Sportradar restructures global executive team

Sports data giant Sportradar has restructured its global executive team to reflect a more regionalised approach. The restructure has been initiated to facilitate the group’s continued development of its global betting business, across the data, integrity and content departments. The changes will see eight executives report into Carsten Koerl, who will continue to serve as group CEO. They will come into effect from 1 January 2021, when Koerl will be supported by three regional CEOs around the world. North America will be led by CEO Arne Rees, who will be based in New York. Former MD of US betting Werner Becher will take over the UK/EMEA and Latam region and will be based in Vienna. Asia-Pacific will be led on an interim basis by Eduard Blonk. Blonk has also been appointed as the group’s chief commercial officer. He previously served as MD of global sales. In addition to the trio of regional CEOs, Koerl will also oversee five C-level executives. Warren Murphy, formerly MD of betting and gaming, will transition to CPO for betting and gaming. Rainer Geier, formerly MD of digital platforms and advertising, will become CPO for sports entertainment. Ben Burdsall will retain his position as CTO, while Ulrich Harmuth will become chief strategy officer after seven years as MD of digital. Finally, former Paddy Power Betfair CFO Alex Gersh will assume the same role with Sportradar after leaving car retailer Cazoo in May 2020. Koerl said: “As the leading sports technology and innovation business in sports betting and sports entertainment, Sportradar is fully committed to delivering an unmatched experience to our customers and partners. “Our updated structure will increase our levels of customer intimacy, agility and overall responsiveness, while also leveraging our tremendous global scale. “This reorganisation is a critical step for the future growth of the business, and we will continue to ambitiously set the bar high in the industry,” he added.