Andrea Pinchen has been appointed to the new role of chief operating officer at Leicester Tigers.
After joining the club from Emirates Airlines in 2004 as ticket office manager, Andrea became commercial manager in 2012 with overall responsibility for sponsorship, corporate hospitality and the club’s conference and events business, and joined the Board as commercial director two years later.
The development of key people within the organisation has been identified as a vital element in the club’s future from a review of the business conducted by former Tigers director of rugby Pat Howard this year, and Andrea’s new role will enable her to drive that strategy as well as the culture developed from it across the whole club, both at Welford Road and Oval Park.
Tigers chief executive Simon Cohen said: “We all hope that Pat’s report will be a turning point for on-the-field performance while Andrea’s appointment to drive many of the recommendations is a significant step forward for the whole club as well as a reflection of her work within the commercial departments over 15 years at Welford Road.”
Andrea Pinchen said: “When I started working at the club – when the ticket office was in a converted garage in the corner of a 16,000-capacity stadium – Geordan Murphy was a key player in a successful team. I think the experience of working together and seeing how the club has grown is important in driving the club’s overall strategy and culture for what we hope is a very successful future.”
As part of this strategy, together with the impending retirement of the long-serving Glynis Barnes, the club has also appointed Matt Johnson as head of human resources to work on a comprehensive development, training and review programme for staff.
Since the end of the 2018/19 season, the club has also reinforced the team at Oval Park with the appointment of Jan McGinity in the new position of head of elite performance recruitment, with Ged Glynn’s new role as head of performance pathway and talent identification providing extra focus on scouting at all levels as well as continued responsibility for the club’s successful academy system.
Also, Mike Ford will continue as part of the coaching team after arriving as a consultant last season, with responsibility for the team’s attack. He joins Mark Bakewell, Boris Stankovich, Phil Blake and Brett Deacon in working with head coach Geordan Murphy.
