Source: Graham Brown to become CIS CEO upon leaving Rugby Canada

TORONTO – Graham Brown, who spent 13 years as head of Rugby Canada, has been named CEO of the governing body of Canadian university sports.

A source confirmed the hiring, which will be announced at a CIS news conference Thursday in Toronto.

Rugby Canada announced in late August that Brown was leaving the organization after 13 years. The 45-year-old Brown plans to step down after the conclusion of Canada’s campaign at the Rugby World Cup, which starts Sept. 18 in Britain.

Brown, who has three young children, said he travelled more than 100 days a year in his rugby job. Rugby Canada has offices in suburban Toronto and Langford, B.C., with Brown based in Ontario.

Brown was one of just three full-time employees at Rugby Canada when he came on board in 2002. Today there are 48.

He was executive director of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association when he joined Rugby Canada as COO in May 2012. A year later, he took over as CEO when Gareth Rees stepped down.

Brown and Rees had taken over a governing body that was in debt and still recovering from an internal struggle that resulted in a players’ revolt in 2001 when the previous board fired men’s coach David Clark.