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The IAAF today announces two senior appointments to further strengthen fan engagement through great content, storytelling, distribution and connectivity to the athletes.
James Lord joins at the beginning of June from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as Director of Platforms and Distribution managing current broadcast distribution partners, negotiating new distribution partnerships across all territories, creating content and distribution strategies to further develop international audiences and drive revenue to be reinvested into the sport.
Lord will be based in the UK working alongside IAAF Productions, the joint venture company with ITN Productions established last year to manage host broadcasting and media production for the IAAF’s top competitions. Lord has extensive experience in the TV, broadcast and digital market place having previously worked for Sky TV and BT Sport where he was part of the team that secured the organisations’ first TV rights deal with the Premier League. Lord is currently Head of Media and Broadcast for the ECB where he has been managing the media rights for the organisation as it transforms its sport, targeting wider and younger audiences.
Nicole Jeffery joins the IAAF as Head of Communications in May from The Australian newspaper, replacing Chris Turner who is spearheading the new IAAF Heritage Department. Jeffery is a highly acclaimed and respected senior sports journalist with more than 25 years' experience in bringing top-level sports news, in both digital and print form, to millions of readers and fans in Australia and around the world.
Having reported on seven Olympic Games, seven Commonwealth Games, as well as a plethora of individual sport championships, Jeffery’s success of connecting elite sportsmen and women with fans around the world will be invaluable to the way the IAAF evolves its communication function from reporting on the sport to engaging athletes and fans and reaching new audiences. Reporting to the Executive Director of Communications, Jeffery will lead the media relations, social media and stakeholder relations teams responsible for driving day-to-day communication and engagement with athletes, fans, media and stakeholders.
Commenting on the appointments, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said: “As one of the world’s most global sports, with extraordinary athletes competing at the highest level across 214 federations, it is important that we continue to give our most loyal and global fans access to their stories and their competitions. Our audiences are growing and participation in running, in particular, is growing rapidly with more people running than doing any other sport combined on the planet. These two senior appointments bring global sport knowledge and specialist skills that will help us navigate and maximise the opportunities in a changing media landscape. Connecting our athletes with the fans through creative content and stories in a multimedia environment is an important part of evolving and growing our sport all over the world.”
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