LIV Golf Investments, the newly formed company of which Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund is the majority shareholder, has today announced that it has bolstered its commercial operations with two new appointments.
Monica Fee has been hired as senior vice-president and global head of partnerships, while Lily Kenny has been brought in as head of strategy.
The duo will take up the roles with immediate effect and report to chief commercial officer Sean Bratches.
In her new role as senior vice-president and global head of partnerships, Fee will be tasked with identifying key partners “that share LIV Golf Investments’ vision for establishing groundbreaking platforms to grow the sport of golf across the world.”
Fee previously served as a property sales agent at CAA Sports, an arm of the USA-based Creative Artists Agency, representing several major sports properties for naming rights opportunities and global sponsorship.
Kenny will be responsible for advising on strategic decisions across the commercial operations within LIV.
She joins LIV from online retail giant Amazon where she was credited with playing a key role in the company’s expansion in the entertainment space over the last five years.
Bratches said: “I am very pleased to welcome Monica and Lily to LIV Golf Investments to help lead our company’s ambitious plans to expand our global corporate presence and grow the game of golf around the world.
“This is an exciting time for all of us as we grow our team, and the appointment of Monica and Lily is the latest show of force of how we are strengthening the commercial arm of the business.”
LIV has been building out its senior leadership team in recent weeks, strategically eyeing experienced professionals from golf, sport and entertainment, as well as with experience in event operations, marketing, sponsorship and broadcasting.
In addition to Bratches, who was appointed last month, LIV has hired Greg Norman as chief executive, Will Staeger as chief media officer and Ron Cross as chief events officer.
Last week, the company announced that it had brought in Atul Khosla as chief operating officer.
LIV was only launched in October with the announcement of over $200 million funding for an annual 10-event series that is to join the Asian Tour calendar in 2022.
That investment represents an alternative way for Saudi Arabia to deepen its involvement in golf instead of the proposed Super Golf League (initially the Premier Golf League), for which support in the game was hard to come by, although it has been suggested that the new series could be the makings of such a competition.
