YORKSHIRE: Sanjay Patel, the former Managing Director of The Hundred, has been appointed as the new interim CEO of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Sanjay will step into the role in September to replace outgoing CEO Stephen Vaughan.
"I am delighted to be joining Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The Board have been extremely open with me, sharing their learnings and challenges over the past few years, and importantly their bold and ambitious goals for the future.”
"Together as an organisation, we will do the best we can for the Members and supporters aiming to move forward in all areas. I look forward to meeting Members, supporters and people associated with the Club over the next couple of months, " he said in a statement.
Sanjay join the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2015 as Chief Commercial Officer, where he ran the revenue, audience, event, digital and data side of the business. Under his leadership the ECB doubled its revenues and saw the return of cricket back to the BBC.
In 2019, he became Managing Director of The Hundred, where he led the development of the competition from inception and delivered the first three years of the tournament. He left the ECB in September 2023 and was working as an advisor and consultant in sport before being appointed to the Board in February 2024.
Yorkshire also announced that Mitesh Velani joins the Club as a newly-formed Chief Finance and Operations Officer, a role he will start in from September 16. Mitesh previously held Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer roles in the sporting sector for Saracens RFC, where the standout point was him raising 23m pounds from the local Council to build a new 100k square foot West Stand in partnership with Middlesex University.
"It’s truly an honour to take up this position with Yorkshire County Cricket Club and there are so many opportunities we can grasp and areas we can work on that will help the Club continue to grow.
"Throughout my career, I have sought out the chance to build new skills and develop. I am looking forward to using everything I have learned to help support Yorkshire at this exciting time.
"Working alongside the Board I am determined to help deliver success at Headingley and produce exceptional results, underpinned by robust commercial foundations and our vision to make Yorkshire Cricket a place for everyone, " he said.
The signings of Sanjay and Mitesh continue the sweeping changes Chairman Colin Graves has led in a bid to rebuild reputation of the club post the Azeem Rafiq racism allegations. “I’m delighted Sanjay and Mitesh has agreed to join us in these vitally important positions.”
"Sanjay and Mitesh bring with them a wealth of experience in senior business leadership roles and will bring new vision and a fresh approach to the to the day-to-day running of our business and finance operations. The Board looks forward to working with Sanjay and Mitesh collectively we are committed to delivering long-term success that YCCC Members deserve, " concluded Graves.