World Athletics has appointed Jamie Fox as Director of Communications following a worldwide recruitment process which began in March this year. The 46-year-old was selected from a strong list of 140 candidates from 19 countries.
Commenting on the appointment, World Athletics CEO, Jon Ridgeon said:
“Jamie has a strong track record in developing communications, marketing and digital strategies for national sports teams, event organising committees, sports’ governing bodies and international sports federations. He has worked in a number of different countries and across a range of sports, including athletics. As we continue to grow athletics, Jamie’s creativity, knowledge and passion for driving fan engagement will be of enormous value.”
Fox has held senior communications and media operations roles across a number of different sports over the past 13 years – football (West Ham United), cricket (ICC), rugby (Harlequins) and most recently F1 with Red Bull Racing.
He also led communication campaigns for British Athletics at the Rio Olympic Games plus a number of World and European Championships between 2015 and 2017, and worked as a consultant for Athletics Australia at the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Fox was an athlete mentor for The Women’s Sport Trust, is an accredited UK Anti Doping advisor and holds an NSPCC Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sport qualification.
Commenting on his appointment, Fox said: “World Athletics has undergone a huge transformation over the past eight years with a strong reform and growth agenda. As a keen follower of the sport and one of the 10 million social media fans, I have followed the increasing profile of the athletes across the world and look forward to working with the media, the athletes and their coaches and agents, the member federations and the fans to raise the profile of the talented athletes in this sport and connect athletics to the health and well-being agenda of governments across the globe.”
Fox will take up his position in the last quarter of 2023 and will be based in Monaco at the World Athletics head office. Jackie Brock-Doyle will take up her new position of Director, Special Projects for World Athletics once Fox is on board.
In other communications news, Head of Communications, Nicole Jeffery, who resigned earlier this year, will be leaving World Athletics to return to Australia in October. Maggie Durand, currently Senior Manager, Media Relations, will be promoted to Head of Communications following Jeffery’s departure.
Commenting on Jeffery’s departure, CEO Jon Ridgeon said: “Nicole has made an enormous contribution to World Athletics over the past five years, most notably overhauling the editorial content on World Athletics’ website to focus on stories the media and fans want to hear and creating a suite of tools to help media around the world access the sport and its stars in a better and more consistent way. We are sorry to see Nicole leave but our very best wishes go with her and we know, in Nicole, we continue to have an ardent fan and follower of the sport forever.”
World Athletics will soon begin the recruitment of two roles, Manager Media Relations and Manager Public Relations. These positions will be advertised on the World Athletics website in August.
By World Athletics