McLaren Names Zak Brown Racing CEO In Massive Restructure

McLaren is restructuring. And in the process, it’s put Zak Brown firmly in charge of the racing department.

The simplified structure follows in the wake of Ron Dennis’ ousting as chairman and CEO. It brings all the various properties under one umbrella with three distinct divisions.

The family of companies once consisted of McLaren Automotive and the McLaren Technology Group. The latter company in turn encompassed McLaren Racing, McLaren Applied Technologies, and McLaren Marketing. Under the new structure, the technology group and automotive divisions will now be part of the same company. That in turn will be made up of three divisions, each with its own chief executive.

Mike Flewitt will continue to serve as CEO of the automotive division. A new chief executive is being recruited for the applied technologies division. And Zak Brown, who served until now as group executive director, will run the racing department.

A Los Angeles native, Brown is a veteran racing driver in his own right. But he made his name in motorsport media and marketing. As head of Just Marketing International, he’s brokered high-profile sponsorship deals for countless racing teams. He also serves as non-executive chairman of the Motorsport Network. And he’s also part owner of the United Autosports sports-car racing team. Brown was named executive director of the McLaren Technology Group after Ron Dennis was ousted late in 2016, but will now focus directly on the racing division.

The F1 team’s racing director Eric Boullier remains in place and will report directly to Brown. As will the company’s chief marketing officer John Allert. Brown, Flewitt, and their yet-to-be-named applied-technologies counterpart will in turn report to the executive committee. That body consists solely of Sheikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa and Mansour Ojjeh. They’re the respective heads of Bahrain’s Mumtalakat Holding Company and the TAG Group, which control the majority of McLaren’s shares. Jonathan Neale will oversee the day-to-day as chief operating officer of the newly restructured group.