Nottingham Rugby Announces Commercial Personnel Shakeup

Nottingham Rugby, who play in the second tier in English Rugby, has announced a number of personnel changes to the commercial team. 

Chris Simon has been appointed as Operations Director and will be responsible for managing the day to day off field operations and continuing with the great work he started last season enhancing the match day experience and driving commercial sales. Chris will assume the role whilst retaining his business interests running his own agency Perfect Motion who deliver the clubs marketing, media and match-day activities already.

As Chris takes on more operational duties for Nottingham Rugby, he will be assisted with marketing activity by Nik Emmonds, Marketing Account Manager at Perfect Motion. Since the departure of the in-house media officer last season, Nik has taken on the role and will continue to be the main interface between the club and the local and national media.

Commenting on the change, Chairman Alsitair Bow said: “We recognised that we needed to make some changes, but without incurring any additional cost. The club is still in need of significant investment and we wanted to free up some of Chief Executive Simon Beatham’s time to help us do this, but without introducing any disruption on the operational side.

“Chris has been involved with Nottingham Rugby for the last three years and has a sound understanding of how the business side is run. He knows our sponsors, has been instrumental in our growth off the field and I have every confidence that he’ll be able to combine his existing marketing duties with a more operational role.”

Nottingham Rugby also revealed two further changes – the promotion of Mel Lawson to Commercial Executive and the appointment of Rob Pearce as Community Manager.

Mel Lawson, 22 has been with the club for four years and already has a wealth of experience. With Laura Egglestone being on maternity leave for the rest of this season, Mel was the ideal candidate to step up to the role.

Rob Pearce, 22, started volunteering for the club last season, taking on pitch-side activities on match-day. He is seen as a natural replacement for Steve Smith and will oversee all community matters with the delivery coaches – Josh Salathiel and Sam Bignall reporting into him.

Both Mel and Rob will report to Chris Simon.