Sportradar has announced that Craig Felenstein will become its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) on 1 June, taking on the role from Gerard Griffin.
The Swiss sportstech will charge Felenstein with leading its global finance, accounting and investor relations operations, utilising his background as CFO for Lindblad Expeditions, and other roles.
His financial leadership role will primarily serve to underpin the group’s growth ambitions and strategic objectives as a sports technology and data partner to a range of sports teams, leagues and associations, as well as betting operators.
Carsten Koerl, CEO, Sportradar, said: “With Craig’s deep international experience and successful track record building finance organisations as a CFO at US listed public companies, I am confident that he will be a strong addition to our team.
“His track record of helping drive financial strategy and building shareholder value will be instrumental to our continued success. We want to express our deep gratitude to Ger Griffin for his meaningful contributions to Sportradar during a transformational growth period for our company.”
Felenstein has worked in finance for three decades, with his most recent role being the aforementioned CFO position at Lindblad Expeditions, an American cruise line company. He has also held senior financial positions at stock picture and video platform Shutterstock and mass media firms Discovery, News Corp and Viacom.
He joins Sportradar as the company looks to build on a strong trading performance in 2023 which saw full year revenue rise 20% year-on-year from €730m to €878m. He will be based in New York, where the company is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
The US has become a focal region for Sportradar in recent years, partly buoyed by the expansion of the regulated betting industry in the country since 2018.
This year alone has seen the firm sign deals with the NBA and United Soccer League (USL), whilst further away from America’s borders it has renewed its deal with the Chinese CBA League.
Felenstein remarked: “Sportradar has built an impressive leadership position in the rapidly growing global sports technology market and the company is ideally situated to deliver sustained growth given their strong content portfolio, unmatched product offerings and commitment to industry innovation.
“I am excited to work with Carsten and the entire Sportradar team, as well as the Board of Directors, to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities ahead and deliver additional value to our clients, partners and shareholders.”
