Kermode Replaces Adamo as PTO Chairman

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) yesterday announced Chris Kermode as its new Executive Chairman, replacing the outgoing Charles Adamo.

According to a PTO spokesperson, this was a planned succession. Chief Executive Officer Sam Renouf retains his role, and reports into Kermode with no effect other roles or responsibilities. Kermode's predecessor, Adamo, held the role from 2016 until yesterday.

Kermode joined the PTO Board of Directors in July 2020 after a lengthy career with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Kermode's responsibilities during the course of his tenure at ATP included developing new broadcast methods and attracting new audiences, eventually resulting in a stint as ATP Executive Chairman and President. During his tenure, prize purses in men's professional tennis grew by more than 70%.

In a statement on his appointment to the role, Kermode said, "Over the last two years we have made great strides in establishing our events and lifting the triathlon broadcasts to the next level. The PTO business model and the triathlon market is compelling, with many similarities to professional tennis which began to boom once the professionals started to act together to promote the sport through expanding their fan base. Professional triathlon has enormous potential to develop into a mainstream sport. This will require a unified front from the professionals and aligned interests with the commercial partners."

Kermode replaces a dynamic chairman in Adamo, who took the role after a re-branding from the floundering Professional Triathlon Union and pivoted to PTO. Under his tenure, the PTO was able to seal critical funding, including that from an investor group headed by Michael Moritz, and developed a maternity leave policy of which current IRONMAN World Champion Chelsea Sodaro has touted as one reason for her success. Additionally, the PTO was able to broadcast, after much delay, the Collins Cup, and has developed a series of World Tour events that will make up at least 5 events going forward.

Adamo was not immune from the occasional misstep. The PTO and Collins Cup Twitter accounts were frequent grounds for rants about IRONMAN policy without adding substantive discussion. Additionally, it was under Adamo's leadership that a series of antagonistic letters seeking to buy IRONMAN were sent in 2019 and 2020, as IRONMAN was in the process of being purchased by Advance Publications.

This is a pivotal time for the PTO. Following an inaugural Collins Cup in 2021 with a successful broadcast, the PTO expanded to three events in 2022 and began producing events for age-groupers in conjunction with local event producers. However, the launch of those events featured mixed results, including initially launching with a price higher than those of comparable Olympic distance and IRONMAN 70.3 branded events, as well as low participation in both events in Edmonton and Irving. But the Collins Cup remained a critical professional showcase, and the race in Irving was cited as an important final tune-up before Kona this year with 70.3 Worlds taking place in late October.