The Chairman of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Local Organising
Committee, James Strong, has announced that John Harnden has been
appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Local Organising Committee for
the event.The 2015 Cricket World Cup will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand.Mr Harnden is currently chief executive of the South Australian Cricket
Association. He was formerly chief executive of the Melbourne 2006
Commonwealth Games, chief executive of the Australian Grand Prix
Corporation and chief executive of Village Roadshow International Theme
Parks.Mr Harnden has an honours degree in Engineering from the University of
Adelaide and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced
Management Program. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in
2007 and has served as a director on a number of boards, including the
2010 UCI World Road Cycling Championships. He is currently Deputy
Chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.Mr Strong said Mr Harnden had built a reputation over many years for
delivering large scale international events and projects on time, on
budget and to world’s best standard. “Coupled with his current role in
cricket administration, this made John the perfect candidate for the job
of chief executive,” Mr Strong said.“John is known and admired around the world for his strategic thinking,
the personal commitment he brings to every task, his ability to build
and lead outstanding teams and his willingness to work collaboratively
with everyone involved in a project.”Mr Harnden said he was looking forward to starting work on the
tournament. “Cricket is a passion for me from a personal and a
professional perspective. I am delighted to be a part of the 2015
Cricket World Cup and look forward to working with James Strong and the
rest of the Board as well as everyone at New Zealand Cricket and Cricket
Australia. We will make this a real partnership across the Tasman.
