President and CEO of Tennis Canada brings wide-ranging skill set to top job - G&M
04 Aug 2014 EWR Online
Rachel Brady TORONTO — The Globe and Mail
Kelly Murumets, the new President and CEO of Tennis Canada, laughs while posing in front of an inflatable tennis ball during the Rogers Cup at the Rexall Centre in Toronto on Saturday, August 2, 2014. (Darren Calabrese For The Globe and Mail)
Kelly Murumets enters her sunny office at Tennis Canada and smiles widely when she finds a friendly note on her desk.
It’s well-wishes from her predecessor, former president and CEO Michael Downey, who was hired away last fall to reside over the Lawn Tennis Association in Britain but stopped by to say hi while on a recent vacation. Murumets is now five months into the job, embarking on her first Rogers Cup at the helm and taking over at a golden moment in Canadian tennis.
Murumets describes herself as a mediocre tennis player and long-time fan, but admits she has never worked in tennis. Then again, Downey hadn’t either. Murumets says she appeared – on paper – to be underqualified for every job she ever landed, yet thrived at each, from rescuing near bankrupt businesses to tackling youth inactivity as the CEO of ParticipAction. She inherits an association that has piqued the curiosity of the global tennis community, with stars like Eugenie Bouchard and Milos Raonic playing deep into Grand Slams and skyrocketing into the Top 10 while driving a growing interest in tennis at home. One in which (and you couldn’t ask for a better marketing script) two Canadians make history by playing in the final of an ATP event on the eve of their arrival at Rogers Cup.
