SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes have hired former Premier League executive Tom Fox to replace Dave Kaval, who has stepped down from his role as the Quakes President to focus on his role as President of the Oakland Athletics. Kaval will continue to hold a spot on the Quakes’ ownership board. Fox most recently served as Chief Executive Officer at Aston Villa following executive positions with Arsenal FC, PepsiCo, Nike and the NBA.
Fox will be introduced to members of the media on Tuesday, June 6 at 11 a.m. at Avaya Stadium. For more information on the press conference, please contact Jake Pisani at jpisani@sjearthquakes.com.
“Tom is the ideal person to lead the Quakes as they continue to grow as a club,” said Kaval. “He brings years of experience with top clubs in England in addition to a successful career with large global brands. I would like to thank everyone connected to the Quakes, especially the fans, front office, coaching staff and players for everything over the past eight seasons. The club has grown tremendously and is poised for even more success in the future.”
Fox, 53, spent two seasons as CEO of Aston Villa following a very successful stint as the Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal. In this role, Fox oversaw Arsenal’s sponsorship, media and marketing teams. During his five years in North London, Fox and his staff transformed Arsenal’s commercial capabilities leading to greater global media and brand reach, an industry leading customer intelligence platform and the successful negotiation of two of the three largest sponsorship contracts in world football at the time, with Emirates Airlines and Puma.
“I want to thank Dave and the ownership group for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this fantastic club,” Fox said. “The Quakes have been an important part of San Jose since 1974 and now, with our new stadium and tremendous fan support, combined with the energy of Silicon Valley and the growth of the game in the U.S., it feels like all the pieces are in place for this Club to be one of the most successful in MLS.”
In addition to his work in the Premier League, Fox has been a sports marketing executive at numerous world-renowned corporations. From April 2007 to Nov. 2008, he served as Principal of the sports agency Wasserman Media Group, responsible for business and corporate development. For eight years prior to that, Fox was the Senior Vice President of Sports Marketing for PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand.
He began his career with Quaker Oats as a Marketing Associate in the company’s food division in 1985. He earned his way up to Group Manager of Worldwide Sports Marketing before joining the NBA in 1993 where he worked in Partnership Development. He later served as Vice President, Managing Director for NBA Asia, Ltd. in Hong Kong from 1994-1997. During that time, he increased the league’s brand awareness and revenue throughout Asia and opened the first NBA Asia offices, Hong Kong in 1995 and Tokyo in 1996.
He then moved on to Nike, Inc., where he spent seven months as the Asia Pacific Sports Marketing Director and another 10 months as the U.S. Sports Marketing Director in Beaverton, Oregon before returning to lead Gatorade Sports Marketing in 1999.
Fox, born in the United States, has a degree in Public Administration from Miami University (OH).
