CEO of a Sports

Organisation

ACTIVATE YOUR AMBITION

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Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

CMI Recognition.............................................................................................................................................. 4

The Course in Brief ........................................................................................................................................... 5

Programme Aims ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Our Partners ..................................................................................................................................................... 7

Course Content ............................................................................................................................................... 9

Course Dates ................................................................................................................................................. 10

Core Delivery Team ...................................................................................................................................... 11

What our Delegates Say ............................................................................................................................... 17

To Apply ......................................................................................................................................................... 18

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Introduction

VSI Executive Education aims to pioneer tomorrow’s leaders in sport. At VSI our vision is to deliver programmes

at Executive level that enhance knowledge but critically lead to improved performance. Since 2014 VSI has

run a very successful MSc in Sports Directorship, the first of its kind designed to develop all the personal,

leadership & management attributes to become a successful Sporting Director. Delegates on VSI

programmes are senior level individuals from across sport and business and include current and former

professional athletes, managers across sport and business and elite industry professionals. Delegates get to

meet and learn from top industry experts, to gain valuable real-world insights.

In the world of sport, the position of chief executive has never been as critical or as high profile, so in 2018 VSI

launched a new MBA for aspiring CEOs in the sports industry. The course is designed to provide executives

with the knowledge, understanding and skills to succeed in one of the most demanding positions in the sports

industry. VSI programmes are supported by leading professional bodies, in sport & business who support their

members across a range of programmes, and are very keen to see more of their members move into senior

executive roles.

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CMI Recognition

This programme is recognised by CMI (Chartered Management Institute), the only Chartered professional

body dedicated to management and leadership.

As a delegate on the programme you will receive free CMI membership for one year from the start of the

programme, membership benefits including access to ManagementDirect, an online multi-media

knowledge base for leadership and management. You will also receive a CMI certificate on completion of

the programme.

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The Course in Brief

Designed for athletes and executives with aspirations to be chief executives in the world of sport, the CEO

programme will help transition those with sporting experience and others with leadership ambitions into the

highest roles, by marrying their experiences of competitive sport with an educational understanding in

business.

Managing huge financial growth, increasing corporate governance responsibilities and the demands of

challenging stakeholders, chief executives need advanced skills and knowledge to succeed in this

challenging but immensely exciting industry. Executives are often thrust into the role without any preparation

and this course will help with that.

The course is tailored to meet the real demands of leading sporting organisations. Covering leadership,

strategic planning, operational management, commercialisation, marketing and communications, the

programme will provide unrivalled preparation for the role of a CEO in a sporting organisation. The course is

delivered part-time over one year in eight blocks of two days, in a blended format which allows you to

combine study and work in a way that best suits your

working life.

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Programme Aims

By the end of the programme, delegates will be able to:

• understand the role of the CEO

• develop the leadership skills required to drive high performance

• recognise the fiduciary and financial responsibilities of a CEO

• understand the corporate governance and legal responsibilities of a CEO

• develop strategic and operational plans to grow the organisation

“I have spent years interviewing sporting leaders and they have always complained that

there is no ‘school for CEOs’. Having spoken to leaders from major corporations, sporting

organisations and even military leaders it became clear that it is a huge gap in the

market.”

Professor Chris Brady, Director for the Centre for Sports Business at the University of Salford

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Our Partners

Shoosmiths Elite Advisory

VSI is proud to work in collaboration with Shoosmiths Elite Advisory on the CEO programme. The collaboration

is designed to assist the strategic vision of VSI and Shoosmiths aligned to Executive Education in professional

sport.

Shoosmiths Elite Advisory is an innovative legal service that provides one house of experts catering to the

specific needs of clubs, associations and intermediaries.

“VSI are taking the lead with developing new education programmes at executive

level for strategic leaders in sport. As sport continues to grow across the globe

commercially and politically, organisations need people who have the ability to lead

these businesses. We look forward to a healthy collaboration that continues to pioneer

and strive to provide a service appropriate for the market of sport.”

Haydn Roberts, Head of Elite Advisory

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Elite Performance Partners

VSI is proud to work in collaboration with Elite Performance Partners

(EPP) on the CEO programme. The collaboration is designed to assist

the strategic vision of both VSI and EPP aligned to Executive Education

in professional sport.

Elite Performance Partners are performance and search specialists providing consultancy, recruitment and

coaching for sports organisations. Driven by helping teams and individuals reach their potential, EPP’s clients

range from elite football, rugby and cycling teams to national governing bodies and they have experience

placing high performing candidates at all levels from the boardroom to performance leads and their support

staff.

“Elite Performance Partners are lucky enough to have worked with some of the most talented individuals

in sport and, while they are all different, what they share is a sense of curiosity and desire to be always

learning. We are thrilled to work closely with VSI as they help to develop great leaders through practical

programmes with a real balance of theory and application.”

Anna Edwards, Managing Partner

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Course Content

MODULE ONE – THE ROLE OF THE CEO

• The role of the CEO within the corporate structure

• Responsible for making major corporate decisions & managing stakeholders internal & external

• Understand your fiduciary responsibilities as a CEO

• Serve as the primary spokesperson and representative for the organisation

• Lead the development and implementation of the organisation’s strategy

MODULE TWO – THE PEOPLE GAME

• Creating, communicating and implementing the organisation’s vision, mission and overall direction

• Understand how to provide leadership to develop the senior leadership team

• The CEO as the Brand Ambassador

• The non-negotiables of a high-performing executive team

MODULE THREE – THE NUMBERS & GOVERNANCE GAME

• Effectively establish and have financial understanding for performance targets

• Maintain high standards of conduct and integrity aligned to compliance with best practice

• Understand the legal landscape relevant to your competitive market

• Identify new products, new events and initiatives that will align with strategic plans to grow the organisation

MODULE FOUR – WHAT SETS SUCCESSFUL CEOS APART

• Deciding with speed and conviction

• Engaging for Impact

• Adapting Proactively

• Delivering Reliability

MODULE FIVE – PREPARING FOR A CEO ROLE This module will be delivered bespoke to the needs and wants of delegates moving towards the end of the programme. It will be delivered by Elite Performance Partners.

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Course Dates

Module Date

The Role of the CEO in a Sports

Organisation 13 November 2019 14 November 2019 3 December 2019 4 December 2019

The People Game 15 January 2020

16 January 2020 19 February 2020 20 February 2020

The Numbers and Governance Game 18 March 2020

19 March 2020 15 April 2020 16 April 2020

What Sets Successful CEOs Apart 20 May 2020

21 May 2020 17 June 2020 18 June 2020

Preparing for a CEO Role 16 September 2020

17 September 2020

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Core Delivery Team

The Role of the CEO – Barry McNeill

Barry is an internationally experienced executive with a track record of building and

realising value for disruptive, high growth companies. Barry is a business savvy leader,

motivated to inspire, develop talent, commercial sustainability and create enduring

organisational health.

His career has focused on establishing and building visionary technology and

leveraging SaaS commercial models. Barry is well-versed in change management and

the creation of significant value both at revenue and EBITDA levels – plus private sale

and IPO transactions. He has established two of the most recognised brands within the

global sports/tech landscape.

Barry is a Chartered Director with the UK Institute of Directors and Australian Institute of Company Directors, has served

as a CEO/MD for over a decade with Prozone Sports and more recently Catapult Sports. Barry holds advisory and

consultancy roles under BPM Performance and has advised a

range of national governing bodies in the UK and Australia.

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The Role of the CEO – Dr Ian Lawrence

Ian is a sports business lecturer and industry consultant with over 25 years' worth

of experience of working with senior executives in both the UK and the US.

Currently, Ian leads on a number of research projects that explore the challenges

faced by leaders within professional sport. Ian's current research project for

Emerald Publishers (titled: The 'C-Suite' Executive Leader in Sport - Contemporary

Global Challenges for Elite Professionals) addresses the realities and 'lived

experiences' of 'C-Suite' executives within a range of global elite sports. The

research conclusions have far reaching implications for analysis of 'C-Suite'

effectiveness. Ian is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Ian's previous publications include:

https://www.routledge.com/Football-Club-Management-Insights-from-the-Field-1st-Edition/Lawrence/p/book/9781138697751

https://www.routledge.com/Soccer-and-the-American-Dream/Lawrence/p/book/9781138697744

http://aassjournal.com/article-1-704-en.pdf

http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2983/1/Gary%20Neville%20Paper%20for%20IJSSC.pdf

https://www.entsportslawjournal.com/article/10.16997/eslj.16/

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The People Game – Chris Brindley MBE, Non-Executive Director (NED) & Executive Coach

Chris is one of the UK's foremost business leaders. He is Founder of Developing Winners in

Life, Board member of the Rugby Football League, Chair of the Board of the Rugby League

World Cup 2021, Senior Independent NED of the Manchester Football Association and Chair

of the Sporting House Group. From a coaching perspective, Chris is the Leadership Coach

at Metro Bank, an Executive Coach for Switch the Play, and Head of Mentoring for the

Athlete Inspire Programme, where Chris is the lead coach/mentor for elite athletes in their

transition journey from sport into business. As a Senior Associate of Raise the Bar, Chris has

coached executives from companies such as Heineken, Muller, Telent and Halfords to

name but a few. Chris is also a NED and Executive Coach for the leading Welsh Executive

Search firm, Goodson Thomas.

Until August 2015, Chris served as Managing Director of Metro Bank, the first high street bank to open in the UK for over

170 years. Here, he grew the business to 36 stores, £4bn deposits and £2.5bn lending, with customer service scores being

some of the highest seen globally.

He is not a theorist, but a skilled and experienced practitioner. He is a leading authority on Sales Management,

Customer Experience, Employee Engagement & Satisfaction; particularly within organisations where change is a

feature. His strengths include building high performing teams, enhancing productivity through employee engagement

and situational leadership. He inspires change through his comprehensive knowledge of the practice of Coaching and

Leadership and utilises a Balanced Business scorecard approach to build compelling visions of the future for both

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organisations and individuals alike.

His success is a result of a unique set of experiences including working with Olympic athletes and using sport as the

inspirational learning model to inspire success within business. He has also worked extensively with academics from

leading business schools as well as executives, managers and team leaders within global PLCs. Chris is passionate about

creating a long-term sustainable performance culture that will continue long after he has completed his work with the

organisation or individual. His accolades include Britain's Best Boss, Most Outstanding Workplace at the National Business

Awards (judged by IiP), Sales & Marketing Director of the Year (3 consecutive years), Sales Leader of the Year at the

National Sales Awards and in 2017 was awarded United Kingdom, Non-Executive Director of the Year by the Institute of

Directors.

In June 2018, Chris was awarded an MBE for his services to sport.

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The Numbers and Governance Game – Dr Rob Wilson

Rob is the Head of Department for Finance, Accounting and Business Systems at

Sheffield Hallam University and an expert in sport finance. With 20 years' experience in

Higher Education in a variety of roles, ranging from Quality Enhancement to External

Relations, Rob has significant teaching and research experience in the sport business

field. To that end, his main teaching and research interests are in the finance and

economics of sport with his PhD focussing on the factors affecting financial performance

in professional team sports.

He has published five books including two on finance: 'Finance for sport and leisure managers: An introduction' and

'Managing Sport Finance'; as well as numerous chapters on finance and financial management in sport and more

than 30 peer reviewed outputs. He serves on the editorial boards of a several international journals and, in addition to

his academic commitments, Rob has a prolific media profile and is a regular commentator in the national and

international media (including; BBC, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and ESPN) providing expert analysis for public

consumption on all sport finance-related news stories.

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What Sets Successful CEOs Apart – Michael Caulfield

Michael is one of the country’s most experienced sport psychology consultants and runs his

own consultancy www.justcaulfield.com

He was Chief Executive of the Professional Jockeys Association from 1988-2003 until retraining

as a sports psychologist and working across a range of sports, businesses and performance

environments. Fortunate achievements include working alongside Gareth Southgate in his

formative leadership years at Middlesbrough FC, assisting the ICC in developing the

emerging nations in cricket, and helping to build the leading consultancy, Sporting Edge

from 2009-2019. He has presented around the world on building teams and people and is

currently consulting at Northampton Saints RUFC, Brentford FC and Hampshire CCC.

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What our Delegates Say

“This course has given me a great opportunity to continue the process of developing my own

skills. The challenges of leadership and governance in sport are unique in so many respects and

I am really getting a lot out of both the formal learning and the group of other sports

professionals in the cohort. Learning from how they manage in their sport and picking their

brains is fantastic. Maggie Alphonsi, England Rugby

“We have people from sporting backgrounds and outside the sporting world from corporate

backgrounds. I’ve also been given the opportunity to network with top-drawer people who

have delivered the content. For example, on the very first learning day we had over two hours

with Rick Parry. The learnings I’m able to take from this course and the skills I’m able to

develop will definitely help me in my quest to build a bright future for the team.” Dave Callan, Team Sky

“Not only do you get taught by high-calibre exponents in their field, but you also get to meet

and interact with people on the course who come from different backgrounds. There are

people from rugby union, rugby league, cycling, football and other sports and it’s been

invaluable to talk across our professions and seek common ground. You learn as much outside

of the classroom as you do inside.” Lawrie Sanchez, Former Northern Ireland Manager

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To Apply VSI are looking for self-starters who possess a combination of skills, experience and ambition. You will already

be working in sports management and looking for the next crucial step in your sporting career. Or you may

be in a high-level business role and want to make the move into sport to use your business skills in a new way.

Ideally, delegates should have a degree or be able to demonstrate sufficient business experience. However,

as many of our delegates are ex-players and sports professionals who spent their youth playing rather than

studying, the course application process takes this into account.

It's time to put the future of sport in your hands. If you're ready to take on your next challenge, then apply for

the VSI CEO of a Sports Organisation today.

For more information and how to apply, contact us:

Email: info@vsiee.com

Call: 0345 459 9765

Visit: www.vsiee.com

Twitter: @VSIExecEd