Neil Snowball new Warwickshire chief executive

Warwickshire have appointed Neil Snowball as their new chief executive. He is currently the chief operating officer of England Rugby 2015 Ltd, the organising committee for the recently concluded Rugby World Cup, and will succeed Colin Povey at Edgbaston at the start of January.

Prior to his current role, Snowball was head of sport operations at the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, where he was responsible for service delivery and operational management for the 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports and 45 competition venues. Before that, he was an executive director at Goldman Sachs for eight years.

He describes himself as a "lifelong cricket supporter" and, having played for Guildford CC, spent three years as chairman of the club. He has served on the Surrey Championship committee and, in 2012, was invited to be a member of the Surrey CCC Business Advisory Group. He will relocate to the West Midlands from Surrey.

"I am delighted to have been appointed as Warwickshire's chief executive, joining a club with not only a proud and successful history but with a clear ambition for the future," he said. "The strength of the playing squad as evidenced by performances over the last five years and the world class facilities at Edgbaston offer enormous opportunity in the years ahead."

He joins a club with a good allocation of major matches in the next few years, but burdened by substantial debt after the redevelopment of the ground in recent times. Managing that debt, and the level of expectation from members of the success of a team that has consistently challenged for trophies in recent years and continues to value red-ball cricket, is likely to occupy a good proportion of his time.