Simon Bazalgette

Simon is a prominent business leader, advisor and investor in the sports, leisure, media and entertainment industries and the Founder and Chairman of Global Venue Services, an advisory, investment and business services firm operating in the sports, leisure, media and entertainment sectors.

Since 2019, Simon Bazalgette has been an independent Non-Executive Director of the English Football league, and since 2017 a member of the Sports Board of the NSPCC, a major UK charity. He is also a Trustee of the Ragged School Museum and on the development board of London’s largest community arts charity, the Roundhouse Trust.

From 2016 to 2019, he was the Senior Independent Director of London 2017, the most successful World Athletics Championships in history. Simon was the Group Chief Executive of The Jockey Club between 2008 and 2019. This included being Chairman of Jockey Club Racecourses, the largest UK owner and operator of racecourses, running three of the UK’s 10 largest sports events, the Derby, the Grand National and the Cheltenham Festival.

Simon was the founding Executive Chairman of media operator Racecourse Media Group between 2004 and 2008, and previously the Chief Executive of the Sony, Time Warner and BSkyB digital music and broadcast venture, Music Choice Europe. He also spent six years as Non-Executive Chairman of the Grubb Institute of Behavioural Studies, a charitable foundation that develops research on leadership and organizational development. Simon started his professional life at KPMG.