Sports Hub CEO to take extended leave amidst management style speculations

Manu Sawhney (pictured), CEO of Singapore Sports Hub has taken an extended leave of absence from the company. In a statement to Marketing, Sports Hub said "Oon Jin Teik, the Singapore Sports Hub’s chief operating officer, is covering the duties and responsibilities of the CEO in his absence.”According to The Strait Times, this news surfaced after a complaint regarding his management style was lodged to the consortium. The article said a letter was sent to InfraRed Capital Partners, one of four equity partners in Sports Hub, with regard to his style of working and read that a former employee confirmed that there had been conversations with the human resources at Comcast in the past, about his leadership style.Sawhney was first appointed to the role in 2015, shortly after the Official Opening of Sports Hub and replaced Philippe Collin-Delavaud. Sahwny was tasked to build on the organisations momentum and take it to the next level.Prior to that, he was managing director of ESPN STAR Sports (ESS), and reported directly to the board. He was responsible for the overall business leadership and P&L of the company across 24 countries in Asia and was also responsible for developing the strategy for overall business expansion for the company.He held various roles of responsibility across the sports, media and entertainment group, since joining ESS in India in 1996. Sawhney is also a serving director of Manchester United.The Singapore Sports Hub is a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) project where the Sports Hub consortium has a 25-year contract with the Sports Singapore to design, build, finance and operate the Sports Hub. The private sector Sports Hub consortium includes four equity partners: InfraRed Capital Partner, Dragages Singapore, Cushman & Wakefield and Global Spectrum Asia.