Mark Darbon has been appointed Chief Govt of The R&A and Secretary of The Royal and Historical Golf Membership of St Andrews.
Darbon will succeed Martin Slumbers within the function main the governing physique and the organisation, which runs The Open and AIG Ladies’s Open and invests in growing golf around the globe in November. He will even develop into Secretary of the 270 year-old Membership which has a world membership of greater than 2,400.
A former senior member of the workforce main the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Video games and Paralympic Video games in 2012, Mr Darbon is leaving his function as CEO of Northampton Saints, the Premiership Rugby membership, to take up the St Andrews-based place.
Darbon (45) led Northampton Saints to their first Premiership title since 2014 final month and carried out a business technique which enabled the rugby union membership to bounce again from the pandemic to realize file revenues in consecutive seasons.
“I’m thrilled and honoured to be taking on these positions with The R&A and The Royal and Historical Golf Membership of St Andrews and to be transferring into golf, a sport I’ve all the time liked,” he mentioned. “The R&A is a globally famend organisation and does a lot to make sure that golf prospers from grassroots by means of to the skilled recreation. I’m trying ahead to working with a massively proficient workforce of employees, the Membership membership and such a powerful array of associate organisations to realize much more success within the years to come back.”
Darbon began his profession as a administration marketing consultant at Marakon Associates, earlier than becoming a member of Diageo plc the place he held plenty of strategic and business roles, residing and dealing in markets all around the world, together with the USA, Russia, China and Australia.
“Golf Canada proudly welcomes Mark Darbon as the brand new Chief Govt and Secretary of the R&A, mentioned Laurence Applebaum, Golf Canada’s CEO. “We look ahead to our continued nice work between our organizations rising and growing the sport of golf.”
Having transitioned into sport occasion organisation in 2009, Darbon held a number of senior roles with the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Video games and Paralympic Video games and was latterly Head of Olympic Park Operations, overseeing the Olympic Park which housed 9 competitors venues with 20,000 workers and welcomed 250,000 spectators a day all through the 2012 video games. He went on to function an Professional Adviser to the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2013 to 2018.
Following London 2012, Darbon was Senior Vice President of Robust Mudder Inc in New York and was concerned in planning, selling and staging mass participation occasions in North America, Latin America, Europe and Australasia.
Earlier than becoming a member of Northampton Saints as CEO in 2017, Darbon served as CEO of Madison Sports activities Group, a sports activities occasions and content material firm which created an award-winning worldwide collection {of professional} observe biking occasions and, in doing so, introduced a collection of latest sponsorship preparations and media rights offers to the game.
Darbon is a graduate of Worcester Faculty, Oxford College, the place he learn geography.
In addition to being a eager golfer, enjoying to a Handicap Index of three.1 as a member of Northamptonshire County Golf Membership and Saunton Golf Membership, Darbon is a former Beneath-21 England hockey worldwide and a Full Blue for hockey at Oxford College. He’s a non-executive director of England Hockey and Ladies’s Premiership Rugby.
Darbon is married with two kids and plans to maneuver his household to St Andrews when he takes up his new function.
