ITF promotes Kelly Fairweather to Chief Executive Officer

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) today confirmed the promotion of Kelly Fairweather to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1 January 2022. Fairweather was formerly Chief Operating Officer (COO). His appointment was first announced at the ITF 2021 Annual General Meeting which took place in Madrid on 3-4 December 2021.

A key element of ITF2024 strategy, the driving force behind the ITF’s progress and modernisation since Dave Haggerty was elected president in 2015, has been a focus on good governance. Under Haggerty’s leadership, the ITF Board approved a proposal from the Governance Taskforce to separate the President and CEO roles, historically held by a single person, to ensure an even greater balance of powers and accountability in leadership.

Kelly Fairweather, an experienced executive, former Sports Director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and CEO of International Hockey Federation (IHF) joined the ITF as COO in January 2017. Fairweather’s main remit from the outset has been to drive growth of the sport through the delivery of the 8 pillars of ITF2024. Fairweather will lead ITF Senior Leadership and its Directors responsible for the 5 key divisions that comprise the ITF organisation, notably, Presidential; Integrity & Legal; Major Events & Sports Strategy; Tours & Pathway; Finance, IT & People.

ITF President, Dave Haggerty said, “We have made great strides in making the ITF as open and transparent as possible. We have introduced robust good governance procedures in our commitment to Integrity, a key pillar of ITF2024. Kelly leads a very talented team at the ITF. Together with the ITF Board and in collaboration with our regional affiliates and national members, we continue to work together to fulfil our mission to deliver a global sport which is sustainable and safe for all, both now and for future generations. This mission is at the heart of everything we do as an organisation.”

Kelly Fairweather, ITF CEO added, “The ITF is undergoing transformation in key areas. We are in a position to explore new avenues of growth and ways of interacting with our sport. Our global tennis data informs our strategy for the development of our sport, our business and our fanbase. These are challenging and exciting times, so we need to be bold. We have set ourselves the ambitious goal to report 120 million players on this planet by 2030.”

Further information relating to ITF2024 can be found here