ISAF World Match Racing Tour Appoints Jim O’Toole as CEO

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] The ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) has named Jim O'Toole as the Chief Executive Officer of the professional sailing series as they work to widen the appeal of one of the world's most thrilling and popular sporting events. He will take up the appointment from 1st July.

O’Toole has had a 20 year history of working within the sports industry and has had great exposure to the marine sports industry as the former CEO of the Powerboat P1 World Championship. His sports marketing focused career background will prove a major asset to the World Match Racing Tour.

He joins from the sports marketing firm Armstrong Kennedy Consulting where he has worked with; the FA Premier League and Moneygram International and has had previous experience running WPP’s Sports & Entertainment agency ‘Ogilvy Action’ where O’Toole consulted to a range of global brands and rights holders including; Manchester United Football Club, FIFA, Williams F1, AIG and Vodafone.

Jim O'Toole, new CEO of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour

Patrick Lim, Executive Chairman, World Match Racing Tour, sees O’Toole's entry to the WMRT Team as a very positive step to help build the future of the international series, "The vision for the Tour is to grow the number and quality of events across Asia, Europe and the Americas. We have ambitious plans which will see us grow our brand dramatically as we build upon the success of recent years with more host city partnerships in key markets, a broader media platform and a stronger commercial proposition for sponsors and manufacturers. Jim's experience will be invaluable in the next stage of our development and we look forward to having him onboard".

While, Peter Gilmour, President of the WMRT said that the existing team has shown tremendous commitment and are now welcoming Jim onboard to help steer the tour towards its longer term goals.

O’Toole added, "I join the Tour at an incredibly exciting time in its growth. The new ownership team have a clear and ambitious strategy to develop a proven global property; I look forward to bringing my experience to bear as we build it into an even stronger proposition for all of our stakeholders."