Paul Barber

PAUL BARBER - CEO, VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC; DIRECTOR OF TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR.

Paul is CEO of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC; a 2011 MLS expansion team who will play its home matches at Vancouver’s famous BC Place Stadium which has been a core venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Paul’s move to North America follows five years as Executive Director of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, where he was responsible for the English Premier League Club's commercial partnership programme, sponsorship, broadcast and new media rights, marketing, ticketing and membership, retail operations, customer relations, sales and operations. In 2006, Paul and his team negotiated the then seventh largest shirt sponsorship deal in the world worth almost $70 million to Tottenham Hotspur when MANSION, the online gaming group, became the Club’s principal commercial partner.

Prior to joining Tottenham Hotspur, Paul held senior commercial roles in a number of high profile organisations including The Football Association, where, as both Commercial Director and, latterly, as Marketing & Communications Director, Paul marketed and negotiated sponsorship and broadcast rights for both the England football team and The FA Cup competition, and developed The FA’s highly successful “FA Partners” sponsorship programme covering all levels of the English game.

Paul also held senior roles at Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising, marketing services and PR group, where he was CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa and latterly a non-executive director of the advertising group; at Barclays Bank, where he was a member of the retail bank's Board; and at multi-national trading conglomerate Inchcape where, aged 29, he was appointed to the company’s Management Board as Group Corporate Affairs Director. Across these roles, Paul has bought, sold and activated sponsorship rights in a variety of different sports, including football, cricket, rugby, golf, and motor sport, as well as in the arts and broadcast areas.

Paul remains a non-executive director of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and of Hampshire County Cricket Club. Born in North London, Paul is a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur fan.