By Paul Nicholson
July 1 – CONCACAF has called in management consultancy Alvarez & Marsal to review its finances and operations. The confederation that was rocked by the arrest of its president Jeffrey Webb and vice president Eduardo Li, has moved swiftly to establish a review of its procedures already having installed a ‘Special Committee’ of its three senior north American federation presidents to stabilise the organisation.
The review will be lead by Carlos Vincentelli, a Managing Director based in Alvarez & Marsal’s Miami office and will cover “financial reporting processes, spending and cash flow management, third party vendor relationship management, and organisational effectiveness”, according to a CONCACAF press release.
The move to bring in football ‘outsiders’ will bring confidence to CONCACAF’s sponsor partners that it is committed to good governance and a reform in procedures – the key part of this being around “third party vendor relationships” which have been at the centre of the corruption allegations that have twice brought the confederation to its knees, firstly under the reign of Trinidad & Tobago’s Jack Warner and the US’s Chuck Blazer when they were in their pomp, and then again in Zurich and the US with the arrests at the end of May.
Miami (Tuesday, June 30, 2015) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) announced today that it has hired the firm Alvarez & Marsal to make an assessment of its operations. Carlos Vincentelli, a Managing Director based in Alvarez & Marsal’s Miami office, will lead a team evaluating CONCACAF’s finances and operations, and implementing improvements to the Confederation’s operational effectiveness.
Since the arrests in May CONCACAF have moved swiftly to protect their premium national team competition, the Gold Cup, and successfully so. Sponsors have maintained their support – they even announced a new sponsor – while early ticket sales were reported as being at record levels.
Ted Howard, Acting General Secretary of CONCACAF, said: “The Confederation will benefit from the broad perspective and experience that Carlos brings from outside the world of soccer. This will help ensure the Confederation operates at the highest level of organizational efficiency and accountability going forward.”
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