European Professional Club Rugby has confirmed the appointment of Jacques Raynaud to the position of Chief Executive Officer.
The Swiss-based organiser of the Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup tournaments, the finals of which both take place in Dublin this year, has made the appointment following an extensive and rigorous global search process.
Frenchman Raynaud is a highly respected and experienced sports and media executive who has held Executive Vice-President roles within Sky Group for SKY Italia and SKY Deutschland and as Managing Director for Sky Media as well Vice-Chairman of the Eurosport Group.
Raynaud is currently the CEO of sports tech start-up, MyTVchain. He will join EPCR at the end of this season and will work closely with interim CEO Anthony Lepage, who will be moving to the position of Chief Operating Officer, in order to ensure a smooth transition.
“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Jacques Raynaud as the new CEO of EPCR. He is an outstanding candidate in a very strong field who has been selected after a rigorous global search,” said Dominic McKay, Chair of EPCR.
“Jacques’ background, particularly within the multimedia and commercial environments, will enable EPCR’s Board and Leadership team to deliver against our key priorities in these areas. I very much look forward to working closely with Jacques to further develop our great tournaments, the Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup.”
“I would like to thank Anthony Lepage who has led the EPCR team extremely well in recent seasons delivering many new initiatives and putting the organisation on the right track to accelerate development.”
“I am delighted to be joining EPCR at such an exciting time,” added Raynaud.
“I have been impressed by the Board’s new strategy and vision for the tournaments and look forward to playing my part in delivering this with the team.”
“I am very much looking forward to working with the team at EPCR as well as all stakeholders and playing my part in enhancing the tournaments that form the very pinnacle of international club rugby.”
