ECB Appoints IMG Executive as New CEO

The England and Wales Cricket Board have announced today the appointment of Tom Harrison as its new Chief Executive Officer.

A former professional cricketer for Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, anesthetist Tom joins the ECB from the leading international sports marketing agency, IMG, where he was Head of Cricket and responsible for the IMG Media business in the UK and Ireland across all sports and all platforms.

During his time at IMG, Tom managed all IMG’s broadcaster relationships, their UK based federation relationships and has worked with cricket boards around the world overseeing global media rights sales for Cricket Australia, Cricket South Africa and the IPL.

Tom has significant relationships in Asia having worked for IMG’s media business in the Indian sub-continent for two years and for ESPN Star Sports in Singapore for four years prior to that. Tom will be returning to the ECB having worked for nearly four years for the organisation between January 2003 and December 2006 in various roles, latterly as Head of Marketing.

Chairman, Giles Clarke commented, “Tom has come through a rigorous recruitment process which included us meeting with candidates in leadership positions from cricket, other sports and from outside of the industry. He was the unanimous choice of the interview panel who were impressed with his energy, passion for the game and his positive, bold, creative and ambitious vision for the future of cricket in England and Wales.

“Tom has a proven track record of success in his career to date and a wealth of relevant experience both in the UK and internationally. His knowledge of both the professional and recreational game as a former first class cricketer and as a Premier League club captain of Teddington CC has provided him with great insight into the challenges and opportunities facing the game domestically. Finally, it was important to the panel that we chose a leader who would inspire all those connected with the game and in Tom, we believe we have found a leader with the charisma and vision to achieve this.”

Tom Harrison commented, “As a lifelong cricket fan, I feel extremely honoured and privileged to have been offered this opportunity to lead the ECB as its new Chief Executive Officer. I am a passionate supporter of the game across all formats, at all levels and I am genuinely excited by the substantial opportunities that the game has moving forward in this country.”

Tom will be fulfilling his contractual responsibilities at IMG and unavailable for further media comment until he officially begins his role with the ECB in mid-January.