Karen Moorhouse has been named as the new chief executive of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
Moorhouse, who replaces Jonny Gray, will join the organisation on 6 February 2023 after 14 years at the Rugby Football League in the UK where she was chief regulatory officer. Moorhouse also served as a non-executive director on the board of the Rugby League World Cup 2021 that was hosted in England earlier this year.
The ITIA is an independent body established in 2020 by the International Governing Bodies of Tennis to promote, encourage, enhance and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide. The body has issued sanctions against numerous tennis players found to have breached betting and match-fixing rules, with four players banned and fined over the last week alone.
Moorhouse said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining and already hugely impressed by the calibre of individuals I have met so far at the ITIA and across the sport, and their commitment to integrity. By establishing and funding the ITIA, tennis is already rightly recognised as leading the way in how it deals with integrity matters.
“I will be focussed on working with our stakeholders and other organisations in the sporting, anti-doping and betting landscape to continue to find new ways of educating and supporting players (and others involved in the sport) and monitoring compliance with the rules. All with the overriding aim of ensuring that tennis remains a trusted sport attracting new players, commercial partners and fans.”
Impressive governance
Previous CEO Gray, who departed in September, was appointed to the job in 2019 to oversee the formation of the ITIA which subsumed the old Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) in 2021.
Jennie Price, chair of the ITIA board, said: “Karen stood out from a strong field of candidates as the person who combines the skills, experience and personal qualities to take integrity in tennis to the next level.
“As well as a deep knowledge of integrity in sport, she brings impressive governance and commercial experience to the role. Above all, she is team-focused, inclusive and collaborative. I am delighted she has decided to join us.”
Last month, the ITIA announced one of its most high-profile rulings when it issued US tennis coaches Bob Bryan and Mardy Fish with fines of $10,000 (£8,363/€9,659) each for breaching the sport’s betting sponsorship rules.
