Whisper appoints Ugo Monye to the group advisory board
Whisper has appointed former England rugby international Ugo Monye its group advisory board alongside existing advisory members Michael Vaughan and Sean Fitzpatrick.
The appointment comes after Whisper recently announced its partnership with World Rugby as its key digital video and audio production partner for 2021, including a weekly show ‘The Wrap’, which is fronted by Monye.
Monye is a former professional rugby union star who represented England 14 times and played twice for the British and Irish Lions. At club level, he remained committed to one team, Harlequins, throughout his 13-year career and claimed a Premiership title before finally hanging up his boots in 2015.
Monye is now a pundit for BT Sport and presents the Rugby Union podcast for the BBC, while maintaining a strong presence on social media. He will help Whisper create and develop new business opportunities in the UK, while Fitzpatrick spearheads new business in Australasia.
Monye will also help the team’s continuing diversity and inclusion drive, building on Whisper’s action to date, which includes co-funding and co-producing the critically acclaimed ‘The Talk (with Maro Itoje)’. Also on the agenda is Whisper’s continued commitment to tackling difficult subjects across its programming and promoting equality both in front of the camera as well as behind it, while growing breadth and diversity in sports coverage on the field.
Monye commented: “Whisper is a company that I’ve worked with and been aware of for a number of years, and I’ve always admired their passion to innovate and improve across the sports broadcasting landscape.
“After a number of chats with Sunil and his team, I feel Whisper’s vision of rugby and sports coverage in the future aligns perfectly with mine and I hope I can add real value to their already strong team. It’s a real privilege to be joining the company at such an exciting time on their journey and my career.”
Sunil Patel, Whisper chief executive officer, added: “It’s so inspiring to be welcoming Ugo into Whisper. Not only is he incredibly well-connected, an incredibly high achiever and an embodiment of everything that Whisper stands for, but he continues to be an inspiration to so many. The power of sport and the importance of strong role models within that is something Whisper fundamentally believes in. It shaped my ambition and I’m delighted that we’re now working with Ugo to try and inspire more people in the future.”
Monye’s appointment comes one year after Vaughan joined Whisper to help develop its cricket division. Whisper now produces the cricket highlights for the BBC, digital content for the ECB and host broadcast coverage for Cricket West Indies and New Zealand Cricket, as production partner for Spark Sport.