94. Yath Gangakumaran

Yath Gangakumaran leads the Corporate Strategy and Business Development department at Formula 1, providing long term strategic direction for the sport as it undertakes a fundamental shift in approach to better engage fans around the world.

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He is tasked with running major corporate initiatives – creating and executing F1’s ambitious sustainability plan to be net-zero carbon by 2030, leading on growth in key strategic markets like China and developing the sport’s D&I efforts. He supports the motorsports team in developing fan-centric new initiatives, such as the introduction of the fastest lap point and new race formats. He works with the commercial directors to support new race opportunities and wider business development initiatives.

The remit is extremely broad, covering all aspects of the organisation from Commercial and Motorsports to Corporate projects. Example Strategy projects include developing the plans to grow in key target markets, assessing prospective race locations and determining new formats for racing. On the Business Development side, his team creates new initiatives that provide an incremental commercial return for Formula 1, such as the unique MIT business conference partnership.

Prior to Formula 1, Yath Gangakumaran was a Senior Strategist at Sky Sports working on channel development, sports rights assessments and business development. He was also a Strategist at Channel 4 and began his career at a professional services organisation, PwC, as a Strategy Consultant advising media and sports organisations on corporate strategy and commercial due diligence.

Named as a Sports Industry NextGen Leader with Honours, he holds an MA (Oxon) Economics and Management from the University of Oxford.