Stephen Brown, the new Chief Operating Officer at the RFU

The Rugby Football Union has today confirmed Stephen Brown as its new Chief Operating Officer (COO)¹. Stephen will join the RFU on 10th June from the UK operation of Abbott, the global, broad-based health care company.

At Abbott he has been UK Finance Director for the last 5 years. During a career totalling 10 years with Abbott, Stephen held a number of senior financial positions in various areas of the business including UK Pharmaceutical manufacturing and Abbott’s Paris based Commercial Regional Headquarters. He was chosen following a comprehensive and detailed selection process including a full day assessment centre and interview in front of a panel of senior RFU executives and non-executives.

The COO role at the RFU is a new role created as part of the restructure announced on 6th January and Brown will take responsibility for all the corporate support services that ensure the RFU runs effectively and efficiently on a day to day basis. This includes Finance, HR and People Development, Legal and Governance, Planning and Reporting and Marketing and Communications.

John Steele, CEO of the RFU, commented, “When I announced the changes to the RFU organisation on 6th January following the board’s unanimous approval of my recommendations I said that the changes would give us the opportunity to find the best people to help drive the RFU and the game forward through to Rugby World Cup 2015 and beyond. It is therefore with great pleasure that I welcome Stephen to the RFU. The COO role is a wide ranging and vital one that goes well beyond Finance so his breadth of experience was a key factor in his appointment.

“Throughout the selection process he impressed us all with the expertise he could bring to the RFU and in a highly competitive field that including some FTSE100 CFOs he stood out clearly as the best candidate. Over the coming weeks we will confirm the other members of the RFU’s Executive Leadership Team who will help take us into the next phase of our development.”

Prior to joining Abbott, Brown worked for 3 years as the Business Support Manager and Group Head of Finance for British Energy PLC responsible for delivering Finance, IT, HR Purchasing and Facility services to the business. He originally trained as an Accountant in the National Health Service where he held a number of financial roles including Audit Manager for a group of 8 NHS Trusts.

Brown is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, lives in Buckinghamshire with his wife and 3 daughters, is a regular visitor to Twickenham and an avid Wasps fan.

¹ The Chief Operating Officer role was originally advertised as a Chief Financial Officer role but has been this is the role previously advertised as Chief Financial Officer but has been re-named to reflect the breadth of the role. The job description has not changed at all but the new title better summarised the responsibilities.