Speakers

Paul Deighton

CEO, LOCOG 2012, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Game

Paul is the Chief Executive Officer of LOCOG, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, a role he commenced in April 2006. Prior to joining LOCOG, Paul worked in Investment Banking for Goldman Sachs for 22 years in a variety of client facing and management roles.

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Dmitry Chernyshenko

President, Sochi 2014

Dmitry Chernyshenko, a native of Sochi, is one of the leading Russian professionals in advertising and sports marketing. He also has extensive committee experience working with the Russian Ministry of Sports.

In November 2005, he was appointed CEO of the Sochi 2014 Bid Committee. Mr. Chernyshenko began his career in advertising in 1989, establishing the agency that later developed into Media Arts Group. He is a graduate of the Moscow State Technological University and his interests include martial arts, downhill skiing and motor racing. On December 13th, 2007, Dmitry Chernyshenko was awarded with the Order of Honor for the successful victory of the Sochi 2014 Bid.

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Mathew Osmon

Commercial Director, FIBA, International Basketball Federation

Matthew Osmon has been Commercial Director at FIBA since 2005, where he manages a team of 12 covering Events, Promotion, TV and New Media, Sponsorship, Licensing and Branding. The FIBA Commercial Department represents all the commercial rights for FIBA World and Zone (Continental) Championships. FIBA is the world governing body for basketball with 213 National Federations and is the sole authority for basketball recognised by the IOC.

Prior to FIBA, Matthew was a Director of leading strategic consultancy Redmandarin (2000-2005), and before that, Director of European Sales at Octagon (1995-2000).

He played and coached squash professionally.

He speaks English, Italian and French and a little Spanish.

Matthew has a degree in Physics from York University and a CIM Marketing Diploma.

He lives outside Geneva with his wife and three sons.

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Nigel Rushman

Founder, Rushmans

Nigel's experience spans 25 years in major international sports and events. He has developed and implemented innovative programmes for over 500 events in 30 countries including Asian Games, Euro ’96, three Rugby World Cups and three Cricket World Cups amongst numerous other projects.

Nigel is a well-known figure in the international business of sport. A founding partner of industry publication SportBusiness International, Nigel prides himself on his hands-on experience of successful event delivery.

Frequently invited at a senior level to present his experience and thoughts referring to event management, scalability, temporary facilities, security, knowledge and experience transfer to International Sports Conferences and gatherings of the IOC, FIFA, GAISF and others.

In addition to his role as Chairman of Rushmans and being hands-on with all Rushmans projects and clients, Nigel was contracted as Event Director of the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 with the responsibility of implementing the Event Management, Security, Media Management, Accreditation and Volunteer Programmes for the Cricket World Cup across the nine participating countries in the Caribbean region.

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Gordon Lott

Head of London 2012 Partnership & Group Sponsorship, Lloyds Banking Group

Having set up Lloyds TSB’s sponsorship team in March 2007, Gordon became Head of Group Sponsorship and London 2012 Partnership for Lloyds Banking Group in 2009 following the banks acquisition of HBOS. An experienced marketing and sponsorship professional, Gordon leads the strategy, activation and communications of the Group’s Partnership with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the Olympic Torch Relay, Ticket Marketing, and community programmes National School Sport Week and Local Heroes.

Gordon qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst in 1999 with Clerical Medical before moving into consumer marketing at Egg PLC, working with the Board to develop the Group’s five year business strategy, launching a new CRM strategy, and managing Egg Card to breakeven. After joining Lloyds TSB in 2004 as Head of Internet Marketing & Sales, he managed the office of the Chief Executive of the Retail Bank.

Gordon is a keen sportsman and also founder and owner of www.listideas.com.

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Mike Lee

OBE, Chairman, VERO Communications

Mike Lee is Vero Chairman, and former Director of Communications and Public Affairs for London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid, where he coordinated external relations and campaign elements of the bid, co-chaired the creative team, led the international media and on-line campaign, and was special adviser to bid chair Lord Sebastian Coe.

Mike was also the lead advisor to the successful Rio 2016 Olympic Bid, devising the overall campaign and communications strategy that helped Rio win and played a similar role with the International Rugby Board on their campaign for the inclusion of Rugby Sevens in the Olympic Programme.

Previously he was Director of Communications and Public Affairs for Europe’s football governing body UEFA and media and political strategist for the England FA Premier League. He has worked in a wide range of sports and business sectors.

Mike was voted the UK PR Week’s “PR professional of the Year” in 2005 and awarded an OBE in that year’s New Year’s Honours list. He is a member of the Advisory Board f Beyond Sport, and in 2006 published his book “The Race for the 2012 Olympics”.

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Daniela Banz

Head of Delegation, FIFA

Swiss citizen, graduated from University of Zurich (Master of Arts).

Worked for 4 years at Credit Suisse in different marketing positions, including one year abroad in Boston, USA as a Marketing Analyst. Spent two years in Sydney, Australia as Olympic Project Manager for Swatch Official Timekeeper for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Joined FIFA Marketing in 2001 as Account Manager. Daniela is now responsible for marketing strategy and operations of Women’s Football, in particular the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2011. Her position includes consulting FIFA’s member associations on marketing strategy and best practice.

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Simon Bazalgette

CEO, The Jockey Club

Simon Bazalgette runs the leading commercial group in British racing, The Jockey Club, which owns 14 leading racecourses including Cheltenham, Aintree, Epsom Downs and Newmarket; training grounds; The National Stud and a leading racing charity. The group is also the largest shareholder in the new British Champions Series, which climaxes at Britain’s richest ever raceday at Ascot on 15 October 2011.

As Group Chief Executive since September 2008, Bazalgette is responsible for delivering the maximum commercial return from The Jockey Club’s assets, for reinvestment back into the sport. He leads the group’s involvement in all major industry matters, from the funding to the marketing of British racing, and driving innovation through the sport. He has been described as “the most powerful man” in the sport, a view reinforced by featuring as racing’s highest-ranked executive in The Times Sport Power 100 list earlier this year.

In 2004, Bazalgette became the launch Executive Chairman of Racing UK (now Racecourse Media Group), the rights-management and TV channel business launched by 30 of the UK’s leading racecourses. Its joint venture Turf TV operation broke up the previous SIS monopoly for providing TV services to bookmakers. Previously, he was Chief Executive of digital broadcaster, Music Choice Europe plc – a joint venture between BSkyB, Warner Music and Sony, with a number of minority indirect investors including EMI Music, Motorola, Microsoft and a range of US cable operators. As Chief Executive, he led its successful floatation on the London Stock Exchange, and had been part of its initial launch as Director of Strategy and Business Affairs, and then Director of Sales and Marketing.

Bazalgette started his career at KPMG, where he spent four years working in its Audit, Accounting and Corporate Finance divisions before five years as a Senior Manager in its Media Consulting business. Clients included LWT, Classic FM, Teletext UK, Heart FM, PolyGram, European Commission, BBC, National Geographic Society and the Hong Kong Government.

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Dan Jones

Senior Partner, Head of Sport Business Group, Deloitte

Dan is the Lead Partner of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte and manages the activities of the specialist group which is dedicated to work in the sports business in the UK and internationally. He also leads Deloitte’s Global Centre of Excellence for Major Events.

The Group’s work with clubs, leagues, governing bodies, sports commercial partners, venue operators and developers, major event organisers and investors, coupled with its industry-leading commentaries, means that it is widely acknowledged as sports industry business experts.

A significant proportion of Dan’s work involves advising on the commercial aspects of major sporting events and he has advised on over 50 venues assignments. His work includes advising the Football Association on Wembley, corporate hospitality for UEFA, working with LOCOG on London 2012 ticketing, economic impact studies for a wide variety of events including the Rugby World Cup, Ryder Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and World Equestrian Games.

He is a regular speaker and expert commentator on sports business matters and he edits Deloitte's widely respected publications, the Annual Review of Football Finance and the Deloitte Football Money League

David Grevemberg

CEO, Glasgow 2014

David has the responsibility for overseeing the general management of the OC, including all areas of corporate governance, operations, commercial activity and marketing and communications. This involves working with the OC Board to establish and direct the strategic direction of the organisation, ensuring meaningful engagement and collaboration with Games partners and stakeholders and leading the OC staff required for the successful hosting of the Games.

David started with the OC in October 2009 as Director of Operations and was made Chief Operating Officer in July 2010, before becoming CEO this year.

Previously David was the Executive Director of Sport and International Federation (IF) Relations at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) until October 2009, where he also served as Sports Director from 1999 to 2007. His responsibilities at the IPC included the overseeing of all activities associated with the development and delivery of the Paralympic Games sports programmes, National Paralympic Committee Services, Village Operations and Technology. He was also responsible for overseeing the governance and management activities of nine sport bodies under the jurisdiction of the IPC.

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Doug Waller

Sponsorship and Business Development Manager, International Cricket Council, ICC

He joined the ICC at its headquarters in Dubai in 2007 as Business Development Manager tasked with exploring new business opportunities and establishing commercial relationships at the start of the ICC's 8 year commercial rights cycle. This role expanded to include responsibility for the ICC sponsorship and licensing program and delivery of rights and benefits to commercial partners at all ICC events including the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 and ICC Cricket World Cup Asia 2011.

Doug trained as a lawyer at the firm of McCullough Robertson in Brisbane, Australia and worked in legal roles in Australia and the UK before joining the PGA of Australia in 2003 in a commercial and legal capacity. He holds qualifications in law, sports management and an MBA from the Said Business School, University of Oxford.

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Helmut Spahn

Executive Director, ICSS, International Centre for Sport Security, former Head of Security, FIFA World Cup 2006 Germany

Helmut Spahn is the Executive Director of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS). He is a highly respected expert in security and crowd management, and is the Chief Security Officer for the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB). He is also the chairman of the Commission on Prevention and Security of the DFB. He served as the Head of Security for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the 2011 Women’s FIFA World Cup in Germany, and has been a UEFA security officer for the Champions League and Europa League since 2007.

Mr. Spahn started his long and distinguished career in law enforcement in 1984 in Hessen, where he served on the local police force and in the riot police unit. He went on to hold several key positions, including becoming the platoon leader and lead training officer for the riot police unit. He was appointed the Head of Security and Public Order of the Frankfurt Police Directorate in 2000, before becoming Head of Special Operations Command, also in Frankfurt.

Mr. Spahn was trained at the Senior Police Service in Wiesbaden and the Police Academy in Munster. He earned a Degree in Management at the University of Applied Science, Wiesbaden, where he also worked as a lecturer in Management Studies.

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Jim Wright

Marketing Director, Virgin Racing

With over twenty five years’ commercial experience to date, Jim Wright’s reputation as being one of the best marketers in the motor sport business is well substantiated. Jim joined join Eddie Jordan Racing. Like many small racing teams in the early 1980s, Jim’s role was multi-functional, incorporating the position of team manager with commercial manager.

In 1986 Jim established his own consultancy company, Active Sport Ltd.. During this period, Jim was also employed by the British Formula 3 Association to run the British F3 Championship and by the RACMSA to run the British Touring Car Championship. With such depth of experience, Jim was offered the position of Senior Acquisitions Manager for Williams F1 in October of 1994 and in 1996 Jim was promoted to the top job in the commercial department.

Jim oversaw the many divisions of the WilliamsF1 marketing department over a highly successful eleven year era.. Under Wright’s stewardship, the WilliamsF1 Team became established as one of the most successful, innovative and well-run commercial teams in global sport with accelerating commercial revenues, low staff churn rates and great efficiency.

During this time, Jim’s abilities were clearly recognised by the Williams shareholders, Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head and in 2004 he accepted an invitation to join the Senior Management Group of the company which was effectively the management steering group of the organisation. The SMG comprised of Sir Frank Williams, Patrick Head, Jim Wright and four other senior Williams managers.

On leaving the Williams team, Wright was approached by the former Ferrari, McLaren and Benetton Grand Prix winner, Gerhard Berger to establish from scratch a sponsorship division for his new Formula 1 team, Scuderia Toro Rosso, a joint venture with the Austrian energy drink brand, Red Bull. At Berger’s request, Wright relocated to the Austrian’s offices in Monaco and set about the creation of a sponsorship strategy and building up a small team of sales people to sell the Scuderia Toro Rosso proposition.

In July 2009, Wright was approached by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin organisation to head up the eponymous Virgin Racing team’s Marketing and Sponsorship division. Within months Virgin Racing were able to unveil an impressive portfolio of sponsors for their first season of F1, many of which are new to the sport of F1. Taking a carefully defined strategic approach, Wright has been able to demonstrate value propositions to a diverse range of brands during the most challenging of economic times due to innovative sponsorship modelling and well executed presentation .

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Urvasi Naidoo

CEO, IFNA, International Federation of Netball Associations

Urvasi Naidoo is Chief Executive Officer of International Federation of Netball Associations (IFNA). Netball is one of the few international sports federations still based in the UK. The head office is in Manchester. Netball is a recognised Olympic sport and a core sport at the Commonwealth Games. IFNA has recently expanded its membership to 72 and is now widely played across all regions of the world, mainly by women. It is probably the only sport in the world which is run by women for women.

Urvasi is a lawyer who left private practice in 2001 to work for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

In April 2002 she was recruited by the International Cricket Council and became their first in house lawyer. She spent six years working for cricket, three at Lord’s and three in Dubai. In 2005 she became a Chartered Company Secretary.

Besides being involved with IFNA and ICC events, London 2012 will be the fourth Olympics that Urvasi has volunteered at.

Urvasi has been appointed to the Commission on the Future of Women's Sport, an independent body set up to address the crisis in women's sport which is appointed through to Jan 2013.

Urvasi is also a Trustee to Sporting Equals, the only organisation working across the UK to promote opportunities for black and ethnic minorities in sport and physical activity.

Craig McLatchey

Chief Executive Officer, Event Knowledge Services (EKS)

Craig is the Chief Executive Officer of Event Knowledge Services (EKS), headquartered in Switzerland with staff based in the USA, UAE, UK, Australia and Brazil. Under Craig’s guidance, EKS was created in 2004 as a “spin-off” from Olympic Games Knowledge Services, (OGKS), an IOC transfer-of-knowledge organisation which Craig led from its inception through 2005. Craig oversees the services provided by the EKS team for all clients which include Olympic Games Organising and Bid Committees, as well as other major events such as the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Pan American Games and World Cup Rugby and Cricket. EKS provides knowledge management, consulting services (strategy, planning/project management, infrastructure planning/delivery, workforce planning/services and knowledge solutions) and support systems for major event owners and hosts across the globe.

Recently Craig set the strategy and directed all support activities for EKS in its role as Lead Technical Consultant to the successful Rio 2016 Bid Committee for the Olympic Games, where EKS provided comprehensive technical advice and support covering Applicant and Candidate phases. Support included drafting of the submission files and development of all technical elements in association with local staff and government representatives, project management of the bid, information management, bid strategy support, development of government relations and procuring government guarantees and undertakings, and support of bid communications programme.

Under Craig’s leadership EKS has provided consulting support and services to the International Olympic Committee, the Commonwealth Games Federation and the International Rugby, Cricket and Sailing Federations. Additionally, Craig led EKS’ consulting activities with the Organising Committees for the 2004 through 2014 editions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Organisers of the 2006 through 2014 editions of the Commonwealth Games, the 2006 Asian Games, the 2007 and 2015 Pan American Games and the 2010 edition of the World Equestrian Games.

Through his involvement in a range of joint ventures/alliances as well as with EKS, Craig has played the lead international strategy role in the development of Event Strategies for Scotland, as well as the North West, Yorkshire and Humber regions of England.

Craig was the Secretary General of the Australian Olympic Committee during 3 Olympic Games, during this period Craig also served as a board member of the Organising Committee for the highly successful Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, serving on a range of Board Committees including:
• Sports Commission
• Marketing Commission
• Torch Relay Committee
• Audit Committee
• Finance Committee
• Villages Advisory Committee
• Cultural Commission

Prior to being appointed AOC Secretary General, Craig was the AOC Director of Sport (1991-1995) and prior to that was Executive Director of Australian Swimming (1986-1991), where he steered Australian Swimming to commercial and sports performance recovery after Australia's worst ever performance at a World Swimming Championships in 1986. Australian Swimming is now Australia's premier Olympic sport.

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Greg Bowman

Managing and Creative Director Great Big Events

Greg Bowman is recognised by the international sporting community as a leader in Sport Presentation. He led the Sport Presentation team for the Beijing Olympic Games, adding the 2008 Olympic instalment to his experience at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Recognising his position as the pioneer in the field of Sport Presentation, Greg’s unique approach and talents have been called upon by international sporting federations and organising committees for many of the world’s most important sporting events. Drawing on his unique combination of talents in music, education and sport, Greg Bowman founded Great Big Events, and coined the term ‘Sport Presentation’ for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, pioneering the industry into an integral component of all international sporting events. In the current international sporting landscape, the scope, expertise and quality produced under the leadership of Greg Bowman is truly unrivalled.

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