The pulling power of working on the FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 drew applications from New Zealand and around the World with an excellent mix of major event and football specific knowledge and experience. All six of the key senior management positions – Commercial Director, Competition Director, Corporate Services Director, Leverage and Legacy Director, Marketing Director, and Operations Director – have been filled.
The role of Commercial Director has been awarded to Andrew Rogers who has an extensive background in the strategc development and negotiation of multi-million dollar commercial properties for UEFA and FIFA. He has been working in related roles in Eurpope over the last 12 years and has a law degree from the University of Auckland.
Michelle Hooper has been given the role of Competition Director. Michelle has worked on a number of major events including the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the Americas Cup, and most recently the on the 2012 Triathlon World Championships. Over the last two years Michelle has worked closely with a number of the key tournament stakeholders.
Michelle Enright will be in charge of Corparte Services and joins the team from High Performance Sport NZ where she was General Manager Business Operations. Michelle has nearly 20 years of expeirence working in the sporting arena in financial and management roles and is a chartered accountant.
Peter O’Hara was a key player in the host city bidding process for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and has been appointed the Leverage and Legacy Director to make sure the tournament delivers lasting benefits for the community. Peter brings a unique mix of skills and experience to this role through his experience on the board of directors of New Zealand Football (2008 – 2010) and from a media perspective as the Chief Operating Officer / Editor in Chief of Fairfax NZ (2003 – 2007).
Sacha Haskell wil take on the key position of Marketing Director and will be responsibe for filling the stadiums. Haskell has been an instrusmental part of the marketing team at the New Zealand Rugby Union that has driven the growth of Super Rugby over the last five years. Sacha is currently on secondment to AIG to help them leverage their sponsorship of the All Blacks. She has also played international football and cricket for New Zealand.
Rounding out the team is Brendan Bourke, who will be the Operations Director. Bourke is a major events veteran having worked on eight different international events in the last ten years, including two Rugby World Cups, the Commonwealth Games, the Volvo Ocean Race, and the last FIFA event to take place in New Zealand – the FIFA U-17 Womens World Cup in 2008.
LOC CEO, Dave Beeche, is thrilled to have attracted such a high calibre team to work on the event.
“The collective experience that we’ve assembled is outstanding and you’d be hard pressed to find any major international event with a better management team. The mix of off-shore and domestice experience we have is just right and to have these key staff in place two years out from kick off means we are well placed to ramp up our planning and deliver an outstanding event.”
The majority of the team start work on the tournament in June.
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
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