Visionary leaders. Uncommon boards.
Our Chair & Board practice is designed to help sports, media and entertainment organisations identify, attract and secure the visionary leaders and seasoned strategists who shape boardrooms — and through them, the organisations they govern.
We help you appoint broad-thinking ambassadors who embody your values and stand behind your vision — leaders who can navigate investor demands, governing-body scrutiny, fan expectations and political complexity with the judgement that only experience brings.
GOVERNANCE UNDER PRESSURE
Sports boardrooms have rarely faced more scrutiny. Private equity and institutional capital are reshaping ownership structures. Regulators and governing bodies are tightening oversight. Fans are organised, vocal and politically influential. Athlete welfare, integrity, sustainability and equity sit alongside commercial performance on every agenda.
The Chairs and Non-Executive Directors we place need to navigate all of it — often simultaneously, often under public scrutiny, and almost always with stakeholder groups that don’t always agree.
Our practice is built specifically for the complexity of governing in sport. Not corporate board search dressed in sports colours — board search built from first principles for the industry’s unique pressures.
A CLOSE CIRCLE, BUILT OVER 15 YEARS
The best non-executive talent is rarely on the market. Chairs and NEDs are appointed through trust, reputation and personal endorsement — not job ads. Through 15 years of partnerships, appointments and good old-fashioned networking, we’ve built a close circle of professionals serving on sports, media and entertainment boards around the world.
That network is our most important asset. It’s how we shortlist candidates who wouldn’t take a call from anyone else, surface NEDs who’ve quietly transformed boards elsewhere, and recommend Chairs whose judgement we trust implicitly because we’ve watched them in action over years.
COGNITIVE DIVERSITY BY DESIGN
The strongest boards blend deep sports governance experience with credibility from outside the industry. Sport increasingly shares its biggest challenges — consumer engagement, digital transformation, regulatory complexity, capital structures — with the world’s most sophisticated organisations in other sectors.
When the brief calls for it, we bring board-grade candidates from FMCG, media, retail, technology, healthcare, financial services and management consulting, alongside the senior sports figures already on our networks. Sports judgement where it matters. Outside perspective where it counts.
RIGOROUS ASSESSMENT, EVERY TIME
Every candidate we present has been through our full Talent Assessment framework — a structured, bias-free evaluation of governance experience, strategic judgement, behavioural fit and stakeholder credibility, designed to give your nominations committee everything it needs to appoint with confidence.
WHEN OUR CLIENTS USE CHAIR & BOARD SEARCH
The list below is illustrative, not exhaustive — if your boardroom is changing, the chances are we can help.
- Appointing a new Chair to lead an organisation into its next chapter
- Building or refreshing the Non-Executive Director bench
- Adding Senior Independent Directors and committee chairs
- Strengthening board governance ahead of investment, sale or major change
- Diversifying board composition and broadening perspectives in the room
- First-time NED appointments and emerging board-level talent
- Advisory board and ownership group appointments
- Governing body, federation and member-organisation board renewal
WHY WE WOULD BE A GREAT BOARD PARTNER
Placing board-level leaders demands a different kind of rigour. We bring discretion, deep networks and the judgement to know the difference between a good appointment and a transformative one.
01
Fanatical
Fanatical about delivering a brilliant service for clients and candidates. Fanatical about creating opportunities for future legends. We do this because we genuinely love the industry and everything it brings!
02
Diverse
The strongest boards are the ones with the broadest range of perspectives in the room. We surface board-grade candidates from across sport and the most relevant adjacent sectors — meeting governance code expectations on diversity by genuinely broadening the experience and thinking around your table.
03
Trusted
Boards are appointed through trust. So is the work of finding them. For 15 years, sports organisations have trusted us with their most sensitive board mandates — Chair successions, NED appointments, governance reviews — handled with the discretion that board-level work demands.
04
Precise
We assess board-grade candidates against the things that actually matter at the board table — strategic judgement, governance experience, stakeholder credibility and the temperament to navigate complexity. Every shortlist is designed to give your nominations committee genuine choice between high-calibre, well-matched candidates.
05
Innovative
We’re rethinking what board search looks like in sport — pairing traditional executive search rigour with insight on board composition, succession planning and effectiveness. The result is a service that doesn’t just fill seats; it builds boards your organisation will be glad of in five years’ time.
06
Relentless
The Executives in Sport team are passionate, agile experts who live and breathe the sports industry. They work hard and smart to deliver results — no shortcuts, no compromises, just dedication and passion all the way.
