Leadership

Mark Noonan

Commissioner – Canadian Premier League / Chief Executive Officer – Canadian Soccer Business

Sports industry veteran Mark Noonan joined the CPL and CSB in September 2022, becoming the second Commissioner in the League’s short history. Noonan’s extensive experience in the global sports industry combined with his soccer background align perfectly with the CPL and CSB’s vision to continue developing the Canadian soccer ecosystem and associated business enterprises.

 The native of Westport, Connecticut previously spent two years as Chief Marketing Officer with the United States Soccer Federation where he led the successful marketing of the U.S. Women’s National Team that won the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, creating a groundswell of support for female athletes nationwide. Noonan then moved to Major League Soccer (MLS), as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Fan Development, reporting directly to the Commissioner of the League and CEO of its commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing (SUM). Noonan more recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Accra Hearts of Oak SC, in Accra, Ghana, one of Africa’s most storied clubs.

 From 2005 to 2022, he was Founder and CEO of FocalSport, an international sports and entertainment advisory that represented clients such as the New York Mets, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), MLS/SUM, the R&A and Professional Bull Riders, among others. Noonan also served as the Global Chief Commercial Officer for the World Surf League and as the Director of Integrated Marketing for the iconic beverage brand Gatorade.

 As a player, Noonan was key member of Duke University’s NCAA Division I championship soccer team and is a member of the Connecticut (individual) and North Carolina (team) Soccer Halls of Fame.

Scott Mitchell

Chairman, Canadian Premier League and Canadian Soccer Business

One of Canada’s most-connected and respected sports business leaders, Mitchell has been a fixture on the Canadian and international sports landscape for 20+ years.

As Chairman, Mitchell oversees all corporate partnerships and media rights related to Canada Soccer and the Canadian Premier League – Canada’s professional men’s soccer league.

Mitchell was one of the founders of the CPL along with the iconic tech entrepreneur and sports team owner Bob Young. Mitchell is also the CEO of Bob Young’s group of Canadian Companies including the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Costa Smyrniotis

Executive Vice President, Soccer

Costa Smyrniotis, a proven Canadian executive with nearly two decades of experience contributing to the growth of soccer in Canada, boasts a deep understanding of both the youth and senior professional games domestically and internationally, as well as the business behind them, and a firm grasp of the global soccer market.

Smyrniotis has played an influential role in the growth of the CPL since its early days as a concept. Prior to joining the Commissioner’s Office in April 2023, Toronto-born Smyrniotis held the role of Director of Football and Business at Forge FC for five years. He established Forge as a leading club domestically and as a highly respected organization in the Concacaf region.

Smyrniotis has long identified and supported the development and careers of some of the most notable talents in Canada’s game, both at the youth and professional levels, as a founder of Sigma FC, one of the most respected development academies in North America. Sigma is responsible for producing a continuous pipeline of talented Canadian players and technical staff bound for the professional game including Cyle Larin, the current all-time leading goal scorer for the Canadian Men’s National Team.

Smyrniotis also established a leading player agency based in North America, managing the careers of many clients within the global soccer landscape, including many Canadian internationals.  He has a background in business, and previously held senior roles at numerous multinational corporations, before transitioning to working in soccer full time.

Glen Johnson

Executive Vice President

Glen Johnson joins the CSB/CPL as a seasoned senior executive in sports, business and technology.  He is well-known for innovative thinking, inspiring and leading change, operational excellence, and delivering on market expansion while instilling business discipline to scale growing companies.

Johnson has lead a Provincial Sport Organization, been a Board Member of a National Sport Organization, and served on various International Sport Committees. He has participated in many National and World Championship events, and the 1996 Olympic Games.

His business experience comes through a variety of senior leadership roles at the Canadian Football League as SVP Football, and GE Capital, Deloitte Consulting, Manulife Financial, Intelliware Software, and most recently at Smooth Commerce.

Marni Dicker

Executive Vice President, Infrastructure, and Chief Legal Officer

Marni spearheads the development of infrastructure that is critical to the continued growth of the Canadian soccer ecosystem, oversees the League’s legal affairs; works closely with the Commissioner to lead expansion efforts; and provides expertise in overall company governance, leadership, and direction.

Marni has served in senior legal and business roles such as Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel for Infrastructure Ontario, where she negotiated and contract managed the construction of all venues for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for international real estate development and advisory firm Live Work Learn Play Inc. and more.

Marni has extensive experience on a variety of Boards, including the Board of Directors of Tarion Warranty Corporation, CreateTO, Technical Standards Safety Authority (Ontario), Habitat for Humanity GTA, Women’s Law Association Ontario, WireIE and SNC-Lavalin Operations and Maintenance.

She is a member of Urban Land Institute’s Hall of Champions, was included in Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s list of Canada’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers (2017), earned the ZSA/National Post’s Canadian General Counsel Award for Business Achievement (2017), was named an Outstanding Leader by the Women’s Infrastructure Network (2016), and was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN (2015).

Marni was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Engineering and Business and is currently a lecturer and mentor in its Faculty of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Western University, two law degrees from McGill University (LL. B and B.CL) and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Marni is also a proud wife to Paul and mother to sons Ryan and Lee.

George Fadel – Vice-President, Marketing

Kristian Jack

Vice President of Media and Content

With over 25 years of experience in the media industry, including two decades in Canadian Sports Television, Jack has shown the ability to produce content and cover the world’s most popular sport like no one else in Canada.

 A native of England, Jack began covering soccer at the 1996 European Championships and after moving to Canada in 2000 has since worked on six FIFA World Cups, plus all major international soccer tournaments.

 Jack was a key member of the broadcast team around Canada’s qualification for Qatar 2022 and is one of the most recognizable faces in this country when it comes to this sport, developing key relationships with clubs and players in the Canadian Premier League and beyond.

Shaun Guest

Vice President, Commercial Operations

As Vice President, Commercial Operations, Guest leads the Corporate Partnerships, Ticketing and E-Commerce efforts for the CSB and CPL.

Previously, Guest served as the Vice President, Business Operations for both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Forge FC and was intimately involved with Forge FC’s launch across all facets of the business including ticket sales, corporate partnerships, community partnerships and marketing.

With over 13 years of experience in the sports industry, he previously held positions with the 2007 Grey Cup Festival and Toronto Rock, with a focus on revenue generation across all verticals.

Shaun is a graduate of Brock University’s Sport Management program and holds his Masters in Sport & Leisure Commerce from the University of Memphis.

Laura Armstrong

Senior Director, Communications

Laura Armstrong brings her life-long passion for growing the game of soccer in Canada to the role of Senior Director of Communications, using her background in storytelling to cultivate and engage the Canadian Premier League’s audience across the country.

Armstrong spent nearly a decade as a reporter at various publications, including seven years as a sports reporter with the Toronto Star, where she covered Toronto FC, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors, Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams and more. Armstrong led the Star’s soccer coverage from 2015, reporting on such events as the Women’s World Cup, women’s Olympic qualification, TFC’s three MLS Cup appearances and CONCACAF’s World Cup qualification in 2021 and 2022. She has previously appeared on OneSoccer, Sportsnet, CBC, CTV and the BBC, as well as various radio shows nation-wide.

A bilingual native of Ottawa, Armstrong earned a combined honours in journalism and English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia