Nielsen Sports appointed DANNY TOWNSEND and GLENN LOVETT to the position of co-Managing Dirs. They will jointly report to Nielsen Sports & Entertainment President HOWARD APPELBAUM. Townsend and Lovett joined Nielsen in June following its acquisition of Repucom, where they served as Chief Revenue Officer and President of Global Strategy, respectively. The company also announced the appointment of STEPHEN MASTER, GUY PORT and MARCO NAZZARI as Regional Commercial Leads for the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, respectively. Nielsen Sports also named MIKE WRAGG Global Head of Research, ALEXANDRE CALLAY Global Head of Media and MAX BARNETT Global Head of Digital. MICHAEL O'HARA LYNCH will now serve as Head of Consulting for the Americas. He will also be responsible for global brand and sponsorship consulting. CLAUDE RINGUET will assume the role as Head of Consulting for Asia. SPENCER NOLAN and JAN LEHMANN will serve as Heads of Consulting for Europe. Nielsen also named former Repucom Senior VP/Leagues for North America MICHAEL TANGE Global Head of Strategy & Solutions across the wider entertainment division. The North American business consisting of existing Nielsen Sports and Repucom clients will be combined and led by Market Leader for North America PETER LAATZ. Finally, SHANE MATTISKE will now be the sole Managing Dir leading Australian and New Zealand business (Nielsen).
Russian Sports Minister VITALY MUTKO, "who has come under scrutiny in Russia's doping scandal," was promoted to a deputy PM. President VLADIMIR PUTIN approved a proposal by PM DMITRY MEDVEDEV to appoint Mutko to "a deputy premiership in charge of sport, tourism and youth policies." The promotion comes despite Mutko "having been personally accused" by WADA investigator RICHARD MCLAREN of "ordering the cover-up of a failed drugs test" by a foreign football player (AP, 10/19). ... League Championship side Rotherham United sacked Manager ALAN STUBBS "after less than five months in charge." The club is "bottom of the table with only one win and six points from 13 league matches." Assistant manager JOHN DOOLAN and first-team coach ANDY HOLDEN have also left the club. Fitness coach PAUL WARNE will take temporary control of the first team while Rotherham looks for its fifth manager since the start of the '15-16 season (BBC, 10/19). ... Japan’s MORINARI WATANABE was elected as the president of the Int'l Gymnastics Federation at the world governing body’s congress in Tokyo on Wednesday. The 57-year-old Watanabe, the secretary general of the Japan Gymnastics Association, defeated French rival GEORGES GUELZEC, head of the European Union of Gymnastics, by a "huge margin," claiming 100 of the 119 votes. He will replace 82-year-old Italian BRUNO GRANDI, who is stepping down as president in December after 20 years in charge (KYODO, 10/19).
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