Joint managing directors named at Nielsen Sports

These senior appointments are the latest announcement since Nielsen bought Repucom in June this year.

Townsend and Lovett were previously chief revenue officer and president of global strategy at Repucom, respectively.

Based in the US, they will oversee the business including all global operations and revenue and will jointly report to Howard Appelbaum who leads Nielsen’s Global Sports and Entertainment practice.

Townsend was Repucom’s first employee when it launched in Sydney, Australia in 2004, and was instrumental in expanding the business in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. He will be largely responsible for driving revenue for Nielsen Sports.

Lovett joined Repucom in 2013 and prior to that he was managing director of Europe, the Middle East and India for Octagon.

Meanwhile Repucom’s founder Paul Smith, who is currently working in a special advisor role, will step down entirely at the end of the year.

Among the numerous other roles now fixed in Nielsen Sport are: Stephen Master, Guy Port and Marco Nazzari will become head of commercial for the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe respectively; Mike Wragg will be global head of research, Alexandre Callay will lead the media division as global head of media, and Max Barnett will become global head of digital; Michael O’Hara Lynch will lead the consulting practice across the Americas and oversee the global brand and sponsorship consulting business; Spencer Nolan and Jan Lehmann will lead consulting teams across Europe; Claude Ringuet will lead consulting across Asia; Michael Tange will assume a new role as global head of strategy and solutions across the wider Entertainment division; Peter Laatz continues as market leader for North America; and Shane Mattiske will be sole managing director in Australian and New Zealand.