USA Cricket today announces that Paraag Marathe has been formally re-appointed as an independent director of USA Cricket and re-elected by the Board of Directors as Chair of the Board.
Following a call for nominations for the role of independent director in December 2020, the independent Nominating & Governance Committee concluded a process of screening and interviewing potential candidates and recommended the incumbent Chair of the USA Cricket Board, Mr. Paraag Marathe, as the outstanding candidate for the role of independent director. That recommendation has now been approved by the USA Cricket Board, who also voted to re-elect him as Chair.
Paraag Marathe, who is President of 49ers Enterprises for the San Francisco 49ers as well as Executive Vice President of Football Operations, has spent more than two decades with the NFL franchise. He was also recently appointed as Vice-Chairman of Leeds United in the English Premier League, leading 49ers Enterprises’ minority investment in the resurgent EPL club. He began his term as the first ever Chair of USA Cricket in 2018 and has helped oversee a formidable number of developments for the rapidly evolving Governing Body, including the admission of USA Cricket as the 105th Member of the ICC in early 2019.
“I am honored to continue my role as an independent director for USA Cricket and Chair of the Board as we continue to build on the significant, foundational progress made over the last two years in collaboration with my colleagues on our Board and the wider community,” said Marathe. “There is no doubt that the last 12 months have been a very challenging period, not just for USA Cricket, but the world as a whole. I remain confident that the developments we have made off the field, where we have navigated the continued uncertainties of the COVID-19 landscape, will enable us to make great progress on the field in 2021 and deliver upon our key priorities. I am especially pleased to see the plans coming together for the staging of National Championships in each of the Men’s and Women’s Senior and U19 categories for the first time ever, and being able to deliver a full calendar of cricketing activity across the board this year.”
“The launch of the USA Cricket Foundational Plan in 2020 now provides us with a direction for everything that we are working on, and I am committed to playing my part in helping USA Cricket achieve its overarching vision of becoming a Full Member of the ICC by 2030 and establishing cricket as a mainstream sport here within the USA.”
“We have some ambitious objectives, including pursuing the opportunity to host global events, seeking cricket’s inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and establishing a professional Twenty20 league played in world class cricket venues across the country. But we are also conscious of the need to invest our time and resources into growing areas that have to some extent been neglected for many years, in particular around youth development and engaging women and girls in all aspects of the sport.”
Marathe concluded, “I continue to be inspired by the scale of passion, dedication and diversity within our community, and we will strive to embrace and include the entire community as we move forward over the next few years. Thank you to everybody who continues to provide their support in any way to the growth of the sport across the country and thank you to my fellow directors for providing me the opportunity to continue to be part of this exciting journey.”