Co-founder Earl Santee named as new chief executive among a raft of other appointments
Tottenham stadium architect Populous has rejigged its global management six months after a private equity firm bought a minority stake in the practice.
Co-founder Earl Santee has been appointed as chief executive, combining the role with his current position of chair of the global board of directors.
The stadium architect鈥檚 senior principal for the EMEA region Nicholas Reynolds has become global chief strategy officer and will be reported to by global head of sustainability Mohit Mehta and global head of digital Jonathan Nelson.
Richard Breslin has been named as a new co-managing director for the Asia Pacific region, joining longstanding managing director for the region Paul Henry, who is another of the firm鈥檚 founders.
Regional sustainability leads have also been appointed for EMEA, David Jarratt, and Asia Pacific, Kavita Gonsalves, while new digital leads, Barbara Vasiltou and Jason Gardner, have been appointed to the same regions respectively, with Jason Gardner covering the digital brief in the Americas.
The raft of new appointments comes in the wake of a 鈥渟trategic minority investment鈥� into Populous by private equity firm Providence Equity Partners last October.
The pair said at the time that the deal would allow Populous to expand its 鈥渟ervice offerings and geographic presence鈥� around the globe.
The firm confirmed there has been no change to the role of Chris Lee, the practice鈥檚 senior principal and managing director for EMEA who is based in London.
The announcements come after the practice won the job to design what will be the largest football stadium in the world, the Grand Stade de Casablanca in Morocco, beating a shortlist which included Foster & Partners, Herzog & de Meuron and Zaha Hadid Architects.
The 115,000-seat arena, which has been designed with local architect Oualalou & Choi, could host the 2030 World Cup following Morocco鈥檚 naming as joint hosts of the tournament alongside Spain and Portugal.
Pictures of the proposed scheme are currently being kept under wraps by Morocco鈥檚 King Mohammed VI, although they are expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
Populous鈥� designs are understood to resemble a giant tented roof inspired by a type of traditional Moroccan social gathering known as a 鈥榤oussem鈥�.
Enabling works on the 100-acre site are already underway in the town of El Mansouria, 38km north of Casablanca.
No comments yet