John Stephenson has stepped down from the position of Essex’s Chief Executive due to cost-cutting measures reflecting the financial crisis.
John Stephenson Steps down as Essex Chief Executive
Stephenson has played for Essex between 1985 and 2004 scoring more than 10,000 runs for the club. He was appointed as the club’s chief executive in 2021 having spent the intervening 17 years at MCC.
But, he has now stepped down to work on other projects as the day-to-day running of the club has passed to Dan Fiest, Essex’s former operations manager who has been appointed as general manager in a restructuring of the club hierarchy.
Stephenson’s time as Chief executive proved to be explosive, with the club caught in the act of racism scandals, including an alleged racist comment from John Faragher, the former chairman at a board meeting in 2017 due to which the club was fined 50,000 euros by the Cricket Discipline Commission.
Essex Cricket CEO John Stephenson has today announced his decision to step down from his role.
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— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) July 8, 2024
“This has been a difficult decision to make as Essex has been in my bloodstream since the day I walked through the doors at Chelmsford in 1984,” Stephenson said.
“I am proud of what I achieved here. I have loved my time as chief executive and particularly enjoyed working with our diverse and talented board and our close-knit team of professional and dedicated staff. We have enjoyed success on the field and I am certain there is more to come.”
Responding to Stephenson’s departure Anu Mohindru, Essex’s chairman said, “He has shown outstanding leadership in guiding Essex through the last three years, and we are extremely sad to see him step down, but we respect his reasons.
“These have been difficult times for the club in facing historical allegations of racism, but we were extremely fortunate to have John as CEO. He was prepared to tackle the allegations head-on, and in doing so demonstrated resolve, wisdom, fairness, and integrity.
“During his tenure, we have been successful in securing a women’s tier one team and developing a clear vision and master plan for a new ground. He leaves this county in a stronger position and much better equipped to build for the future.”
Essex has been one of the high-performing teams in the County Championship in recent years, with two Division One titles in 2017, 2019, and 2020. They are currently third in the County Championship 2024 division one but suffered a defeat against Surrey in their recent match at Kia Oval.
