IMG, the world's leading sports, entertainment and media company,
today announced that renowned tennis executive and 20-year company
veteran Fernando Soler has been appointed Senior Vice President of IMG
Tennis Worldwide, effective immediately. In this position, Soler has
responsibility for overseeing IMG's global tennis business including
client representation, tournament and event management, and
sponsorship sales around the world. Soler, who is based in Barcelona,
will report to George Pyne, President, IMG Sports & Entertainment.
"Fernando has been a key member of IMG's tennis organization for
nearly two decades. He is a well-respected executive with in-depth
knowledge of every aspect of the tennis business, from client
management to tournaments, media sales and corporate sponsorship,"
commented Pyne. "His strong background and global expertise make him
the perfect person to lead this important business for IMG going
forward. Fernando will work closely with Chuck Bennett, who has done a
great job as interim head of IMG Tennis."
"IMG's tennis business is the best in the world and I am delighted
to have been chosen to lead this dynamic organization," commented
Soler. "I look forward to working with our talented global team as we
further expand our offerings for clients and customers in order to
continue to grow IMG's highly successful tennis business."
Gavin Forbes, Senior Vice President of IMG Tennis based in
Cleveland, will continue to oversee tennis event acquisition, tour
relations, and IMG's Wimbledon tennis relationship.
Pyne added, "I look forward to the many contributions Fernando,
Gavin and the other members of our accomplished tennis leadership team
will make to IMG in the future."
Soler, most recently Managing Director, IMG Spain, was a
professional tennis player on the ATP Tour between 1979 and 1984. He
joined IMG in Barcelona in 1987 as a tennis client manager. Over the
years, his clients have included Sergi Bruguera, two time French Open
winner who reached #3 in the world rankings; Guillermo Coria, who
attained a #3 world ranking; Carlos Moya, the former #1 world ranked
player; and the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, organizers of the
Barcelona ATP tournament. In 1995, Soler became head of IMG Media
sales for Spain and Portugal. He was promoted to Head of Tennis for
Europe in 1998 and Managing Director IMG Spain in 2000. In addition,
he had responsibility for IMG Argentina and served as tournament
director for the Chennai Open tennis tournament in India.
About IMG
IMG is the world's premier Sports, Entertainment and Media
Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business
segments: IMG Sports & Entertainment, and IMG Media. IMG employs over
2,500 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in
2004.
IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event
ownership and management; fashion events and models representation;
licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis,
broadcasting, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports,
coaching, Olympic sports, and action sports. In addition, IMG
Academies are the world's largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art,
multi-sport training and educational facility, delivering world-class
sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult,
and professional athletes each year.
IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI,
Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP), and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP),
is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and
new media content and services, with Internet, broadband, and mobile
expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with
content.
IMG Media produces and distributes over 10,000 hours of sports,
documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual, and
children's content annually over multiple platforms across 200
countries, including award-winning television and radio programming.
It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world's premier
sporting events and has the world's biggest sports archive with more
than 200,000 hours of footage.
More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com,
www.darlowsmithson.com and www.tigeraspect.co.uk