Formula 1 announced the appointment of IAN HOLMES as global director of media rights and KATE BEAVAN as global director of hospitality, experiences & packages. Holmes will lead a team responsible for the licensing of audiovisual rights to third parties across linear, non-linear, full length and short-form content. Beavan will be responsible for continuing to grow a hospitality program comprising the Formula One Paddock Club as well as driving innovation in corporate and fan packages (F1). ... Former West Indies cricketer MICHAEL HOLDING was appointed president of former club Derbyshire, which also named local businessman IAN MORGAN as its new chair. Holding, 63, was "part of the Windies' feared attack" during the '70s and '80s and played for Derbyshire for six seasons from '83. Morgan replaces CHRIS GRANT (BBC, 3/30). ... League Two side Leyton Orient accepted the resignation of first-team Manager DANNY WEBB "after only two months in charge." Webb was the fourth man to take charge of Orient this season -- its 10th manager in less than three years. Assistant manager OMER RIZA "will take over duties as first-team manager until the end of the season" (London TELEGRAPH, 3/30). ... Premier League Communications Dir DAN JOHNSON will leave the organization "at the end of the current football season." Johnson joined the organization as a press officer. He worked his way up to become head of communications "with a place on the executive leadership team" in '09, before becoming communications director in '11 (PR WEEK, 3/30). ... Octagon named AYKAN AZAR managing director of Octagon South East Asia. He previously led Octagon’s Brazil operation, where he oversaw the agency during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and 2014 FIFA World Cup (Octagon).
COACHES/MANAGERS: LANG PING, who won Olympic women's volleyball Gold as a player in L.A. in '84 and coach at Rio 2016, was named chief coach of the Chinese national team. AN JIAJIE, Lang's assistant coach at the Rio Olympics, was named exec coach, a new position "designed for routine coaching work in a bid to reduce the burden of the chief coach" (XINHUA, 3/29).
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