Whisper has added former England Rugby International Ugo Monye to The Whisper Group Advisory Board, alongside Whisper’s existing advisory members Michael Vaughan and Sean Fitzpatrick.
Whisper is producer of the Women’s Six Nations for the BBC, Welsh Rugby Union for its social channels and the 2019 Rugby World Cup for S4C. It also recently announced a Partnership with World Rugby as its key digital video and audio production partner for 2021. This includes a weekly show The Wrap, fronted by Ugo.
Ugo is a former professional rugby union star who represented England 14 times and played twice for the British and Irish Lions. At club level, he remained committed to one team, Harlequins, throughout his 13-year career and claimed a Premiership title before finally hanging up his boots in 2015. Ugo is now a pundit for BT Sport and presents the Rugby Union podcast for the BBC, while maintaining a strong presence on social media.
Ugo will help Whisper create and develop new business opportunities in the UK, while Sean Fitzpatrick spearheads new business in Australasia.
Ugo will also help the team’s continuing diversity and inclusion drive, building on Whisper’s action to date, which includes co-funding and co-producing the critically acclaimed The Talk (with Maro Itoje). Also on the agenda is Whisper’s continued commitment to tackling difficult subjects across its programming and promoting equality both in front of the camera as well as behind it, while growing breadth and diversity in sports coverage on the field.
Ugo commented: “Whisper is a company that I’ve worked with and been aware of for a number of years, and I’ve always admired their passion to innovate and improve across the sports broadcasting landscape.
After a number of chats with Sunil and his team, I feel Whisper’s vision of rugby and sports coverage in the future aligns perfectly with mine and I hope I can add real value to their already strong team. It’s a real privilege to be joining the company at such an exciting time on their journey and my career.”
Sunil Patel, Whisper CEO: “It’s so inspiring to be welcoming Ugo into Whisper. Not only is he incredibly well-connected, an incredible high achiever and an embodiment of everything that Whisper stands for – but he continues to be an inspiration to so many. The power of sport and the importance of strong role models within that is something Whisper fundamentally believes in. It shaped my ambition and I’m delighted that we’re now working with Ugo to try and inspire more people in the future.”
Ugo’s appointment comes one year after Michael Vaughan joined Whisper to help develop its cricket division. Whisper now produces the cricket highlights for the BBC, digital content for the ECB and host broadcast coverage for Cricket West Indies and New Zealand Cricket, as Production Partner for Spark Sport.
Jon Creamer
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