Biography
James Parsons
James Parsons is the managing director at Sportsbeat.
He worked as a journalist before moving into publishing in the regional press, with South News and Trinity Mirror.
He headed the commercial team at journalism trade title Press Gazette and helped manage the UK Press Awards before joining photo agency Newscast as managing director.
He fronted the commercial team at Sportsbeat before his appointment as managing director.
A keen fan of horse racing, his idea of sporting heaven is a day at the Cheltenham Festival.
Twitter – @JParsonsSB
David Parsons
David Parsons is a director and Sportsbeat’s editor-in-chief, with responsibility for all agency coverage, across all platforms.
He manages all our editors and reporters and is the primary contact for all editorial clients.
He started his journalism career in the regional press, before joining Sportsbeat as a senior reporter in 2000. He had a spell as news editor before heading the editorial team.
David lives in London and is a regular supporter of Arsenal and county cricket team Surrey.
He sits on the editorial advisory board of News Associates, the UK’s number one rated NCTJ journalism school.
Twitter – @DavidParsons80
James Toney
James Toney is a director and Sportsbeat’s managing editor. He has responsibility for editorial strategy, major event coverage and our journalism school, News Associates, ranked the UK’s number one by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
He started his career in national newspapers as a news reporter and has been highly-commended for his journalism by the Sports Journalists’ Association and Press Gazette and is a regular contributor to radio and television. His book on sports journalism, Inside Track, was published by Bloomsbury in 2013.
He carried the Olympic torch in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics and is a keen sailor and runner. He sits on the British Olympic Association’s media accreditation advisory committee.
Twitter – @jtoneysbeat
Ric Sumner
Ric Sumner heads the broadcast and social media team at Sportsbeat and is a member of our senior management team.
An experienced journalist, he started his career as a news reporter and edited two local newspapers before moving into sports journalism.
Ric’s creative vision has led to Sportsbeat winning a succession of high-profile broadcast clients, from the London Marathon to the Football Association.
Visit www.sportsbeatvideo.co.uk for more background on the broadcast and multimedia content produced by Ric and his team.
Twitter – @RicSumner
James Andrew
James Andrew is a member of the senior management team and the editor at Sportsbeat.
After completing his NCTJ Diploma in Journalism, James started his career in local newspapers and agencies before joining the Daily Mail.
He became a key member of their sports desk’s award-winning website team, rising to the position of night editor.
Twitter – @JamesAndrew_
Rachel Bull
Rachel Bull is a member of our senior management team. She is the course director at News Associates and is responsible for the delivery of the NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Sports Journalism, Sportsbeat’s exclusive and unique partnership with the UK’s number one rated journalism school.
She is an award-winning journalist with experience in local and national newspapers.
To find out more about our NCTJ-accredited sports journalism training visit www.sportsbeattraining.co.uk
Graham Dudman
Graham Dudman is a member of our senior management team and the deputy managing editor.
He started his career in local newspapers in Manchester and spent two decades at News UK in senior executive roles. He held a number of positions at The Sun, including head of news, head of features and managing editor and spent several years on the paper’s editing rota.
More recently he was News UK’s editorial development director, working across The Times, Sunday Times and The Sun. He sits on the board of the Society of Editors and advises the Newspaper Licensing Agency.
SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM
James Parsons
James Parsons is the managing director at Sportsbeat.
He worked as a journalist before moving into publishing in the regional press, with South News and Trinity Mirror.
He headed the commercial team at journalism trade title Press Gazette and helped manage the UK Press Awards before joining photo agency Newscast as managing director.
He fronted the commercial team at Sportsbeat before his appointment as managing director.
A keen fan of horse racing, his idea of sporting heaven is a day at the Cheltenham Festival.
Twitter – @JParsonsSB
David Parsons
David Parsons is a director and Sportsbeat’s editor-in-chief, with responsibility for all agency coverage, across all platforms.
He manages all our editors and reporters and is the primary contact for all editorial clients.
He started his journalism career in the regional press, before joining Sportsbeat as a senior reporter in 2000. He had a spell as news editor before heading the editorial team.
David lives in London and is a regular supporter of Arsenal and county cricket team Surrey.
He sits on the editorial advisory board of News Associates, the UK’s number one rated NCTJ journalism school.
Twitter – @DavidParsons80
James Toney
James Toney is a director and Sportsbeat’s managing editor. He has responsibility for editorial strategy, major event coverage and our journalism school, News Associates, ranked the UK’s number one by the National Council for the Training of Journalists.
He started his career in national newspapers as a news reporter and has been highly-commended for his journalism by the Sports Journalists’ Association and Press Gazette and is a regular contributor to radio and television. His book on sports journalism, Inside Track, was published by Bloomsbury in 2013.
He carried the Olympic torch in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics and is a keen sailor and runner. He sits on the British Olympic Association’s media accreditation advisory committee.
Twitter – @jtoneysbeat
Ric Sumner
Ric Sumner heads the broadcast and social media team at Sportsbeat and is a member of our senior management team.
An experienced journalist, he started his career as a news reporter and edited two local newspapers before moving into sports journalism.
Ric’s creative vision has led to Sportsbeat winning a succession of high-profile broadcast clients, from the London Marathon to the Football Association.
Visit www.sportsbeatvideo.co.uk for more background on the broadcast and multimedia content produced by Ric and his team.
Twitter – @RicSumner
James Andrew
James Andrew is a member of the senior management team and the editor at Sportsbeat.
After completing his NCTJ Diploma in Journalism, James started his career in local newspapers and agencies before joining the Daily Mail.
He became a key member of their sports desk’s award-winning website team, rising to the position of night editor.
Twitter – @JamesAndrew_
Rachel Bull
Rachel Bull is a member of our senior management team. She is the course director at News Associates and is responsible for the delivery of the NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Sports Journalism, Sportsbeat’s exclusive and unique partnership with the UK’s number one rated journalism school.
She is an award-winning journalist with experience in local and national newspapers.
To find out more about our NCTJ-accredited sports journalism training visit www.sportsbeattraining.co.uk
Graham Dudman
Graham Dudman is a member of our senior management team and the deputy managing editor.
He started his career in local newspapers in Manchester and spent two decades at News UK in senior executive roles. He held a number of positions at The Sun, including head of news, head of features and managing editor and spent several years on the paper’s editing rota.
More recently he was News UK’s editorial development director, working across The Times, Sunday Times and The Sun. He sits on the board of the Society of Editors and advises the Newspaper Licensing Agency.
Biography
Pippa Field
Pippa Field is a member of the senior editorial team and heads up Sportsbeat’s coverage of Olympic and Paralympic sports.
She joined the agency as a graduate trainee from our award-winning NCTJ journalism programme at News Associates in Manchester and worked for the Canadian Paralympic Committee at London 2012.
She was part of the team that covered the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Rio 2016 Olympics and is leading on our build-up coverage for PyeongChang 2018.
She leads on the delivery of all work with the British Olympic Association, including editing the team handbooks for the 2015 European Games in Baku and 2016 Olympics.
Twitter – @PippaField23
Ryan Walters
Ryan Walters is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat and the deputy head of broadcast.
He started his career in newspapers, covering the 2014 Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi and was part of our team at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Twitter – @Ryrealtalk
Charlie Talbot-Smith
Charlie Talbot-Smith is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat.
He is an award-winning reporter and was named Young Cricket Journalist of the Year by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2013 for an impressive portfolio of stories for our client, The Cricket Paper.
He has covered World and European Championships and was a member of the Sportsbeat reporting team at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics. In 2017, he will lead our coverage of the British and Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand.
Twitter – @TalbotSmith
Paul Eddison
Paul Eddison is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat.
An experienced journalist he has worked in England and France and specialises in coverage of rugby union.
Twitter – @PaulEddison
Phil Jones
Phil Jones is a senior journalist at Sportsbeat.
After completing his NCTJ journalism training at News Associates, Phil worked in the regional press before joining the Sportsbeat team.
He has been instrumental in developing our live text commentary service, whose clients include the British Olympic Association, Six Nations Rugby, the British and Irish Lions and The Open Golf championships.
Twitter – @PJonesSB
Roberto Payne
Roberto Payne is the head of photography and design. From brilliant images to attention-grabbing graphics, he leads on the delivery on services to a range of our clients from Premier Rugby to the Football Association.
Luke Baker
Luke Baker is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat, with day-to-day responsibility for running our news desk as deputy editor.
He was appointed after graduating as a trainee reporter on our award-winning partnership with leading journalism school News Associates.
Twitter – @LJBaker91
Ben Coldwell
Ben Coldwell is Sportsbeat’s social media editor and is responsible for developing and delivering strategies across all emerging digital platforms to showcase the best of our content.
He leads on content discovery, verification and copyright and takes responsibility for social media training, working closely with our editorial team to ensure we are always ahead of fast-moving trends.
He previously worked on the delivery of social media strategy for the 2017 IAAF and IPC World Athletics Championships in London.
SENIOR EDITORIAL TEAM
Pippa Field
Pippa Field is a member of the senior editorial team and heads up Sportsbeat’s coverage of Olympic and Paralympic sports.
She joined the agency as a graduate trainee from our award-winning NCTJ journalism programme at News Associates in Manchester and worked for the Canadian Paralympic Committee at London 2012.
She was part of the team that covered the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Rio 2016 Olympics and is leading on our build-up coverage for PyeongChang 2018.
She leads on the delivery of all work with the British Olympic Association, including editing the team handbooks for the 2015 European Games in Baku and 2016 Olympics.
Twitter – @PippaField23
Ryan Walters
Ryan Walters is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat and the deputy head of broadcast.
He started his career in newspapers, covering the 2014 Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi and was part of our team at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Twitter – @Ryrealtalk
Charlie Talbot-Smith
Charlie Talbot-Smith is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat.
He is an award-winning reporter and was named Young Cricket Journalist of the Year by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2013 for an impressive portfolio of stories for our client, The Cricket Paper.
He has covered World and European Championships and was a member of the Sportsbeat reporting team at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics. In 2017, he will lead our coverage of the British and Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand.
Twitter – @TalbotSmith
Paul Eddison
Paul Eddison is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat.
An experienced journalist he has worked in England and France and specialises in coverage of rugby union.
Twitter – @PaulEddison
Phil Jones
Phil Jones is a senior journalist at Sportsbeat.
After completing his NCTJ journalism training at News Associates, Phil worked in the regional press before joining the Sportsbeat team.
He has been instrumental in developing our live text commentary service, whose clients include the British Olympic Association, Six Nations Rugby, the British and Irish Lions and The Open Golf championships.
Twitter – @PJonesSB
Roberto Payne
Roberto Payne is the head of photography and design. From brilliant images to attention-grabbing graphics, he leads on the delivery on services to a range of our clients from Premier Rugby to the Football Association.
Luke Baker
Luke Baker is a member of the senior editorial team at Sportsbeat, with day-to-day responsibility for running our news desk as deputy editor.
He was appointed after graduating as a trainee reporter on our award-winning partnership with leading journalism school News Associates.
Twitter – @LJBaker91
Ben Coldwell
Ben Coldwell is Sportsbeat’s social media editor and is responsible for developing and delivering strategies across all emerging digital platforms to showcase the best of our content.
He leads on content discovery, verification and copyright and takes responsibility for social media training, working closely with our editorial team to ensure we are always ahead of fast-moving trends.
He previously worked on the delivery of social media strategy for the 2017 IAAF and IPC World Athletics Championships in London.