Neil Snowball appointed to get England Rugby 2015's preparations for World Cup rolling The overhaul, confirmed at an ER 2015 board meeting, means the organisation will seek to draw more heavily on the success of the Olympic Games, with Snowball reporting directly to new chief executive Debbie Jevans. Jevans, the former director of sport at Locog, was widely lauded for her role in delivering the Olympic and Paralympic sports events. She has been the driving force behind reorganisation since her appointment on Oct 29, which yesterday resulted in Ross Young, the former chief operations officer, and Jon Duckworth, the former general manager for marketing and communications, leaving the organisation. "The Rugby World Cup draw marked a step change for ER 2015 from planning to an operational phase," said Jevans. ER 2015 needs a structure that reflects that change and ensures: more direct focus on the delivery of the tournament; clearer reporting lines and accountability; and better defined business operations that reflect our changing priorities. Neil Snowball did a fantastic job as head of sport operations for Locog and was responsible for the sporting operational framework which delivered the Games. He managed a multi-million pound budget and oversaw the delivery around venues, training bases, team liaison and all of the logistics that support such a huge undertaking. Snowball will head up a rugby operations department that will oversee the staging of the 48-match tournament and has five areas of responsibility: rugby services; venue operations; tournament services; city operations and tournament technology. A new business operations department would encompass five strands: ticketing and commercial; communications and marketing; finance; human resources and volunteering and legal. Each of the heads of the five business units will report directly to Jevans. A communications and marketing director is expected to be in position next month. The restructuring is the latest facelift for the organisation during a turbulent 12 months. Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union who is also on the board of ER 2015, said regarding the changes: "Do I think we are in a good place, do I think we can get in a better place? Yes, I think it is in a good place and I think Debbie will put it in an even better place. There was always going to be a burst of recruitment through 2015 and the people that work for it and that is now starting to ramp up. It is not surprising she comes in, look at what she wants and she will make sure she gets the right people in the right place.