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Aston Villa recruit four new faces and make ‘sleeping giant’ promise
Aston Villa have strengthened their senior leadership team with experienced and reputable personnel
Aston Villa have welcomed four new faces to their Senior Leadership Team after completing a host of key appointments which will help to ‘project the club forward’. The president of Villa’s business operations, Chris Heck, has introduced the quartet who have arrived to fill senior roles throughout the team.
Those individuals are Ron Erskine, who will become the club’s new chief commercial officer, Ben Hatton as the chief operating officer, Richard Stevens as the vice president – strategy and analytics and Ryan Disdier as the vice president – content and digital. Villa favourite Ahmed Elmohamady’s ambassadorial role has also been made permanent.
New CCO Erskine has worked previously in the NBA and in the MLS with New York Red Bulls, and most recently with CSM Sport and Entertainment who are associated closely with tennis at an elite level. The new COO, Hatton, is a chartered account with plenty of experience working in football domestically and overseas, with Manchester United and AS Roma. He also helped to oversee the takeover at Blackpool, to help end the Oysten era at Bloomfield Road.
Stevens joins Villa from Free Now, a mobility app which is based in Germany, and Disdier, like Erskine and Hatton, has worked in sport in his specific field as a content executive in the States with Philadelphia 76ers and the Washington Wizards in the NBA as well as the Washington Commanders in the NFL.
As mentioned, former Egyptian international and versatile defender Elmohamady is now working with the club’s commercial department full-time having spent time in the US in pre-season.
“I’m delighted to be able to welcome four fantastic operators in their respective fields to the Senior Leadership Team at Villa Park and, of course, bring Elmo back to the club in an official role,” Heck said.
“This has been a thoughtful process, looking at areas we could strengthen our existing management structure, and I’m excited we now have a team in place that can help project this great football club forward as we embark on the next leg of our exciting journey.
“It’s time to awaken this sleeping giant of a football club – both on and off the pitch – and our supporters have every right to feel excited about what the future holds. Aston Villa is a huge, historic institution that is on the rise again.”
