JONATHAN BODANSKY 

Founder & Managing Director

Jonathan founded Bodansky Sponsorship Ltd (so now you know!) in 1987, with the original aim of getting involved in sport sponsorship, however early involvement in Paul McCartney’s World Tour led to BSL becoming a major player in the music industry. Jonathan went on to forge long-standing relationships with several key clients, enabling BSL to grow and expand into new areas of business and activities, and ultimately allowing him to fulfil his original dream of working in the sports industry, an area in which BSL still specialises today.

Jonathan continues to play a hands on role in the daily management of BSL, overseeing many existing projects and working closely with key clients.

Life before BSL

Jonathan spent 12 years in the advertising industry working on Cadburys, Dulux, British Telecom, Gallagher, Reckitt & Colmans and other blue chip clients before deciding to go it alone and build the BSL empire.

JOHN ADAMS
Director

John became a director of BSL in 2003 and is the man responsible for ensuring all of Jonathan’s promises are realised in full force. His logistical and technical expertise are second to none and so when it comes to coordinating large-scale projects and events, nine times out of ten, John is the guy at the helm of the BSL ship.

Life before BSL 

John lived and worked in Germany for Toyota Motorsport as Chief Rally Mechanic on Carlos Sainz’s car, winning two World Championships in the process. He has extensive experience in engineering and logistics, and is fluent in German.

ANGIE SHEPHERD 

PA to Jonathan, and overseer of the company accounts and all office affairs, Angie is BSL’s longest serving team member and one lady who knows pretty much everything there is to know about BSL and Jonathan Bodansky! Not content with the weight of these sizeable demands, Angie also gets involved in writing our new business pitches and client proposals, whenever she’s got a spare moment. What a busy lady.

Life before BSL

Angie’s career started in Capital Radio’s marketing division, where she arranged meetings for the marketing director and assisted his PA. She quickly progressed to team secretary where she worked for a wide variety of people coordinating their busy schedules, before becoming a Sales and Promotions Coordinator for the Westin Hotel and Resort chain, her last job before joining BSL.

BRUCE MACKENZIE

Bruce is the ground logistics brain behind our larger events. It is not unusual at some events for us to have several thousand guests and more than 30 vehicles which need to be coordinated and managed at any one time, and it usually falls to Bruce to make sure that every one of our guests is where they need to be, when they need to be there, with the maximum of care. Like John, Bruce’s ability to manage complex logistics without missing a detail or even breaking a sweat, is quite astonishing.

Life before BSL

Bruce worked for Toyota Motorsport as a World Rally Mechanic for several years before joining the team’s specialised sales office. He returned to rallying for a short period working on team coordination and car engineering, before taking up his current role at BSL. Bruce is permanently based in Berlin is fluent in German.

GERLI TAVA

Gerli first worked for BSL at the 2005 World Athletics in Helsinki and has since worked freelance on a multitude of F1 projects which included heading up all of Toyota’s testing events in 2007. She currently works on the Force India F1 team assisting in the on-site management of their Paddock Club. Gerli has planned and executed several hugely successful parties all over the world on behalf of Force India.

Life before BSL

Since completing her Degree in Economics, Gerli has amassed an impressive history in events having project-managed the Motocross Enduro Events and International Jet Ski Competitions in her native Estonia. Her event experience also includes coordinating fashion shows in Estonia and Finland and this talented lady is fluent in Estonian, Finnish, Russian, English and German.

HANNAH KIRWAN

Hannah is one of our longest serving team members, and director of our long-standing Lexus account, an area that she manages with great skill and expertise. Hannah’s time is mostly spent project managing the hospitality and logistics around the British Open Golf Championship for which Lexus are an official partner, and other smaller projects such as the Vienna State Opera. Her vast experience means that she is also ideally suited to head up our World Athletics championship which she does on behalf of Toyota.

Life before BSL 

Hannah worked for the Linguarama Language School in Rome as an English teacher, learning to speak Italian before moving back to the UK. She then worked for ATG Oxford on their luxury walking & gastronomy holidays in Italy, France and Spain, before making the move to BSL where she has worked for the last 7 years as one of our longest serving team members.

HARRIET CHUN (HARRY)

Harry joined BSL in 2007 and was quickly snapped up by Toyota Motor Europe who borrowed her from BSL for the 2008 season, to be based in their Brussels team and assist on various local and international events. Harry returned from her secondment at the start of 2009 and has quickly become a valued member of the team, acting as key support on various Toyota events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed, ‘Home’ Grand Prix in Belgium and the World Athletics Championships. Harry is now on her second overseas mission for BSL supporting our client ADMM (Abu Dhabi circuit) in managing their events department. 

Life Before BSL

Harry studied Leisure Planning and Geography at Oxford Brookes University and did work experience at BSL during this time where she worked at the World Athletics in Paris and Italian Grand Prix 2003, giving her the insight to strive for a future role in event management. She then worked a few years in Recruitment before returning to events; in the mean time organising a couple of successful fund raising events in aid of the the Tsunami in 2004/2005

JAMES BARR

James is a key support across all BSL accounts and plays a vital role in supporting the team to deliver on this large and challenging hospitality programme. He is responsible for BSL’s International F1 Grandstand bookings and is the guy we all go when the technology fails! His wealth of experience and knowledge across a wide range of sporting events makes James the perfect on-site event support too.

Life before BSL

James began his career at Wiston House organising conferences for the Foreign and Commonwealth office. After taking a year out to study towards his MCSE he went on to work for Gibbs Aquada organising a variety of events at the Birmingham Motor Show, Goodwood Festival of Speed and the London Boat Show.

JO EVANS

Jo has a wealth of experience within the events industry and is something of an F1 specialist making her the perfect person to oversee the ING account, which she has managed with great success for nearly three years. During this time Jo has managed a five-strong team whilst juggling the demands of her own F1 projects including multiple Grand Prix races with complex hospitality and large guest numbers. Her attention to detail, thoroughness and creativity make her a valuable asset to team, and as if all that wasn’t enough, Jo is also fluent in French!

Life before BSL

Graduating from the University of Wales, Jo immediately put her skills to the test, gaining experience with the International Tennis Federation before concentrating her work on Formula 1. More recently Jo has been a major factor in the success of Foster’s F1 hospitality programmes where she honed her skills at Grand Prix’ around the world for four years before joining BSL.

KERRY ARNOLD

Kerry splits her time between managing events in the UK, supporting on international events such as the Grand Prix, and securing accommodation at various locations all over the world. She looks after thousands of hotels bookings and has built up an impressive network of hospitality contacts across the globe that enable BSL to achieve the most competitive rates for each of our clients. Mainly dealing with hotels during the F1 period when demand is highest, Kerry crucially forecasts and plans in advance to meet our client needs. She handles the buying and selling of rooms in a highly competitive environment and organises any events that are hotel based.

Life before BSL

Kerry graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a degree in International Tourism Management. She has since lived in Florida, working as the Recreation & Events Manager for Universal Studios Royal Pacific Resort. More recently Kerry has experienced life at The Ministry of Defence as an Events Coordinator organizing large conferences and ceremonies. She is fluent in German and English.

LAUREN HARRIS

Having spent two very successful seasons working on the hugely busy ING Renault  F1 account, Lauren has now decided to give up her jet set lifestyle and stay closer to home. These days Lauren is working on New Business for BSL along with a variety of ad-hoc UK projects. Lauren is also currently putting her unparalleled organisational skills toward  setting up her very own wedding planning business - Florence Blue.

Life before BSL

Graduating from Cardiff University with a masters in Journalism and English, Lauren went on to work for lad’s mag, FHM as a staff writer. She has since lived in Sydney where she worked as a features writer for Cosmopolitan magazine. After organising a variety of industry events she decided a career change was in need so came and knocked on our door.

MABEL DAUTZENBERG

Mabel is one of BSL's reliable freelancers. Having worked full time for the company for five years, Mabel has a huge amount of experience and is always a valuable resource on every event.  Mabel is a hugely talented linguist being fluent in Dutch, English, German and French, making her the ideal freelancer for BSL.

Life before BSL

Mabel studied Hospitality Management at Maastricht University, before working in Florida as Bar Supervisor and Restaurant Manager for the Portofino Bay Hotel. She then moved to London where she was Restaurant Manager for the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel before joining BSL in 2004.

MONICA ROLDAN

Monica is one of our foreign based freelancers who lives in Barcelona but works for BSL at most Grand Prix, managing our VIP guest logistics, working in the Paddock Club and coordinating F1 press dinners. She speaks Spanish, English and French and has a strong understanding of the finer details required to make exclusive events successful.

Life before BSL

Monica has a huge amount of event experience, having worked in hotels and cruise ships all over the world. Prior to joining BSL, she was a luxury property negotiator in the UK for developments in France and Spain. In the winter months when she’s not working for BSL, she can be found managing the reception of a luxury Hotel in the French Alps.

PAUL SCOTT

Paul is a key support on the British Open Golf Championship for Lexus and the World Athletics Championship for Toyota as well as on various projects for the Toyota F1 Team. He plays a leading role in the management of Toyota’s Pit Stop Challenge Roadshow, heads up BSL’s delivery and shipment process and is the man responsible for ensuring we’re all set up with the right gadgets and gizmos when going away on events.

Life before BSL

Paul studied a Business Degree at Bournemouth University. While at University he impressed BSL during the summer break when he assisted on a number of projects which led to him becoming a full time member of staff during summer 2006.

ROBERT JACKSON

Robert works as a consultant to BSL on large projects and assists on our VIP guest programmes for a number of clients. He has a huge amount of experience in sports sponsorship and seems to know pretty much all there is to know about the industry, and everyone within it!

Life before BSL

Formerly Robert was the Marketing Manager at Yamaha Motor and Racing Manager for Yamaha UK. He then worked as a Motorsport Media & New Event Consultant for Philip Morris Asia. While living in California for 10 years he worked with Laguna Seca Raceway, Honda, GM and BMW before returning to Europe & working as a consultant for Dentsu Inc

TOMOKI TAKAHASHI (TAKA)

Taka now splits his time between studying at London’s prestigious Brunel University and helping us out at BSL both in the office, and on events- having completed a very successful gap year with the company in 2008. BSL hopes for his full-time return to BSL for the 2011 season, though we suspect that he may be destined for greater things given that's he's studying areonautical engineering .Taka is fluent in Japanese and is not very good at getting up early on events!

Life before BSL

Currently studying Motorsports Engineering at Brunel, Tomoki has studied Design and Technology, Chemistry and Art at ‘A level’. Taka races enduro-motor bikes, and in April 2007, he completed the Grappe de Cyrano (in Bordeaux, France), a gruelling 2-day 550km cross country race.

TIM SILVEY

Tim begun his career with BSL in 2005 and was a supporting manager on the British Open Golf Championship for Lexus for two years. During this period Tim successfully brokered a deal which secured BSL as the official agent of the 2007 Rugby World before going onto to manage the Scottish Newcastle account at both the rugby and football World Cups. Since then Tim has been focused on the ING F1 account where he has had full project responsibility for numerous major Grand Prix and other F1 related events. Tim is currently on temporary loan to Abu Dhabi where he is our on-site contact with ADMM as we work towards delivering the VIP circuit shuttles at the 1st Ethiad Airways Grand Prix in November.

Life before BSL

At university Tim studied Business and Hospitality management, before putting his skills to the test at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Florida, as their Recreation and Events Manager. He then worked for Michael Page as a Financial Recruitment Consultant before returning to his event roots at BSL.
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