The International Association of Athletics Federations has today (Thursday) announced the appointment of James Lord to the position of director of platforms and distribution.
Lord joins the IAAF from the England and Wales Cricket Board, where he served as head of media and broadcast.
Lord will take up his new position at the beginning of June and will manage current broadcast distribution partners, negotiate new distribution partnerships across all territories, create content and distribution strategies to further develop international audiences and seek to drive revenue to be reinvested into athletics.
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 television, broadcast and digital marketplace having previously worked for UK pay-television broadcasters Sky and BT Sport. At BT, Lord was part of the team that secured the organisation’s first sports-rights deal with the English Premier League.
The IAAF has also announced Nicole Jeffery will join as head of communications in May from The Australian newspaper, replacing Chris Turner who is spearheading the new IAAF Heritage Department.
Commenting on the appointments, IAAF president Sebastian Coe said: “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.”