Turner Appointed Volvo Ocean Race Ceo

31 Mar 2016 | tshego

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Mark Turner has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race, taking over from Knut Frostad.

Frostad stepped down after eight years in February to spend more time with his family, with Turner to begin his new role in June.

Turner will leave his position at OC Sport, the sports marketing company he founded in 1993. He then went on to establish the Extreme Sailing Series and Haute Route mass participation cycling events.

He competed in the Volvo Ocean Race’s predecessor, The WhiteBread Round-the-World as a sailor in 1998 and pioneered the create of the Dongfeng Race Team project for the 2014/15 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

“There probably isn’t any other post in sailing that could have attracted me today after taking OC Sport through so many different areas of the sport over the last two decades,” said Turner.

“It is a significant responsibility for me to take over the leadership from Knut, who has done such an excellent job of transforming the race in to the sport’s biggest and most commercially viable top-level event.

“As the race with the most significant global footprint in both media and business-to-business terms, and a fascinating history dating back to 1973, there is a huge responsibility not only to the numerous stakeholders, Volvo, and the other team and event partners, but also to the sport of sailing in general. It’s a platform that can really help shape the future of the sport.”

Henry Stenson, chairman, Volvo Ocean Race board, said: “It has been a long and thorough process, but I know that in Mark we have found the right person to take on this very challenging role.

“We need a man with the expertise, determination and vision to take the event to the next stage after all the great work done by Knut, and Mark has all these attributes in abundance. The future under his guidance looks very exciting indeed.”