Allan Reeves

Chief Executive Officer

Over the past 20 years, Allan has been the founder and CEO of a number of successful accountancy and professional services businesses catering to the media and sports sectors, including Accounts Bureau, Eight Group and Player Support Services. In late 2006, Allan sold his accountancy practice to Essentially Group, an AIM listed company. For the next four years, he was divisional head and managing director of Essentially Professional Services, a subsidiary within the group. In March 2011, he left Essentially to form Celerity Group.

Allan has specialist knowledge of the Fine Art world and advises several globally recognised businesses in this sector. In sport, Allan has helped to develop cutting edge answers to the problems of image rights and off-field income structures both in the UK and overseas.

Justin Paige

Chief Operations Officer

Having qualified as a solicitor with London law firm Lewis Silkin, in 1997 Justin co-founded his first sports management business, World in Motion. The business grew to manage over 250 clients worldwide over the next 10 years and in 2010, he created his own agency JPA. In early 2012 JPA became part of the Celerity Group, with Justin taking responsibility for all of the company’s elite talent representation as Managing Director of Celerity Representation as well as Group COO.

Justin’s reputation and interests extend into the wider sports industry with his co-ownership of the global rugby convention, RugbyExpo (co-founded by him in 2007) as well as one of the UK’s leading sports talent rights businesses, Worldwide Image Management Corporation (co-founded 1999).

Most recently, his sports industry knowledge and expertise has been called upon to help grow one of the leading sports performance and software businesses in the UK and Europe where he holds the role of Chairman. He will also lead the business's expansion into North America, becoming President of their US operations.

John Byfield

Chairman

John Byfield qualified as a solicitor in 1978 and founded his own law firm in 1980 in Southampton. This firm grew rapidly and became a substantial commercial practice with John specialising in corporate and sports law. In 1990 John became heavily involved in F1, including helping to run an F1 team and then assisting another motor racing team to gain entry to F1. He advised on a wide ranging area of F1 related contractual work in the field of sponsorship and driver management.

In 2001, John merged his practice with a substantial Bristol-based law firm and then retired in order to pursue other commercial opportunities. In 2002 he formed Essentially Sport, a sports management and marketing company which then gained an early listing on what is now the PLUS market.

In 2005 Essentially Sport acquired the world’s largest rugby management business, GSM and at the same time, gained a listing on AIM and became Essentially Group. This grew rapidly through strategic acquisitions, its principle areas of operation being player management in international rugby and cricket – managing over 600 players – marketing and events. John remained Executive Chairman and the principal shareholder until the successful sale of the group to Chime Communications plc in October 2009. John currently sits on the boards of a variety of companies including an AIM listed company and is also Chairman of a bio sensor company based in Jersey.