Appointments

People on the move: Buro Happold, AFL and more

Featured image credit: Buro Happold

Global engineering, design and advisory practice Buro Happold has appointed Marc Barone as its new chief operating officer.

As a member of Buro Happold’s executive and global leadership teams, Barone (pictured) will be responsible for ensuring the business operates as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Barone has previously held roles in the infrastructure, consulting and software sectors for the likes of AECOM and Balfour Beatty Services. In his role as chief growth officer at AECOM, he had primary responsibility for driving all aspects of growth across the organisation.

Barone said: “I’m looking forward to building on existing successes at Buro Happold, extending our highly collaborative culture by infusing rigour and pace to target setting and decision-making.

“The changing market and technology environment mandates that our operations proactively drive carbon reduction and digital innovation in order to tackle our clients’ biggest challenges. We will maximise the potential of our exceptional teams to strengthen our unique capabilities and market offering.”

The Australian Football League (AFL) Commission has announced that Andrew Dillon will succeed Gillon McLachlan as chief executive of the AFL.

Dillon currently serves as the AFL’s executive general manager of football operations, legal, integrity and general counsel. He will replace McLachlan, who has led the AFL since April 2014.

McLachlan has agreed to continue in the role of chief executive until the conclusion of the 2023 season, with Dillon to take over from October 2.

Rugby Australia has announced that chief executive Andy Marinos will step down from his role in the coming weeks to pursue new opportunities.

Marinos joined Rugby Australia in February 2021 after spending five years as chief executive of SANZAAR, the administrative body for rugby union in the southern hemisphere. He previously worked as chief executive of the Newport Gwent Dragons and sat on the board of the Welsh Rugby Union.

Over the past two years, Marinos has helped Rugby Australia’s financial turnaround from a A$27.1m (£14.5m/€16.5m/$18.1m) loss in 2020 to an A$8.2m profit in 2022. He will remain at Rugby Australia until mid-June to assist with a transition period for the organisation.

Sarah Massey has been named managing director of the local operating company for the 2025 women’s Rugby World Cup in England.

The company is a joint venture between World Rugby and England’s Rugby Football Union. Massey’s appointment follows the announcement of Gill Whitehead as independent chair of the board of directors for the 2025 World Cup.

Massey has held senior roles within sport for more than 30 years across Olympic and Commonwealth Games, as well as rugby, cricket and hockey World Cups. She most recently served as chief executive of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon.

Massey also spent seven years as events, marketing and strategy director at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and worked with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to lead its business strategy planning and development of its ‘Advantage All’ equality strategy. She will take up her new role later this month.

Scottish Premiership football club Rangers has appointed James Bisgrove as its new chief executive, and announced that managing director Stewart Robertson will leave in the summer to explore new opportunities.

Bisgrove will transition from his current director of commercial and marketing role on July 31, when Robertson will depart the club. Robertson has been at Rangers for eight years and oversaw the development of the club’s new museum and the Edmiston House facility.

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.