Our Executive
Richard Gould - Chief Executive Officer
Richard became Chief Executive Officer in February 2023, arriving at the ECB with significant leadership experience from major organisations across sport. He joined the ECB from Bristol City Football Club, where he was CEO since 2021. Prior to that he served as CEO at first Somerset County Cricket Club for 6 years and then Surrey County Cricket Club for 10 years. At Surrey Richard was instrumental in the launch of the ACE Programme in 2020, which is now an independent charity designed to engage a new generation of children and young people from Black communities within the recreational game and talent pathway. He is a Trustee of We Are With You, a nationwide charity that supports people with mental health issues and to make positive behavioural changes with alcohol and drug use. Before his career he served as an officer with the Royal Tank Regiment, leaving the British Army as a Major. He completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in 2009.
Rob Andrew - Managing Director, Professional Game
Rob joined the ECB in January 2024 as Managing Director, Professional Game having spent the last seven years as CEO of Sussex Cricket. The new role covers both the men's and women's domestic professional game. Rob has spent nearly 40 years involved in elite level sport. He was as an international rugby player for England Men, playing in three World Cups, and subsequently he spent 10 years as Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, from the point at which Rugby Union went professional in 1995. He followed this role with 10 years at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) as Director of Professional Rugby, before moving into cricket as CEO at Sussex in 2017. Rob has a wealth of professional sport administration experience, and at the start of his career when rugby was amateur he spent 10 years as a chartered surveyor.
Vikram Banerjee - Director of Business Operations
Vikram leads the strategy, insights and business operations functions at the ECB. He is responsible for overseeing major strategic projects and working to support and equip the leaders across the game with the tools to effectively deliver. He joined the ECB in 2017 and has played a key role in setting the strategic direction for the sport, including the creation of the ECB’s strategy for cricket 2020-24 - Inspiring Generations – and the South Asian Action Plan, which was launched in 2018. Vikram played professional cricket for Gloucestershire CCC and before joining the ECB he held leadership roles in a tech start-up as well as FTSE 50 organisations.
Meena Botros - General Counsel
As General Counsel, Meena is responsible for providing expert guidance on all legal matters which affect the ECB including on commercial areas, regulations, governance and litigation, in each case to protect the organisation from legal and reputational risk. Meena joined the ECB in 2018 as the Director of Legal and Integrity, having moved from the Lawn Tennis Association where he served as Legal Director. A highly experienced solicitor, he began his career at the international law firm Norton Rose before moving into tennis in 2011.
Clare Connor CBE - Deputy CEO & Managing Director, England Women
A former England cricket captain, Clare led England women to a first Ashes win in 42 years in 2005 before retiring the following year with more than 100 international appearances to her name. Clare took up her current role in March 2023 after a spell as Interim Chief Executive Officer from June 2022. Before that she was ECB’s Managing Director of Women’s Cricket with responsibility for grassroots cricket through to the England team. In her earlier role as Director of England Women’s Cricket she oversaw a transformational period for the game including a double triumph by England women in two ICC global events and the Ashes in 2009, the introduction of professional contracts for 18 players in 2014 and the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup win at Lord’s. A former English teacher at Brighton College, Clare has also covered cricket in the broadcast and print media. The first female appointee to the ICC’s Cricket Committee in 2009, Clare was appointed to the Board of Sport England in 2010 and she currently Chairs the ICC’s Women’s Cricket Committee. She has been awarded the MBE, OBE and CBE for her services to women’s sport. She was President of the MCC until October 2022.
Leshia Hawkins - Managing Director, Recreational Game
Leshia joined the ECB in her current role in February 2024 and is tasked with ensuring an integrated approach across England and Wales with regards to the delivery of the Participation & Growth strategy. She also supports the Recreational Game Committee (RGC), which has responsibility to provide strategic advice to the ECB Board in relation to recreational cricket. Leshia previously worked at the ECB in both commercial and cricket development roles before joining Cricket Wales where she was Chief Executive from 2020. She is also a playing member of the MCC, recently joining their Women’s Players & Fixtures Sub-Committee, and a non-Executive Director at England Athletics.
Rob Key - Managing Director, England Men
Rob was appointed to this role in April 2022. A former England cricketer and Kent captain, Key played 21 times for England across all three formats including making a Test double hundred against the West Indies at Lord’s in 2004 which led to him being named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2005. During a playing career that spanned three decades (1998-2015), Key amassed over 28,000 runs with 60 centuries. He was also part of the England side who won the Under-19 World Cup for the first and only time in 1998. After announcing his retirement in 2016, Key became a successful commentator for Sky Sports alongside writing a regular column for the Evening Standard. He has remained involved in the administration side of the game and has previously sat on the ECB’s Performance Cricket Committee.
Kate Miller - Chief Communications Officer
Kate joined the ECB in July 2019. As Chief Communications Officer she is responsible for leading and developing the organisation’s Communications strategy, spanning corporate, consumer, EDI campaigning and public affairs. The team work to promote the work of the ECB and its members to cricket’s new and existing audiences. Kate holds extensive experience in the public and private sector, delivering external affairs strategies for global and local organisations.
Zoë Reynolds - HR Director
Zoë became HR Director in October 2023, leading the team responsible for all HR strategy and operations including recruiting and nurturing the best talent and looking after the ongoing wellbeing of ECB staff. She joined the ECB in 2019 as a consultant undertaking a number of projects including leadership development and supporting on the organisational change that was required during the pandemic. She was appointed as Head of People Operations in 2020, when she took on the role of managing the operations team, and was subsequently promoted to Director of People Operations in 2022. Zoë is passionate about fairness as well as supporting and developing talent to become the next leaders in cricket. Before joining the ECB, she held a number of senior HR roles working with senior leaders and founders to develop and evolve their HR strategies.
Tony Singh - Chief Commercial Officer
As Chief Commercial Officer of the ECB, Tony leads the teams responsible for growing the audience and revenues of English cricket. Since joining in 2019, Tony has instigated a data-driven commercial strategy focused on building more, and deeper, direct relationships with cricket fans. In that time, UK fandom has grown from 10.4m to 11.6m, while ECB’s marketable data has doubled. A critical part of this growth has been The Hundred. In year one, the tournament sold over 500k tickets and reached over 16m people through broadcast partners, with encouraging signs of broadening cricket’s audience. The team have doubled the ECB’s pre-pandemic sponsorship business through the addition of The Hundred and the introduction of a more audience-centric digital proposition, leading to the recruitment of new partners for cricket including cinch, LV=, IG and Castore. A lifelong cricket fan, Tony brings to the ECB over 20 years’ experience of driving commercial growth in sport and entertainment organisations, including senior roles at BT, the BBC and Spectrum Strategy.
Nimesh Kataria - Chief Financial Officer
Nimesh joined the ECB as Chief Financial Officer in April 2024. He was previously Chief Financial Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s International Sports Division, having previously been Finance Director for Discovery’s UK & Ireland business and then Vice President Finance at Eurosport. As Chief Financial Officer, Nimesh is responsible for financial reporting and business planning. His work enables the organisation to budget effectively, control expenditure and deliver its revenue objectives. He also leads key business services including Information and Technology and Procurement, as well as the Finance team. Nimesh originally joined the Discovery Group in 2010 and held a variety of roles within the International Finance division. Prior to this, he spent 18 months at Ernst & Young as a Management Consultant after graduating from Aston University with a degree in Business & Management. Nimesh is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
Neil Snowball - Managing Director, Competitions and Major Events
Neil took up his current role in January 2024, having previously been Managing Director, County Cricket at ECB. He is responsible for oversight and delivery of all men’s and women’s domestic competitions including The Hundred, domestic cricket operations and officiating, delivery of all major events including men’s and women’s international matches, plus ICC Global Events such as the Men’s World Test Championship Final in 2025 and Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026. He joined the ECB in June 2020 having previously spent five years as Chief Executive of Warwickshire County Cricket Club. During that time he was responsible for restructuring the club both on and off the pitch and overseeing the delivery of matches in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Cricket World Cup 2019 and numerous Test Matches including the first ever day-night Test in 2017 and the first Ashes Test in 2019. He was also heavily involved in the club’s governance reform and implementation of the ECB’s South Asian Action Plan across Birmingham and the West Midlands. Before moving into cricket, he spent ten years working on global sporting events initially as Head of Sport Operations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games before being appointed Chief Operating Officer of Rugby World Cup 2015. Prior to that he had a career with the US investment bank, Goldman Sachs, where he was Global Head of Corporate Health and Wellness.