Asia

People on the move: LA Clippers, Lancashire Cricket, ATP and more

The Los Angeles Clippers NBA basketball team has hired Alex Diaz as its chief operating officer and promoted vice-president Jason Green to the position of chief ticket officer.

Reporting to Green will be Joel Adams, vice-president of premium sales for Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center (IBEC), and Krystle Hogan, the Clippers’ vice-president of sales and service.

Diaz will primarily oversee the operations planning of IBEC, the Clippers’ proposed new 18,000-seat arena in Inglewood. He will also provide operational council for the Clippers, Honey Training Center and The Forum, which was acquired earlier this year by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.

Diaz has more than 20 years of facility operations experience and has managed venues such as American Airlines Arena, Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden. He has spent the past four years with Venue Solutions Group.

Green is in his third season with the Clippers and will oversee all aspects of ticketing for the team, IBEC and The Forum as part of his new role. Adams will hire and guide a dedicated suite and premium sales team for the new arena, while Hogan will oversee the day-to-day sales and service efforts for Clippers events held at Staples Center, the team’s current home.

Andy Anson has been named chairman of Lancashire Cricket with immediate effect.

Anson (pictured) will take over from acting chairman Les Platts, who took on the role following the death of David Hodgkiss in March. Platts will return to his previous position as treasurer on the Lancashire Cricket board.

In the non-executive position, Anson will work with the board and guide and support chief executive Daniel Gidney and his executive team and staff. Anson currently serves as chief executive of the British Olympic Association and previously worked as chief executive of the ATP World Tour, chief executive of England’s 2018 FIFA World Cup bid and commercial director at Manchester United.

Greg Clarke has resigned as chairman of the English Football Association (FA) following comments that referred to black players as “coloured”.

Speaking during a parliamentary hearing last week, Clarke also said that gay footballers coming out is like making a “life choice”, and that a coach had told him that female players did not like having the ball kicked hard at them. Clarke also said that the FA had “a lot more South Asians than Afro-Caribbeans” working in its IT department as they have “different career interests”.

Following the comments, Clarke tendered his resignation and stated that his “unacceptable words” were a “disservice” to the game. Clarke also stepped down from his role as a vice-president of FIFA, football’s global governing body.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has named Daniele Sano as its new chief business officer.

Sano will begin the role on December 1 and will oversee all commercial partnerships, global sales, marketing, PR and business development for the organisation. He will be based in the ATP’s London office and will report to chief executive Calvelli.

Sano has previously had senior management and advisory roles with the likes of Serie A football club AS Roma, the Superbike World Championship and sports marketing agency WWP Group.

Nikki Govan has been appointed chair of a new advisory group that has been set up to drive events in South Australia.

The group will meet for the first time this week and will be tasked with driving new and innovative event opportunities for South Australia. Govan is chair of Business SA and will provide independent advice to the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) as part of her new role.

The group will also include the SATC’s Rodney Harrex, as well as Lord Mayor of Adelaide Sandy Verschoor and Helen Edwards, chair of Adelaide Hills Tourism.

Francesco Ricci Bitti has been re-elected as president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) for a further four years.

Ricci Bitti, who is honorary life president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), has led the ASOIF since 2013. He will officially begin his third and final term as president on January 1.

Brian Facer has been named chief executive of the British Cycling national governing body.

Facer joins the organisation from Premiership rugby club London Irish and will take up the role next year, replacing Julie Harrington. While at London Irish, Facer helped finalise the club’s move back to the capital after 20 years in Reading, with the team now playing at the recently opened Brentford Community Stadium.

Premiership club Sale Sharks has appointed Sid Sutton as its new chief executive.

The 46-year-old has been on the Sharks board for the past two years and has worked with co-owner Simon Orange for the past seven years. As chief executive, he will oversee the delivery of the club’s off-field operations, including commercial activities, partnerships and growing the club’s brand.

British Gymnastics has appointed Alastair Marks as its interim chief executive.

Marks will begin the role in early January and will join British Gymnastics from Nielsen Sports, where he is business development director. An executive search process will begin to find a permanent chief executive, with Jane Allen set to retire next month.

Golf’s European Tour has appointed Penny Avis to its board as a non-executive director.

Avis is a former corporate finance partner at Deloitte and currently serves as the senior independent director at UK Athletics. She also holds non-executive director roles at law firm Howard Kennedy and Cifas, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service.

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.