Nity Raj was appointed to Brentford Football Club’s Board of Directors last week.
The 41-year-old has worked for Brentford FC Owner Matthew Benham at Smartodds for the last four years.
Smartodds is a company which provides statistical research for professional sports gamblers.
He was invited to join the Board by Matthew and was ratified last Friday, September 26, together with Mike Power.
Nity said: “We were having lunch, talking about various different things, and Matthew asked if I would like to join the board of Brentford.
“I didn’t accept immediately; it’s a big responsibility and something I don’t take lightly.
“But ultimately I had to do it – to be part of a club like this is a huge privilege and a great opportunity for me to learn and to contribute.
“And of course, I love the club; you can’t help but get drawn in.”
Nity is a West London man, similar to his fellow new appointee.
“I grew up in Harlington, went to University in London, and always worked here so I’ve never really left the place, a Londoner born and bred,” he said.
Nity is General Counsel at Smartodds, joining in September 2010 after leaving internet giant AOL.
“I joined AOL, and had a long career there, and did every legal job there was to do,” he said.
“My training was in intellectual property law and I specialised in negotiating commercial contracts, sponsorship agreements, marketing and advertising.
“I took responsibility for Europe and then International legal, and had a brilliant stint there, nearly ten years, doing every possible legal job - which was immensely rewarding in a young company, with lots of new ideas, but in 2010 I was looking for a new challenge so it was time for me to leave.
“Phil Whall [Chief Executive at Smartodds and a Club Director] was previously at AOL – and he told me about this place called Smartodds.
“He told me about what the business was doing, and it seemed like an incredibly exciting place.”
I asked Nity what an average day at Smartodds was.
“There isn’t one,” said Nity.
“Ever since I’ve joined, things have been evolving, sometimes overnight.”
Nity applied his skills this summer when he helped Matthew and the rest of the team with the acquisition of Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland and was subsequently appointed to the Danish club’s board earlier this month.
He now starts life as a Brentford director and is looking forward to the challenge.
“I’ve supported the executive team on the outside as the lawyer looking in, and now I’m excited to be joining the board and being closer to the decision making,” said Nity.
“I really believe we can go on to even greater things together – Brentford has an incredibly exciting future and I’m pleased to be a part of it.”
Nity outlined what skills he thought he could bring to the role.
“There’s definitely the legal side of things and that’s going to expand, and I’d like to do a lot more,” said Nity.
“When you think about the things we’ve got to do in the future, to achieve our ambitions for a new stadium, to achieve financial sustainability independent of Matthew’s support we have to cement our positon in the Championship, and to move beyond it.”
Nity then spoke of his excitement in what potentially lies ahead for the Club.
“I feel very privileged because it’s like being on the ground floor in a start up,” said Nity.
“You look around you and you see these incredibly talented people who have such huge potential to go further.
“It takes time but we are getting better at what we do every day – so there is so much further we can go.
“I think of this as a Premier League club that’s in the wrong division.
“But we’re not here to puff out our chests, or say we’re better than you, we want to be better than our current selves, and I believe that we will be.
“We have to be humble because we have to continue to aspire to be better.
“The sky’s the limit for Brentford, because if you can apply that kind of thought, that’s how you never stop improving, and that is very exciting.”
A full interview with Nity will appear in Bees Review when Brentford play Reading tomorrow, Saturday October 4.