Delia Bushell, chief executive of The Jockey Club, has resigned from the role after an independent investigation upheld allegations of bullying, racist language and the sharing of offensive material.
Bushell (pictured) joined The Jockey Club, which oversees the running of a number of UK-based racecourses, last year after spending three years at BT Group as managing director of its TV and Sport division, and 14 years at Sky in a variety of roles.
The Racing Post reports that Bushell tendered her resignation on Sunday. The 48-year-old questioned the decision by The Jockey Club’s board of stewards to relieve her of her duties, claiming they had “fundamentally mishandled” the situation.
In a statement reported by the Post, The Jockey Club said: “The board of the Jockey Club announces today that Delia Bushell is to stand down as group chief executive with immediate effect. This follows the completion of an independent review into a wide range of allegations about her conduct, which the board concluded made it untenable for her to continue in the role.”
Nevin Truesdale has been appointed acting group chief executive of The Jockey Club following Bushell’s resignation.
Major League Baseball has promoted Noah Garden (pictured, left) to chief revenue officer and Chris Marinak (right) to chief operations and strategy officer.
The promotions come after Tony Petitti, MLB’s former deputy commissioner of business and media and chief operating officer, left the league to become president of sports and entertainment at US esports company Activision Blizzard.
Garden and Marinak will have oversight of additional departments that previously reported to Petitti. Both Garden and Marinak will continue to report directly to MLB commissioner Robert Manfred.
Garden previously served as executive vice-president of business and sales and will oversee all of the league’s revenue-generating departments in his new role. As well as ticketing, sponsorship, corporate sales and sports betting, Garden will now oversee consumer products, video games, national media, broadcasting, MLB Network and International.
Marinak previously worked as executive vice-president of strategy, technology and innovation and oversaw technology, product, scheduling and game operations. His new role will see him take on lead departments focused on digital content and fan engagement, including marketing and social media, web content, special events and design services. He will also supervise a new strategy and analytics group.
Melissa King has been named chief executive of the local organising committee for the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, which will be held in the Australian city of Sydney.
King formerly served as chief executive of Surf Life Saving Australia and will be responsible for driving and delivering the commercial and strategic priorities for the national team tournament.
King will oversee the delivery of the competition, which will be held over 10 days at the Sydney Olympic Park.
James Sutherland, the former chief executive of Cricket Australia, has been appointed chief executive of Golf Australia.
The 55-year-old (pictured) will begin the role on October 1 and his appointment follows an “exhaustive” recruitment process carried out by Golf Australia. Sutherland served as Cricket Australia chief executive for 17 years and played a key role in the development of the Big Bash League and Women’s Big Bash League.
Sutherland recently started working as chairman of the Live Entertainment Industry Forum as it looks to find a path through the COVID-19 pandemic for sports and entertainment businesses across Australia.
Neil Hudgell is stepping down as chairman and owner of Super League’s Hull Kingston Rovers after 16 years with the rugby league club.
Hudgell said in a statement that he would be relinquishing his position as chairman with effect from December 1.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Rovers chief executive Mike Smith had been due to step down from his role in May but he will now remain in place until a new owner or consortium is found.
Hudgell said: “Any incumbent would be taking over a club with a significant level of liquidity, as well as Super League status preserved. I am looking to hand over the club in a better place than where I found it. The opportunity to buy Hull College Craven Park and the surrounding land also remain as explorable options.
“It has been an honour to lead Hull Kingston Rovers for such a long time and I have so many people to thank and praise for their help and support throughout the journey. But it’s time for me to sit it out for a while and more importantly, time for someone else to come in and elevate our great club to where I have not quite managed to take it.”
Do you have news of an appointment that we should know about? Get in touch by emailing news.editor@thestadiumbusiness.com and we’ll include it in our next round-up.
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