20 Year Veteran of the Sports Management Industry Joins WMRT
Jim O'Toole, CEO, World Match Racing Tour. Image copyright World Match Racing Tour.
by Cailah Leask
The ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) has named Jim O'Toole as the Chief Executive Officer of the professional sailing series as they work to widen the appeal of one of the world's most thrilling and popular sporting events. He will take up the appointment from 1st July.
O’Toole has had a 20 year history of working within the sports industry and has had great exposure to the marine sports industry as the former CEO of the Powerboat P1 World Championship. His sports marketing focused career background will prove a major asset to the World Match Racing Tour.
He joins from the sports marketing firm Armstrong Kennedy Consulting where he has worked with; the FA Premier League and Moneygram International and has had previous experience running WPP’s Sports & Entertainment agency ‘Ogilvy Action’ where O’Toole consulted to a range of global brands and rights holders including; Manchester United Football Club, FIFA, Williams F1, AIG and Vodafone.
Patrick Lim, Executive Chairman, World Match Racing Tour, sees O’Toole's entry to the WMRT Team as a very positive step to help build the future of the international series, “The vision for the Tour is to grow the number and quality of events across Asia, Europe and the Americas. We have ambitious plans which will see us grow our brand dramatically as we build upon the success of recent years with more host city partnerships in key markets, a broader media platform and a stronger commercial proposition for sponsors and manufacturers. Jim’s experience will be invaluable in the next stage of our development and we look forward to having him onboard”.
While, Peter Gilmour, President of the WMRT said that the existing team has shown tremendous commitment and are now welcoming Jim onboard to help steer the tour towards its longer term goals.
Jim O'Toole, CEO, World Match Racing Tour. Image copyright World Match Racing Tour.
O’Toole added, “I join the Tour at an incredibly exciting time in its growth. The new ownership team have a clear and ambitious strategy to develop a proven global property; I look forward to bringing my experience to bear as we build it into an even stronger proposition for all of our stakeholders.”
2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour Standings
(After Stage 3 of 10)
1 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 65 Points
2 Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing 39 Points
3 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 30 Points
4 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 28 Points
5 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra 23 Points
6 Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 20 Points
- Jesper Radich (SWE) Radich Racing Team 20 Points
8 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 18 Points
9 Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia 16 Points
10 Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team 15 Points
2010 Tour Card Holders:
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team
Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar
World Match Racing Tour
