LEN (short for Ligue Européenne de Natation, or European Swimming League) introduced new leadership at its annual Congress on Friday in Turkey.
Patrice Coste, a sports business professional, was approved as the new executive director. Coste has prior industry experience at the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) working with broadcast sponsorship operations. He’s set to start at LEN on December 1.
Former executive director Gianni Minervini will begin a new role as deputy executive director. He’ll be in charge of the new sports directors covering aquatics and water polo.
Apostolos Tsagkarakis of Greece has experience working at the International Swimming League and will handle aquatics disciplines other than water polo. He’ll begin on November 1.
Croatia’s Renato Zivkovic will head up the new water polo division. Zivkovic is a former player, coach, and international event organizer with prior experience working in ethics and anti-doping positions. He’ll also start on November 1.
Nick Davies will lead the new media and communications team, which will add two special units to deal with marketing and sponsorships.
“The LEN Office has been hampered by a lack of human resources so, following an extensive international search, we have identified highly experienced, talented individuals and agencies to help LEN to achieve its strategic objectives,” LEN treasurer Tomas Kucinskas said.
Leaving the LEN administration is Marco Birri, who spent 17 years with the organization. He worked his way up from sport manager for water polo to interim executive director and most recently operations manager.
“I would like to thank Marco for his long and dedicated service with LEN,” LEN president Antonio Silva. “His passion and dedication to European aquatics were always in evidence and, on behalf of LEN, I would like to wish him good luck with his future endeavors.”