Sophie Goldschmidt joins RFU as Chief Commercial Officer

The Rugby Football Union has appointed Sophie Goldschmidt as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Goldschmidt will join the RFU by mid July from the National Basketball Association (NBA) where she is Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa Operations. 
The CCO post at the RFU is a new role created as part of the restructure announced on January 6 and Goldschmidt will take responsibility for all the union’s commercial programmes for the sport in England. This includes Sponsorship, Business Development, Media Rights, Stadium, Retail operations, Merchandising and Licensing and all the joint venture operations such as Twickenham Experience Limited (TEL), Marriott Hotel, Virgin Active and England Rugby Travel.
In over four years at the NBA,Goldschmidt spearheaded impressive growth across media distribution, sponsorship, licensing and events in addition to overseeing seven regional offices. She has helped lead the NBA’s international efforts with a strong media and grassroots strategy which included bringing the NBA’s first ever regular season games to Europe earlier this year.
Prior to the NBA,Goldschmidt spent four years at the Women’s Professional Tennis Association (WTA) ending up as Vice President of Marketing and Sponsorship. In that role she developed and oversaw the key commercial programmes including the Sony Ericsson title sponsorship and various partner and marketing platforms including the WTA Tour. Alongside those commercial activities she was also the tour’s key liaison for the world’s top tennis players. Sophie began her career at adidas where she was the Tennis and Women’s Soccer Sports Marketing Manager in the USA.
John Steele, CEO of the RFU, commented: “We said in January that we would look to assemble a talented and experienced new executive team to help the RFU drive the next phase of growth and seize the opportunities offered by the Rugby World Cup in 2015 (RWC2015). Sophie will bring a new dynamic and innovation to our already successful commercial programme with her global and extensive experience and we look forward to welcoming her to the team.”
Goldschmidt added: “I am thrilled to be joining the RFU at this exciting time for the sport in England and globally. Under John Steele’s leadership it is clear the union is committed to ensuring  it is in the best possible shape for the RWC 2015 and beyond. This is a unique opportunity to make a significant contribution so that the game of rugby enjoys a long-lasting commercial and grassroots legacy.”