USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville will soon step down after nine years to assume leadership of Rugby Int'l Marketing, the body's newly created commercial subsidiary. The governing body is now conducting a search for a replacement as the sport prepares for its return to the Olympics. Created in '15, RIM is developing a variety of commercial opportunities for rugby, including a streaming video platform and professional leagues in the U.S. Melville had been handling sport development duties, classic governing body executive work and the commercial aspects of the sport, BOD Chair Bob Latham said. But the board decided it was time for Melville to focus full-time on RIM as its work begins in earnest.
“We knew Nigel would be the CEO of RIM, but there were a lot of priorities we needed to focus on last year, not the least of which was qualifying for the Olympics and getting our Olympic team to the point where they can be medal contenders, so we didn’t want to take him away from that just yet,” Latham said. Both the men’s and women’s sevens sides have qualified for Rio and are ranked in the top eight worldwide. Board members hope to have a new CEO in place by the end of the summer, Latham said.
