Keith Edelman
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Keith Edelman is Managing Director of Arsenal Football Club
[edit] Biography
[edit] Business
Keith Edelman graduated in 1971 from UMIST in 1971 with a BSc (Hons) in Management Sciences. He then worked for Rank Xerox, IBM and Fiat before joining Bank of America in 1978. Starting as Planning Manager, EMEA Division and then Finance Director, UK and Nordic Region he eventually became Managing Director, Bank of America Finance. In 1983 he joined Grand Metropolitan as a UK Strategic Director/Director of Finance, Foods Division. In 1985 he joined the Ladbroke Group as Corporate Planning Director and Chairman of Texas Homecare a chain of DIY stores. In 1991 he left to become Managing Director of Carlton Communications and 1993 Group Chief Executive of Storehouse which included Mothercare and Bhs. He also has a number of non-executive and executive appointments including Eurotunnel (Audit & Remuneration Committees 1994 – 2004), Haberdashers' Aske's School (Governor 1994 – 2005), Include (Director (Charity) 1997 – 2001), Glenmorangie Plc (Chairman 2002 – 2005), Qualceram Shires Plc (Director 2005 to date) and Metrobet (Chairman 2006 todate).
[edit] Arsenal Football Club
In 2000 he joined Arsenal Football Club as Managing Director bringing his considerable financial and business experience to the club. Keith is responsible for all commercial and administrative activities in the Club.
In a period of increased commercialization of Football he completed the first Strategic Partnership the Club entered into since its formation when they sold a 10% stake to Granada Media for £77 million. He has overseen the clubs re-branding and crest redesign to limit copyright breaches. He was subsequently involved in a sponsorship deal with Nike valued at £130 million over 10 years.
He and fellow directors Danny Fiszman and Ken Friar have been heavily involved in the Clubs new development of the Club's new stadium and the raising of £380 million of banking facilities. He also completed one of the largest Football sponsorship deals with Emirates Airlines for over £100 million including naming rights to the Emirates Stadium. He also signed a contoversial sponsorship between the club and the Israeli Tourism Ministry reportedly without fully consulting Emirates Airlines who are the national carrier of Dubai and do not fly to Israel. The club however denied any rift with their main sponsor.
Edelman has always been pragmatic about the clubs future and has not ruled out the club eventually going public or the major shareholders eventually deciding to sell their stakes. [1]
