Michael Payne is Special Advisor to Bernie Ecclestone, Chairman and CEO of Formula One Management. He has spent the past 25 years as a senior executive in the sports marketing industry. In 1983 he was hired to create the first ever global marketing strategy for the Olympic Games, and subsequently served as the first marketing director of the International Olympic Committee (overseeing marketing of fifteen Summer and Winter Games), and director of Olympic global broadcast and media rights. Nominated by Advertising Age as one of the world's most influential marketers, he is frequently featured and quoted as an authority on issues related to the Olympics, sports management, and marketing.