The 2015 Cricket World Cup will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Harnden is currently chief executive of the South Australian Cricket Association.  He was formerly chief executive of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, chief executive of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation and chief executive of Village Roadshow International Theme Parks.

Mr Harnden has an honours degree in Engineering from the University of Adelaide and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 and has served as a director on a number of boards, including the 2010 UCI World Road Cycling Championships.  He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

Mr Strong said Mr Harnden had built a reputation over many years for delivering large scale international events and projects on time, on budget and to world’s best standard. “Coupled with his current role in cricket administration, this made John the perfect candidate for the job of chief executive,” Mr Strong said.

“John is known and admired around the world for his strategic thinking, the personal commitment he brings to every task, his ability to build and lead outstanding teams and his willingness to work collaboratively with everyone involved in a project.”

Mr Harnden said he was looking forward to starting work on the tournament. “Cricket is a passion for me from a personal and a professional perspective. I am delighted to be a part of the 2015 Cricket World Cup and look forward to working with James Strong and the rest of the Board as well as everyone at New Zealand Cricket and Cricket Australia. We will make this a real partnership across the Tasman.” Cricket Australia/ICC/New Zealand Cricket