Adams And Bratches To Breakfast With The Sport Industry In 2019
England Netball CEO Joanna Adams and Formula One commercial chief Sean Bratches have been announced as the headline speakers for the first two Sport Industry Breakfast Club events in the 2019 Series.
The first event on Tuesday March 12th will see Adams joined on stage at the BT Centre in London by Nick Read, Managing Director of the Vitality Programme.
It follows last year’s landmark agreement between Vitality and England Netball – thought to be the biggest women’s sport sponsorship in UK history, with a brand that has strongly positioned itself as a supporter of women’s sport.
In a discussion moderated by James Pearce, Adams is expected to provide insight into netball’s eye-catching rise as a grassroots, spectator and commercial proposition, which has led to a string of very high-profile sponsorships in the past year.
The organisation has been riding the momentum of England’s historic Commonwealth Games win in 2018, with milestone achievements including record Sky Sports viewing figures for the Vitality Netball Superleague; more than 100,000 women now participating in the flagship Back to Netball programme; and an extended funding agreement with Sport England.
2019 promises to be another big year as the sport prepares for the INF Netball World Cup in Liverpool in July. England Netball has also been shortlisted for the BT Sport Industry Awards 2019 Sport Organisation of the Year in association with AXA XL.
Adams first joined England Netball as Commercial and Marketing Director in 2012, following a 20-year career in football which included spells as Commercial Director of the Football Conference and Notts County FC.
She is increasingly talked about as future contender for some of sport’s biggest jobs.
With less than a month to go before the first Sport Industry Breakfast Club of the year, Sport Industry Group has also revealed Sean Bratches, Managing Director, Commercial Operations at Formula One, as the headline guest for the Thursday May 16th event.
Bratches joined Formula One in January 2017, following the takeover of the sport by Liberty Media.
In a rare on-stage appearance at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club, Bratches is expected to discuss the broad ambitions of F1 in the Liberty Media era, and at a time of rapid change within the sports media landscape.
He brings with him an exceptional track record in sports media, with almost 30 years’ experience, most recently as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ESPN.
The Sport Industry Breakfast Club is the industry’s number one networking event series with four content-led networking breakfasts over the course of the year. Each event welcomes up to 200 guests from across the industry for an interview with a panel of leading figures from the world of sport and business.
Find out more, and join the club, here.
Photo: © Getty Images
