‘I’m stepping down’: NZ Rugby stunned as top executive quits

New Zealand Rugby has been forced to look for a new leader after a top executive quit on Monday. Photo / Getty Images.

New Zealand Rugby’s commercial empire needs a new leader after the organisation was stunned on Monday with the news that Richard Thomas is to quit his role as the chief executive of the newly formed New Zealand Rugby Commercial.

Thomas, who had been NZR’s chief commercial officer since 2019, was promoted to the new role of chief executive of NZR Commercial in August last year.

His promotion came after he played significant roles in securing Ineos, Altrad and SAP as new sponsors and launched a new initiative called All Blacks Performance Labs, which is aiming to sell leadership programmes to executives at some of the world’s leading corporations.

The Herald understands the search for a new CEO began in February.

It is understood he told staff on Monday that he is leaving the organisation. It is not known whether he has another role lined up elsewhere, but he has told the Herald: “I am stepping down as CEO of NZ Rugby Commercial at the end of June.

“The NZRC board will continue the process to appoint a permanent CEO over the coming months.”

Once known as CommCo, NZR Commercial is the entity that was formed as part of the deal to sell a private equity stake to Silver Lake and houses all the national body’s commercial assets such as broadcast income, sponsorships and gate revenue.

Given this new set-up, most observers believe the chief executive of NZR Commercial is now the most important and influential position in New Zealand rugby.

If the private equity deal with Silver Lake is to be successful, NZR Commercial will not only have to achieve significant year-on-year revenue growth, but the new organisation will also play a key role in shaping the brand narrative of the All Blacks to try to engage millions of offshore fans.

In setting up the company, which has total responsibility for driving all commercial revenue in professional rugby, NZR initially said it would initiate a global hunt for a chief executive and an independent chair of the nine-person board of directors.

But while it did conduct a global search to hire former Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev as chair, the decision was made to promote Thomas to interim chief executive of NZR Commercial to provide the new business with continuity and make use of his knowledge around the sponsorship market and the potential of what new business initiatives were viable.

That decision to promote Thomas was rewarded last month when NZR announced that revenue jumped to a record $270m.

While NZR initially announced that Thomas was fulfilling the role on an interim basis, his own LinkedIn profile makes no mention of being the acting CEO.

Also, NZR’s press release on April 1 this year, referred to Thomas as CEO of NZR Commercial – again making no suggestion he was either interim or acting.

But it appears from Thomas’ statement to the Herald, that the NZR Commercial board have decided not to make his position permanent and that the promised global search for a replacement is underway.