Former Cisco supremo to head Golf England

Golf England, the joint venture between the Automobile Association, the English Golf Union, and technology company AdvancedWave, has appointed Mike Couzens as its managing director.

Formerly European marketing director of corporate communications and training at Internet network company Cisco Systems, Couzens retired from his position at the end of July, but rather than stay in retirement he decided to take the role at Golf England. He says: “It involved a lot of golf and doing something that I’ve done reasonably successfully for several large American companies: building a brand.”

He will be replaced by David Seda, who moves from Cisco’s US business, where he focused specifically on strategic marketing programmes.

Couzens started the job at the end of August. He took over from Keith Nelson, who has moved to the position of development director with particular responsibility for managing a sponsorship deal with an unnamed UK bank. Golf England marketing director Dale Clements will report to Couzens.

At Cisco, Couzens was responsible for the company’s first television advertising campaign and organised Cisco’s sponsorship of the football championships Euro2000. Prior to Cisco, Couzens was European marketing director at Intel for five years, where he managed the “Intel Inside” advertising campaign.

Golf England was established in August 2001 to promote amateur golf in the UK. One of Couzens’ responsibilities at the organisation will be to promote golf to a wider market through its associate member scheme.

Golf England appointed TDA to its &£5m direct marketing account in November 2001.