MONACO: The IAAF has annnounced the appointment of James Lord as director of Platforms and Distribution managing current broadcast distribution partners, negotiating new distribution partnerships across all territories, creating content and distribution strategies to further develop international audiences and drive revenue to be reinvested into the sport.
Lord, who joins at the beginning of June from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), will be based in the UK working alongside IAAF Productions, the joint venture company with ITN Productions established last year to manage host broadcasting and media production for the IAAF’s top competitions.
Lord has extensive experience in the TV, broadcast and digital market place having previously worked for Sky TV and BT Sport where he was part of the team that secured the organisations’ first TV rights deal with the Premier League. He is currently head of Media and Broadcast for the ECB where he has been managing the media rights for the organisation as it transforms its sport, targeting wider and younger audiences.
The IAAF has annnounced the appointment of Nicole Jeffery as head of Communications, replacing Chris Turner who is spearheading the new IAAF Heritage Department.
Jeffery, a senior sports journalist with over 25 years experience, joins in May from The Australian newspaper. Reporting to the executive director of Communications, Jeffery will lead the media relations, social media and stakeholder relations teams responsible for driving day-to-day communication and engagement with athletes, fans, media and stakeholders.
Commenting on the appointments, IAAF president Sebastian Coe said: “As one of the world’s most global sports, with extraordinary athletes competing at the highest level across 214 federations, it is important that we continue to give our most loyal and global fans access to their stories and their competitions. Our audiences are growing and participation in running, in particular, is growing rapidly with more people running than doing any other sport combined on the planet. These two senior appointments bring global sport knowledge and specialist skills that will help us navigate and maximise the opportunities in a changing media landscape. Connecting our athletes with the fans through creative content and stories in a multimedia environment is an important part of evolving and growing our sport all over the world.”
