Australian Football League side Port Adelaide named its newest recruit and the AFL's "youngest ever woman director," HOLLY RANSOM. She is a 26-year-old Melbourne entrepreneur and a West Coast supporter who chaired the Youth 20 at the 2014 G20 summit. Headhunted by club Chair DAVID KOCH to "disrupt" the AFL's "once fiercely parochial club," she has promised Koch to "never stop challenging" at the Port board table. Ransom, CEO of consulting group Emergent Solutions, which specializes in "marketing to the millennials," was recommended to him by two AFL commissioners -- the outgoing SAM MOSTYN and RICHARD GOYDER (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 3/30). ... CAA hired Wall Street and sports business veteran MATTEO PERALE to "help guide the agency’s expanding growth and diversification efforts." Perale comes to the agency from Infront Sports and Media, where he was director of strategic development. CAA said that Perale’s appointment "was meant to bolster its corporate management ranks as the agency continues to acquire disparate businesses around the world, many of them tied to sports and digital ventures" (VARIETY, 3/29). ... La Liga side Valencia coach GARY NEVILLE was sacked after less than four months. The club announced on Wednesday that the former ManU defender was leaving "with immediate effect." He was appointed in early December on a contract until the end of the season (London GUARDIAN, 3/30). ... JAN BECH ANDERSEN has resigned as Danish side Brondby’s president "after being caught using a pseudonym" to criticize his own club’s coach on a fans’ forum. The posts on the SydSiden Online forum "came to light earlier this month," and prompted the coach, THOMAS FRANK, to leave the club, blaming its "strained relationship." Andersen, who owns more than 25% of the club, "admitted he had posted the criticism" under the pseudonym "Oscar," using his son’s account. He said that "he would step aside, while maintaining his financial commitment" (GUARDIAN, 3/30).
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