Vinai Venkatesham OBE

Vinai was Chief Executive Officer of Arsenal Football Club from 2020 to 2024, where he had over-arching responsibility for the club’s day to day operations both on and off the pitch. In his time as CEO a complete turnaround was driven across all areas of the Club. Financial performance of the organisation was transformed, as was on field performance of the men’s team. He was heavily involved in the growth of Arsenal Women and Women’s football more generally, including Chairing a group of Club CEOs and Owners to unanimously agree a new governance structure for the domestic game. He was with the club since 2010, having joined Arsenal from the Commercial Team of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. He undertook a number of roles in the Arsenal Commercial team including Sales and Marketing Director and Chief Commercial Officer, before becoming Managing Director in 2018. He qualified as a management accountant before his career in sport at Deloitte where he was a strategy consultant. Vinai sat on the Board and Executive Committee of the European Clubs Association (ECA) and the Board of the UCCSA (the joint venture between UEFA and the ECA selling all commercial rights for UEFA Club Competitions) as well as the Nominations Committee of the Premier League. He has held Non-Executive Director roles at the London 2017 World Athletics Championships and the digital start-up Dugout. He is currently a Non-Executive Director and REMCO Chair of the British Olympic Association. In 2024 was awarded an OBE for services to sport.