Stuart Ramsey will leave his role as commercial director of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) governing body to take up a position with the Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), GlobalData Sport (Sportcal) has learned.
He is expected to be appointed as chief commercial officer of the PTO Tour next week and will start the job in April.
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Ramsey has been the RFU’s commercial head since September 2023. He joined the organization from Socios, where he spent 18 months as head of brand partnerships for the blockchain-based fan engagement platform.
Before joining Socios, he held the same position for the British Olympic Association for nearly five years.
He has almost 20 years of experience in sports marketing and held previous roles at English soccer club Southampton, the English Football Association, and the Lagardère Sports (now Sportfive) and IMG agencies.
The RFU said: “Commercial director Stuart Ramsey will be leaving the organization next month to follow his personal passion projects, one of which is to help grow Triathlon.
“He will be joining PTO (Professional Triathletes Organisation) a new sports body in triathlon that is co-owned by its professional athletes, and which is seeking to elevate the sport and take it mainstream. We of course wish him all the very best.”
Ramsey was credited with playing a key role in securing the £100 million ($128.9 million) naming rights deal for Twickenham stadium with German insurance giant Allianz in August.
He will be the latest figure to leave the embattled RFU after the resignation of Tom Ilube as chair last December over a pay dispute.
Ramsey’s departure comes just weeks before a special general meeting of the RFU, which will determine the fate of the chief executive, Bill Sweeney, who faces a vote of no-confidence.
Sweeney is under pressure to resign after it was revealed he received bonuses of more than £1 million, despite the RFU posting losses of £37.9 million.
The governing body’s chief operations officer and chief financial officer Sue Day also departed to join the Football Association.
At the PTO, Ramsey will be overseeing the commercial operations for the T100 Triathlon World Tour series, with the second season beginning next month.
The 2025 T100 Triathlon World Tour, comprising nine races, will begin in Singapore in early April, before visiting destinations such as San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Las Vegas, and Dubai, before the Qatar finale.
The series launched in January 2024 as a joint venture between the PTO and World Triathlon, with the inaugural edition held in Dubai last year.
The PTO was originally formed in 2014, with the agreement of a funding deal with venture capitalist Michael Moritz in 2020 – one of the main factors behind its expansion and growth in recent years.
Ramsey will join a leadership team at the PTO that includes chairman Chris Kermode, who previously ran the ATP Tour in tennis, and chief executive Sam Renouf, a former triathlete.
One of Ramsey’s final acts as RFU commercial director was to formalize a partnership with technology giant Apple, announced late last week.
The tie-up will see the England rugby team work with Apple to enable further innovation in the training, preparation, and match-day operations of the men’s, women’s, and pathway squads.
The brand will support England teams by providing an overall player/coach user experience across the full range of Apple products, services, and software.
Players and coaches will have access to MacBook Pro, iMac, Studio Display, iPad Pro, and Apple Watch products, as well as Apple expertise and third-party app developers.
The England team has been using Apple products since 2010.
