Jon Smith OBE
Jon is considered to be the world's first football "Super Agent". In a career spanning over thirty years, he founded First Artist in 1986 and has overseen the re-modelling of the company since its flotation in 2001 as a football agency, to its recent current status as a multi-functional, multi-national, entertainment, financial, event and sporting group. He presided over the recent major equity purchase by Pivot Entertainment New York. Having represented some of the world's leading international football stars, including the late Diego Maradona, he is a leading authority on the sports representation and artist management industry. His breadth of experience can also be traced back to the 1970's where owned a successful record production company, which was largely credited to have been the prime creator of Northern soul in the UK pop market. He has also been responsible for staging many of Britain’s biggest sporting events, including the UK visits of major US sporting bodies such as the NFL, the NBA and NHL. He was Chief Executive of The London Monarchs during their inaugural World Bowl winning season at Wembley. He is one of only a handful of individuals holding a football agency licence and who is also licensed to stage global events under the auspices of FIFA worldwide. A fellow of The Institute of Directors, he is also a patron of the British Stammering Association and founder and trustee of the Lee Smith Foundation. He is a leading sports industry commentator, published author, “The Deal-Inside the World of the Football Agent” and was the first commercial representative of the England Cricket Team.
Keith Cousins
Keith is a highly experienced investor, executive and advisor to many UK and International based companies, primarily in the areas of sport and media. His expertise includes transaction sourcing, operational and financial restructuring and executive management. He has also represented many prominent sports stars and clubs in the world of football, tennis and golf. He has also acquired and acted as Chairman of various sporting businesses including recently heading a consortium that acquired 5 golf courses in the Algarve, Portugal. He has also handled the sale or acquisition of a number of well-established football clubs. He was formerly a consultant at Theodore Goddard (now Addleshaw Goddard) where he led the Film and Television division. In this role he was as an Executive Producer of numerous high profile international feature films including Phantom of the Opera and was also advisor to major film studios including Warner Bros and New Line Cinema Group.
