Former FA chief Coward joins AS Biss as adviser

Ravi Chandiramani, PR Week UK, Friday, 26 November 2004, 12:00am,

AS Biss & Co has appointed former Football Association chief executive Nic Coward as a senior adviser to strengthen its sports lobbying credentials.

Coward quit the FA in July after eight years at the organisation, latterly as its corporate and legal affairs director. He also served two spells amounting to two years as acting CEO after the exits of Graham Kelly in 1998 and Adam Crozier in 2002.

Agency founder and chairman Adele Biss said: ‘The public health agenda has opened up a lot of opportunities for sport. We have an active programme to develop our business in the sports arena.’

AS Biss clients include the FA Premier League, government body Sport England and the Fitness Industry Association, while the agency has also undertaken political monitoring for London 2012.

Coward will work alongside Tim Payton in spearheading the firm’s efforts to build up its sports client base.

Prior to his career at the FA, Coward qualified as a solicitor with City law firm Freshfields.

‘A key role will be to add expert advice in areas of legal challenge, competition policy matters and a wide array of sports sector issues,’ he said.

The FA has scrapped its corporate and legal affairs role but created a director of governance post, occupied by former Rugby Football Union secretary Jonathan Hall, and has put legal affairs under the remit of the FD.