London 2012 appoints Commercial Director

Reporting into the CEO, Paul Deighton, Chris will be responsible for all forms of revenue generation including domestic sponsorship, ticket marketing, merchandising and agreeing with the International Olympic Committee London 2012's share of worldwide broadcast rights and the share of the worldwide TOP sponsorship programme.

"As the organising committee we have two core objectives, to organise great Olympic and Paralympic Games and to raise £2 billion to fund the operational costs of the Games," said Chief Executive Paul Deighton.

"The Commercial Director role is a critical one as we begin our conversations with organisations looking to partner with us for the next six years. These partners will create a proportion of the £2bn revenue we require.

Chris' extensive experience in creating and marketing new products and services that generate substantial revenue is exactly the skill set we are looking for."

"This job is an opportunity of a lifetime. When you combine the world's most creative city with the world's biggest sporting and cultural event and the biggest regeneration project in Europe for decades you have a sponsorship opportunity that is second to none," said Chris.

"We are creating an extraordinary 6 year business partnership that rarely comes around in any one lifetime. Many organisations know the power of this proposition as a business opportunity and I am looking forward to working with them.

Chris has a track record of negotiating high-value, complex contracts and developing and implementing creative initiatives.

As Group Marketing Director for Transport for London (TfL) he has recently negotiated all TfL's advertising and sponsorship revenue contracts resulting in significant increase in value. This included the recent deal with Viacom for the Underground advertising contract.

At TfL Chris was also responsible, amongst other things, for the successful launch and marketing of the Oyster Card and was the man responsible for 'branding London' so comprehensively and extensively during the bid for the 2012 Games.

Prior to joining TfL in 2003 Chris worked at both Telewest Broadband and BSkyB. At Telewest Broadband he handled over 100 commercial deals and developed and launched the digital interactive TV platform and the Blueyonder content platform. At BSkyB he developed and managed the huge technical project of the Electronic Programme Guide and the development of Sky Interactive which included substantial commercial deals.

In each of these organisations Chris was also responsible for raising significant commercial revenues, negotiating commercial contracts and overseeing marketing and sponsorship programmes.

In addition to raising revenue through domestic sponsorship, merchandising and ticket sales, Chris will oversee the marketing function which includes the launch of London 2012's new brand identity later this year.

Philip Beard, Marketing and Sponsorship Director and Charlie Wijeratna, Director of Commercial Negotiations continue with their roles driving forward the sponsorship programme and negotiating commercial deals as part of Chris' commercial team.

Chris is married with two sons and joins the London 2012 Organising Committee at the end of July.

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Notes to editors:

For further information contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100