President of the T&T Cricket Board (TTCB) Azim Bassarath says that the current CEO of Cricket West Indies (CWI) Johnny Grave will lead the regional cricket body out of the current financial crisis.
The regional body has had to cut players' salaries by 50 percent and has been forced to take austerity measures to stay afloat through these difficult financial times.
According to Bassarath who is also a director at CWI: "When an organisation finds itself in a financial bind, a lot of focus is on the CEO. We are thankful that Johnny is in that position at the moment because he is well equipped to deal with matters like these. He is a bright man and one who has tremendous connections and I am confident that he together with president Ricky Skerritt and vice-president Dr. Kishore Shallow will lead us on to better days in terms of our finances.
"One thing I know about Johnny is that he is an excellent negotiator as is evidenced by his work in dealing with player-relations earlier in his career. He is never one to shy away from a challenge and a challenge is what we have before us at the moment."
Before coming into the CEO's position at CWI, Grave left the Professional Cricketers' Association in England, where he was employed as commercial director for the last nine years between the period 2008 to 2017. He assumed the position of CEO at CWI in February of 2017 under the presidency of Dave Cameron.
Upon Grave taking up the position Cameron said at the time: "Johnny has a proven track record of success in his career to date and a huge amount of relevant experience and will add exceptional value to the organisation."
Born in Reigate, England and now living in Antigua, the 43-year-old also worked with Surrey County Cricket Club. He started there in 2000 as their commercial assistant. He then moved on to PR and Sponsorship executive the following year. His rise at the club was quick as he was appointed Communications Manager the following year. When he left Surrey he has risen to the post of Head of Media and Sales as he was responsible for sponsorship and commercial revenues, media & PR activity, and community programmes based at the Oval.
Grave graduated with a BA (Hons) in Geography and Management Studies from the University of Leeds before acquiring an MBA from CASS Business School in 2015.