John Steele, the man in charge of funding Olympic athletes through UK Sport for the last five years, has been appointed the new chief executive of the Rugby Football Union.
Steele, a former player, coach and director of Northampton Saints, took over as UK Sport chief executive in July 2005 just days before London won the contest to host the 2012 Olympics.
Since then he has led the distribution of £600m to Olympic sports aimed at Britain maintaining fourth place in the 2012 medals table and improving on their performance in Beijing.
He succeeds Francis Baron who retired after 11 years in the position and Steele has a tough act to follow with England winning the World Cup and getting to the final during Baron's tenure. He also revolutionised the RFU in commercial terms, turning a £10m loss to a £9m profit and turnover of £119m last year.
Steele said: "I am delighted to be taking up the role of chief executive at the RFU, and am very much looking forward to what I know will be a big challenge in the sport that I am immensely passionate about.
"The next five years will be hugely exciting times for English rugby, culminating in a home World Cup in 2015. During this time I will be totally committed to ensuring a legacy is created from the World Cup at both a community and elite level, whilst building on the sound commercial basis already created at Twickenham.
"The decision to move on was an incredibly difficult one. I am extremely proud of UK Sport and what it has achieved over the past few years, and what I am sure it will go on to achieve.
"It has a vital role to play not just in ensuring our athletes' success in London 2012 but also helping to shape the future of the sporting landscape in the UK. I know that I leave it not only in safe hands but full of talented, experienced and committed people whom it has been a pleasure to lead."
Steele will leave UK Sport next month and then organisation's chair Baroness Sue Campbell admitted the new job was too good for Steele to turn down.
Campbell said: "While we are all very sad to see John go, we are also very proud that he has got what for him is the job of a lifetime. As a rugby man it was too good for him to turn down, and he leaves with the best wishes of everyone at UK Sport.
"Since joining five years ago, John has made a terrific impact at UK Sport and has led the organisation to a place where it is respected both in the UK and internationally for its leadership in performance sport."
