David Collier

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This article is about the English sports administrator. For the professor of Services Management, see David A. Collier.

David Collier became the second chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) when he was appointed in October 2004, succeeding Tim Lamb. He has a business background having spent ten years working in the travel and leisure industry, including five years as a senior vice-president at American Airlines. He also has worked in sports marketing and in the leisure industry for Sema, a Cheshire-based computer-systems company.

Collier gained considerable cricket administration experience with four counties - Essex, Leicestershire, Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire - before landing the ECB job. He was roundly criticized in some sections of the British media for his role in the sale of television rights to Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV. Exponents of the move, including Collier himself, have pointed out that cricket desperately needs the investment which only comes from such rights sales. He also insisted that he wanted to see a "thriving television market", hitting back at claims that Sky's audience for live cricket averaged 200,000 viewers, compared with Channel 4's peak audience of nine million [1].

Collier is a hockey umpire, and in 2002 played an important part in organising a rescue package which bailed out England Hockey.