MatchFit appoints Caz Nicholls as its first Managing Director

Sports PR agency MatchFit has appointed Caz Nicholls as the agency’s first Managing Director.  Almost a year after joining MatchFit as a Director from the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) - where she served as Head of Comms - Nicholls has stepped up to become the operational and commercial lead of MatchFit. She will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the agency across both London and Manchester locations and will report into co-founders Donald Parish and Will Mitchell.

The move sees Parish and Mitchell each assume the title of Chief Executive and Founder. Parish takes lead responsibility to drive new business development and the expansion of the MatchFit brand, whilst Mitchell will take responsibility for future-proofing, agency special-projects and IP development.

MatchFit has built a client roster including The FA, Topps, Manchester City, the ECB, LiveScore, EA SPORTS, Asahi and LALIGA since its launch in 2019.

Since joining, Nicholls has strengthened the agency’s audience-first approach, increasing the use of fan and stakeholder insight to guide how creative and channel decisions are made. A key part of this has involved the implementation of MatchFit Scoreboard, the agency’s measurement approach for demonstrating the impact of audience-first campaigns. 

Neil Wood has also been promoted to agency Director. He will play a key role shaping MatchFit’s offering for brands and rights holders operating at the intersection of sport and culture. Neil joins Cherrelle Jefferson Izod – existing MatchFit Director and lead of the Manchester office - in reporting into Nicholls.  Nigel Cushion, founder of mentoring firm Nelsonspirit, joins the newly formed MatchFit board as Non-Executive Director.

Donald Parish, Chief Executive and Founder of MatchFit said: “The world of sport is noisier than ever before, placing an ever-greater premium on the craft of specialist PR to make real impact. In Caz we have a Managing Director who truly embodies the sense of what it is to be MatchFit from a cultural, mindset and behaviour perspective, and a talent who is best placed to supercharge our work with the best rightsholders and brands in sport.  
“With people in love with the craft of PR and inspired by their lives as consumers, fans and grassroots players, we have always been the agency that speaks the language of sport. Now, with our incredible new leadership team, I’ve never been more excited about MatchFit’s future as the leading sports PR agency in the UK.”