Northampton Saints has today announced the appointment of Julia Chapman as the club’s new finance director.
Julia is making the relatively short journey to Franklin’s Gardens from Northampton-based Travis Perkins plc, where she was head of finance for the company’s PTS subsidary company. She graduated from Cambridge University and after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant developed a wide range of experience at some of the UK’s biggest companies, including Habitat, the Home Retail Group, Legal and General, IBM and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and becomes the first female finance director among the 12 Aviva Premiership clubs.
Julia will take up her position at Northampton Saints in September and replaces Richard Deane, who is retiring after 14 years’ service.
The club went through an extensive search process for the new Finance Director and received a number of high quality applications. Julia was selected after a thorough interview process.
“We are entering an important few years for the Saints as a club,” said Saints chairman Tony Hewitt. “We are committed to both retaining our status as a self-sustaining and profitable business while also growing our investment into the playing side in line with an increasing Salary Framework and continuing our investment into our facilities to improve both match day experience and non match day conference and events business and we believe that Julia can help us achieve these aims.
“Her experience with some of the UK’s biggest companies will enable her to make a valuable contribution to the Saints as a rugby club and a business within a high-profile and competitive sector.”
“We’re looking forward to Julia joining the leadership team,” added chief executive Allan Robson. “It is an exciting time for the club, on and off the field, and I am sure she will make a good addition to our executive team.
“I would also like to thank Richard Deane for his invaluable contribution to the Saints over the past 14 years. We have had an excellent working relationship and he will be greatly missed.”
Julia is looking forward to joining the leadership team at Franklin’s Gardens.
“Having worked for Travis Perkins and lived locally I am well aware of the place that the Saints has within Northampton as a town and English and European rugby as a whole,” she said. “It is a good time to be working within club rugby, which is seeing rapid growth across the Aviva Premiership and especially here at the Saints, and I’m delighted to be able to help the club achieve its goals.”
Northampton Saints plc has also announced that Andrew Cozzolino will be stepping down as company secretary after September’s Annual General Meeting after over 17 years in the role, the position then being incorporated into that of the finance director.
“The role of company secretary is largely unheralded but is very important in the efficient management of a business, and Andrew has been an excellent member of our team,” Hewitt added. “On behalf of the board of directors I would like to thank Andrew for his contributions made to Northampton Saints plc over the past 17 years and send him our best wishes for the future.”
