Premiership Rugby side London Welsh has appointed Sportsworld Event Services Dir MIKE STEVENS as CEO. Stevens has also worked as commercial manager at Premiership Rugby side Leicester Tigers and as ticketing manager for the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. He begins May 12 (London Welsh). ... Former Thomas Cook Managing Dir DANNY TALBOT "has joined AKA Sports & Events." Talbot left Thomas Cook in Oct. '12 to join sponsorship activation agency Kempster as managing director. He will now head both AKA and its sports destination management division TEAM-DM, which has offices in London as well as Rio, Moscow, Lisbon, Cape Town and Johannesburg (TRAVEL MOLE, 4/30). ... DRAGOMIR OKUKA (known as "Dragan" in China) "was named head coach" of Chinese Super League side Changchun Yatai. The club "didn't reveal the specific details" of Dragan's contract, but reports said that his contract "expires at the end of next season" (GLOBAL TIMES, 4/28). ... Basketball Australia CEO KRISTINA KENEALLY "has resigned from her job" so she can "spend more time with her teenage children." After losing the '11 election to BARRY O'FARRELL, she became chairman of Basketball Australia and was appointed its CEO in Aug. '12 (BRISBANE TIMES, 4/30). ... The Women's Squash Association has appointed former Dutch champion TOMMY BERDEN as CEO (WSA). ... The Australian Football League named GILLON MCLACHLAN its new CEO. His appointment was "officially confirmed on Wednesday" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 4/30).
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