Tom Ilube has been named as the new chair of England’s Rugby Football Union, while Polly Williams will take over as independent non-executive director at the governing body.
Ilube will replace Andy Cosslett as RFU chair, while Williams will assume the independent non-executive director role from Helen Weir. Both Ilube and Williams will formally begin their new roles on August 1.
Ilube has had a 30-year in the UK technology sector and has held roles at PwC, Goldman Sachs and the London Stock Exchange. Williams is a qualified chartered accountant and spent five years as a partner at KPMG.
TEG has appointed industry veteran Glen Rainsbury (pictured left) as general manager of Ticketek in Australia and New Zealand.
TEG has also announced that Lee Jones will take on the newly created role of director of ticketing solutions. Both Rainsbury and Jones will report to Cameron Hoy, managing director of ticketing and chief commercial officer.
Rainsbury will be based in Melbourne. He has previously managed ticketing for the Chelsea Flower Show and held roles at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, The Gabba and Marvel Stadium.
Head to our sister site TheTicketingBusiness.com for the full story.
Felicity Barnard has been appointed to the role of commercial director at Ascot Racecourse.
Barnard will report to chief executive Guy Henderson and will oversee commercial strategy for in-venue sales and marketing, partnerships, sponsorship, licencing, memberships and new income streams.
Barnard joins Ascot after serving four years as chief executive of the Tie Break Tens short-form tennis series. She has also worked at Premier League football clubs Arsenal and West Ham United.
Bob Prattey (pictured right), chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, is stepping down from the role after 16 years with the organisation.
Prattey was named chief executive in 2005 and launched the arena and event convention centre in 2008. He will step down from his position at the end of March, with Faye Dyer to take up the role of interim managing director.
The ACC Liverpool Group campus is home to ACC Liverpool, Exhibition Centre Liverpool and the M&S Bank Arena.
Oak View Group has hired Ann Jackson as its chief people and culture officer.
Jackson will be based in Los Angeles and will assume the role with immediate effect. She joins OVG having most recently served as vice-president of human resources at Charter Communications and previously worked for Madison Square Garden for 16 years.
Jackson will report to OVG chief executive Tim Leiweke and will be responsible for the company’s human resources strategy, including talent management, leadership development, compensation and benefits, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Kevin Mather has resigned as president and chief executive of the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team after making inappropriate comments about non-American players.
A video also showed Mather commenting on the Mariners’ organisational strategy. Mather apologised for the comments before tendering his resignation.
Mariners chairman and managing partner John Stanton will serve as acting president and chief executive until a successor is chosen. Mather had been with the Mariners since 1996.
The Mariners have also named Kari Escobedo as the team’s new senior vice-president of information technology.
Escobedo joins the Mariners from Bartell Drugs, where she was senior vice-president and chief information officer. She will lead all areas of technology for the Mariners, including baseball operations systems, business intelligence and data, ballpark technology and fan customer experience.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club, organiser of Wimbledon, has appointed Alexandra Willis (pictured centre) as communications and marketing director.
Willis will take up the role on August 1. She currently serves as head of communications, content and digital at the AELTC.
In her new role, Willis will be responsible for communications, marketing and the brand vision for the tournament.
Formula 1 team McLaren Racing has appointed Claire Cronin as executive director of marketing and Lindsey Eckhouse as director of licensing, ecommerce and esports.
Cronin and Eckhouse will join the team in April and report to Mark Waller, chief commercial officer of McLaren Racing. Waller will complete his term as chief commercial officer at the end of 2021, at which point Cronin will assume the role.
Lisa Mart has been named general manager of the under-construction, 3,500-seat arena in the Welsh city of Swansea.
Mart will take up the role after nine years with the Ambassador Theatre Group. The Swansea Arena is scheduled to open later this year.
Stadium display technology provider Clearglow Sport has appointed Daniel Gray as a director.
Gray joins the company as it seeks to “transform” the stadium display technology market. He most recently worked for ADI, where he was responsible for delivering the company’s sports marketing strategy.
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.
