ESA Leadership

Andy has built a career in sponsorship and sports marketing, an industry he’s been a part of for 30 years. After 10 years in commercial radio he worked at CIA Medianetwork and then alongside former Olympic and Commonwealth athlete Alan Pascoe building Fast Track Sports Marketing. The business was a market leading, international sports marketing agency headquartered in London, now established as an integrated part of the Sport and Entertainment Group CSM.

Andy now runs his own Amersham based consultancy, Westlake Consulting, sits on the board of the partnership marketing agency Reg & Co and is Chairman of The European Sponsorship Association. He is also Chairman of Chesham United Ladies FC.

Nigel is Director of Global Motorsport at Iris Sport.

Having been involved with sports marketing and sponsorship industry for over 35 years, he has seen the steady growth of the area of sponsorship evaluation as being a fundamental part of sponsorship activity.

Prior to his roles with Nielsen Sports, REPUCOM and Sports Marketing Surveys, he worked in the UK and America with multinational companies in the consumer durable industry after graduating in Business Management.

Nigel has been involved in sponsorship research since 1984 and has seen the massive growth of televised sport throughout the world.

Nigel has been an ESA Board Director for 16 years. He holds the position of Company Secretary, and brings a depth of knowledge and commitment to the Board, utilising his wealth of experience of people and techniques. Nigel was appointed Vice-Chairman of ESA in June 2013.

Based in Brussels, William has for many years helped ESA with its work amongst the European institutions, especially in providing research data and sponsorship trends used for policy decisions. He co-authored a report on alcohol sponsorship which ESA was commissioned to provide in 2011 and frequently represents ESA by speaking at conferences and has signed a good number of new ESA members in Europe.

He has worked in sponsorship for 27 years and is co-author of The Sponsorship Handbook. He holds the Market Research Society’s Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research Practice, and co-founded ESA’s National Representatives workstream.

Mike has worked in the media industry for +25 years, 23 of which have had a core focus on sponsorship, promotions and creative commercial partnerships. He has worked on both the agency and media owner side in that time and developed a deep and well-rounded knowledge of media sponsorship.

He has been an active member of ESA’s Media Working Committee for the last 13 years and took on the role of Chair just under two years ago.

He currently works at Pearl & Dean as Enterprise Director – ultimately responsible for all revenue generation for the company, but with a specific focus on developing their commercial partnerships and developing new revenue streams.

Rebecca (Becks) Martin has over 14 years’ experience in the brand, marketing and partnerships industry having worked for both fast-paced agencies, such as Fuse Sport & Entertainment and Pitch Marketing Group, as well as for blue-chip brands, such as Barclays and O2.

Becks has been implementing marketing strategies across sport, entertainment and gaming during her career, gaining C-Suite approval from brands such as Carlsberg, Renault, TSB, Gallagher, cinch and O2 which have resulted in driving objectives across both brand and commercial performance.

Becks is on the Board of the European Sponsorship Association, judges the UK Sponsorship Awards and is a Trustee of The Change Foundation.

Sophie has been developing and implementing marketing strategies for the last 20 years with Director-level experience in financial services.

She now runs Millharbour Marketing, a strategic marketing and sponsorship consultancy, focused on designing research-led business processes and tools for rights holders and sponsors that improve efficiency, relevance and commercial performance.

Sophie is a Chartered Marketer, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, an Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Sport Business at Loughborough University London, an Advisory Board member of the Danish Sponsorship group ‘SPOT:ON Club’, a judge of both the UK Sponsorship Awards and ESA Awards, is a Business Ambassador (Partnerships Management) for School of Hard Knocks charity and co-founded ESA’s National Representatives workstream.

Khadeen has worked in partnerships for the last 16 years and has re-joined the media intelligence industry at Onclusive, working with enterprise clients who need bespoke solutions across their organisations.

Khadeen was previously Head of Corporate & Strategic Partnerships at English National Ballet and Southbank Centre, working with clients as diverse as CHANEL, Cunard, NatWest, Diageo, Burberry, Heineken, Unilever and MasterCard. Khadeen is also a Board Director at b.supreme, a female street dance charity and has an MSc in CSR & Sustainability.

Risto is a passionate voice for sponsorship and events. He was the Chairman of the Board of the Finnish Sponsorship & Events Association (spot.fi) for a long time. He is CEO and partner in sponsorship agency Red Carpet Brand Alliances Oy (rcba.fi), working with both Brands and Right Holders in the Sports, Events, Culture and Movie sectors.

Risto works to reinforce the role of sponsorship in an ever-changing media landscape. He is also passionate about strengthening cooperation between European countries within the sponsorship industry.

Career highlights:

• Current work with both Brands and Rights Holders in the Sports, Events, Culture and Movie sectors
• Co-authored a book about the Values and Future of Sponsorship in 2018
• Highly respected keynote speaker and instructor
• Marketing Director, Finnish Football League Association – Veikkausliiga 2010-2017
• Various managerial positions for football and ice-hockey clubs since early 90’s
• Experience in information technology and international industrial trade.

Daragh Persse is a sponsorship specialist and Founder of The Brand Fans, an international independent sponsorship and cause marketing consultancy based in Dublin. Daragh was previously Global Sponsorship Director at Vodafone working with UEFA Champions League, Formula 1, Manchester United, England Cricket and numerous music artists, festivals and events. Daragh pioneered the development of a proprietary model for the evaluation of sponsorship properties on behalf of brands and rights holders. The Brand Fans work with numerous partners including Heineken, Santa Rita, Virgin Media, Energia, Barclays, AIG, Live Nation, Betway, Bacardi, IRFU, FAI and Leinster Rugby, working across strategy, planning, rights negotiation, activation and evaluation.

Accomplished sports sponsorship professional with 10 years’ experience in elite multi-sport competition, mass participation events and the charity sector. Currently, Commercial Director at the British Paralympic Association, across partnership activation, income generation and strategic planning.

As a rights holder for a membership organisation (comprised of NGBs/ key stakeholders), that works at both local and international level, I have knowledge and expertise across the sporting landscape, sponsorship trends and a network across UK and global sporting/ commercial organisations. The BPA’s partner portfolio includes those with global reach, with activations supporting brand awareness, consumer preference and driving positive societal change.

A well networked rights holder, with expertise in the territories that ESA operates, I believe that collaboration breeds success and enjoy championing the ESA membership cohort’s needs.

Misha Sher is Global Vice-President at MediaCom Sport & Entertainment and has been at the forefront of the sponsorship industry for more than 15 years.

He has negotiated and advised on more than £1B in sponsorship investments with major sport & entertainment properties, including UEFA, IOC, NFL and F1 in more than 25 countries.

At MediaCom, he has built and scaled an award-winning global sport & entertainment business that sits at the intersection of sport, media, lifestyle and culture, with clients that include some of the biggest blue-chip brands like Toyota, Shell, Richemont, American Airlines and Allianz as well as top talent such as Pelé, Brian Lara, Mesut Özil and Eniola Aluko, to name a few.

Misha is a published author and his opinions are regularly featured in leading media outlets including The New York Times, BBC Radio4, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, CNN, Sky, CMO, The Drum, Marketing Magazine and Sport Business International.

Matt is Head of Sponsorship, Hospitality and Ticketing, and Talent at BT (covering both BT and EE). He has over 20 years of brand and comms experience including 14 years dedicated to sponsorship and partnership activations, which has seen him work across brands such as Nike, O2, Orange and now BT and EE.

Before joining EE, Matt played a pivotal part in the launch of NikeTown London during his four years at the iconic brand. He then moved to O2, where he spent eight years leading the brand’s music sponsorship programme, which included the successful launch of the O2 Wireless Festival (now in its 15^th year).

At BT, Matt leads a team of 14 who are responsible for the company’s sponsorship portfolio – the 4 x football Home Nations, Wembley Stadium, FA Cup, Glastonbury, BAFTA and Apprentice Nation – and its Hospitality and Ticketing offering, and sourcing Talent across the business for filming and various events.

Stuart is SVP Global Sponsorship, Events & Experiences at Accor.

Based in Paris, Stuart leads the team coordinating and managing the hotel group’s global sponsorships, member experiences and corporate hospitality. The portfolio includes Paris Saint-Germain, Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Rugby World Cup France 2023, Roland-Garros, the Accor Arena, AEG, the Accor Stadium, SailGP & the Americas Cup, as well as multiple entertainment venues and food festivals around the world.

Before Accor, Stuart led the Partnerships team for Marriott in Europe, Middle East and Africa for nine years, including its credit card businesses and relationships with airlines, car rental and payment services in addition to major sponsorships such as Manchester United, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, NFL and AEG. Prior to this he worked for ten years at WPP sponsorship agency MEC Access (now Wavemaker) leading the event sponsorships team in London where he created, negotiated, activated and evaluated award winning sponsorships for brands such as Visa, Aviva, Danone, Wrigley’s, BT, Vodafone, Specsavers, Lloyds and Bacardi across sport and entertainment platforms.