiatives for building sales and awareness of Microsoft consumer brands such as the Xbox games console as well its core Windows and Office products. Previous to this role, he was Motorola’s Global Marketing Chief, where he had joined as Head of Retail & Channel Marketing, before taking over from previous Chief Marketing Officer Kasey Keller in March 2007. Jeremy also served as the Vice President of Marketing at Orange for two years and was responsible for a series of innovative marketing initiatives that developed the Orange brand.

Mark oversees the building of AS Roma’s new stadium, a 52,500 seat modern colosseum that will be one the world’s most state-of-the-art football stadia. Prior to this, for over two decades Mark has built and revitalised sports and entertainment businesses in the US, UK and Europe. His track record includes each club he has worked with across 17 seasons making their playoffs or qualifying for European competition. In 12 of those years, those teams also lead their respective leagues in total revenues.

Chris is the Head Coach of Queens Park Rangers, after being awarded the role full-time in 2015 following a brief spell as caretaker manager. Chris has a wealth of experience in football, starting off as a professional player and finally moving into management. Ramsey served as Head Coach of the England Under-20 team and after a spell coaching in the US retuned to the UK to take up a role at Tottenham Hotspur as Head of Player Development, followed by a similar role at QPR. Chris’ story highlights how passion and strong dedication for the game can take you to the pinnacle of sport.

Stuart is the Regional Director, EMEA at Twitch.TV, the world’s biggest live video streaming platform with over 100million monthly users. He is responsible for regional advertising revenue & sales, game developer relations, as well as key content, regional events and publisher partnerships. Stuart has had a lifelong passion for gaming, which swiftly turned into a profession. Saw has worked for the likes of Sky, Eurosport, Streamworks and own3d Entertainment in roles ranging from operations to content and strategy. It is evident that his expertise in the media industry is having a positive influence on Twitch.TV’s operations.

Tom is part of the Executive Leadership Team at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which is one of the most prominent sport and entertainment companies in the world. Their portfolio includes the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors and Marlies, with a focus on premium seating and ticketing products. Tom has more than 19 years of professional sports sales and marketing experience across the NHL, NBA, MLS and AHL. He is well-versed in corporate culture development as well as customer acquisition strategies, premium experiences, customer retention programming, product development, pricing, analytics and promotion. Tom prides himself as a relationship and brand builder with an extensive sport and entertainment network.

Ralf is Managing Director / CEO of Turtle Entertainment the world’s largest eSports company leading the industry in raising eSport production and audience levels to those of mainstream sports. Alongside the creation of Turtle Entertainment, Ralf has been an integral part of the development of ESL Gaming which is now the largest global E sports league, as well as the elite pro gaming tour Intel Extreme Masters which has given out over $3.5million of prize money spanning across 8 seasons.  Reichert’s passion for gaming and technology is for all to see, and with over 20 years of experience in the industry, it is no surprise that Turtle Entertainment has been such a resounding success. 

In his 15th season with the Vikings in 2015, Steve LaCroix serves as the team’s Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, overseeing all aspects of Vikings generated revenues. He also leads the team’s radio and television programming, websites, digital and social media initiatives, merchandise and e-commerce operations, community and special events, marketing partnerships, advertising, branding, promotions, graphic design, fan relations and game day activities. Steve’s sales and marketing team will be responsible for the transition of fans, corporate partners and the Vikings game-day experience to TCF Bank Stadium located on the University of Minnesota campus for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

David is responsible for the daily operation of The Sun and reports directly to Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks. He was previously Editor (FROM WHEN TO WHEN)during which time he maintained the daily newspaper’s status as the most popular in the UK, increasing its number of online paying customers from 117,000 per month to 225,000 in 2014 and inspired his team of journalists to retain the tabloid’s reputation for breaking news stories across its multimedia platforms. David started his career with the Scottish Sun in 1990 and has held various positions within News International, including Director of Operations, General Manager, and Managing Editor of the Sun.