People News: Infantino, Keenan, Al-qassab, Choudhury
The re-election of Gianni Infantino as FIFA President headlines a number of new appointments.
Infantino was re-elected at the FIFA Congress in Paris and is now set to remain in the position until 2023. The ninth President in the history of the organisation was first elected at an Extraordinary Congress in February 2016 and now starts his first full four-year term of office after running unopposed and being elected by acclamation by FIFA’s 211 member associations.
“In just over three years, this organisation went from being toxic, almost criminal, to being what it should be: an institution that develops football,” said Infantino, when addressing the Congress. “This new FIFA has a mission and a plan for it, which is why the next four years have, in fact, already started: we have laid solid building blocks for the future.”
W Series has appointed Tracey Keenan to the new board director role of Chief Commercial Officer. Keenan joins the women’s motor-racing series having most recently served as Vice-President and General Manager of the UK and Ireland division of US wrestling organisation WWE. At W Series, Keenan will sit on the main board and will lead commercial strategies and revenue generation across multiple business lines including global sponsorship, broadcast rights and licensing.
Commercial broadcaster Channel 4, which has the exclusive UK broadcast rights for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, has appointed Zaid Al-Qassab, currently BT Group’s Chief Brand & Marketing Officer, as the organisation’s new Chief Marketing Officer. In the new role reporting directly to Chief Executive, Alex Mahon, Al-Qassab will lead marketing and brand strategy across Channel 4 and will have a particular focus on developing a data-led digital marketing strategy. He will start at Channel 4 on 1st September.
The British Athletes Commission (BAC) has appointed Mahdi Choudhury as its new Chief Executive Officer. Choudhury will join the BAC after 13 years at the British Olympic Association (BOA) where he held a variety of positions, most recently as Sport Engagement Manager.
He is serving his notice at the BOA and will begin work at the BAC in mid-June when he will take on day-to-day responsibility for the leadership of the organisation and ensuring it represent the interests of high-performance athletes in Great Britain. The appointment of a new CEO will see Victoria Aggar revert to her role as Chair of the BAC following a 12-month spell as Executive Chair.
