Tom HallIMG today announced longtime executives Adam Kelly (left) and Sam Zussman (right) have been appointed co-presidents of IMG Media & Events.
IMG Media President Ioris Francini will be elevated to chairman of the media group.
“Adam and Sam bring a combined 30+ years of experience and leadership that will prove invaluable in fostering greater collaboration among these two naturally complementary businesses and providing our clients and partners with a shared set of best-in-class experts and resources,” said Mark Shapiro, president, Endeavor. “With added counsel from Ioris as media chairman, we’re looking forward to this next phase of growth for two of IMG’s core businesses.”
Kelly most recently headed rights, acquisitions, and content distribution for IMG’s media group. He began his career at IMG in research in 2001 before broadening into business development and marketing and sales.
Over the years, he has played a pivotal role in growing IMG’s blue-chip media client roster of sports leagues, federations, and organisations, as well as bringing to life new joint ventures like Euroleague and overseeing the growth of UFC’s international media.
IMG’s media group currently represents and sells rights in over 160 countries on behalf of more than 150 clients such as the International Olympic Committee, The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (Wimbledon), National Football League, National Hockey League, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (The Open Championship), and Premier League, as well as Endeavor companies including UFC and PBR.
The group also powers the global sale of premium television properties, documentaries, and feature films, and is home to IMG Arena, which works with more than 350 sports book brands to deliver live streaming video and data feeds for more than 45,000 sports events annually, as well as on-demand virtual sports products.
Zussman joined IMG from McKinsey in 2006. Most recently as president of the company’s Events division, Zussman has overseen a growing portfolio that includes sporting events across tennis, golf, motorsports, action sports, football, rugby, and the Professional Bull Riders (PBR); as well as the company’s arts and entertainment properties including Frieze Art Fairs, The Miss Universe Organization, museum exhibitions, esports events, and music and culinary festivals. IMG owns and/or manages more than 700 events annually around the globe, covering 20 sports across 25 countries.