Jockey Club Appoints Truesdale As Permanent Ceo

The Jockey Club has announced the permanent appointment of Acting CEO Nevin Truesdale, who will formally take over as the organisation’s new Group CEO from 1st January 2021.

Truesdale has led the company in an ‘Acting’ capacity since the end of August. He has overseen The Jockey Club through its largest internal reorganisation in a decade, as the organisation introduced a new strategy in response to the coronavirus pandemic. He has also been in charge as the hundreds of racedays around the country returned behind closed doors, as well as in front of up to 2,000 spectators in Tier 2 locations in England, under stringent health and safety protocols.

Having held senior roles at The Jockey Club for the last seven years Truesdale joined as Group Finance Director in 2013 from Centrica plc, where he was Finance Director for British Gas’s £9 billion Residential Energy division. He previously worked at The AA and Ernst & Young.

He is also a Board Director of Jockey Club Racecourses, The National Stud, Jockey Club Catering, The Racecourse Association and Racecourse Media Group.

“The Board are delighted to appoint Nevin as our Group Chief Executive,” said Sandy Dudgeon, Senior Steward, The Jockey Club.

“He has demonstrated excellent leadership of the whole business over the last few months and first-class performance as a senior executive over several years. He and his senior team have now completed a significant reorganisation programme designed to set The Jockey Club onto a firm footing for innovation, growth and sustainability for the future, and I wish him every success in the role.”

Truesdale added: “The Jockey Club is full of talented and hardworking women and men who are passionate about the future of British Racing, whether they have come into the industry from a whole range of different sectors or had a career within the sport to date. I’d like to pay tribute to how our teams have handled the challenges of the pandemic and its impacts so far and I’m confident we will navigate this crisis and on to a very exciting future.

“Over the past few months I’ve enjoyed strengthening working relationships and making significant progress for the industry with our diverse range of stakeholders and commercial partners. Collaboration and strong relationships are so important to delivering success, as is listening to your customers, providing fantastic experiences for all and constantly embracing change and innovation. We’ll be working hard to continue our success in these areas in the years to come.”

The Jockey Club, whose Patron is Her Majesty The Queen, sees around four million people attend its venues in a normal year, including meets such as the Randox Health Grand National, The Cheltenham Festival and The Derby Festival.