Mike Slade

Personar Ltd. has appointed technology and sports media veteran Mike Slade as senior advisor, adding a longtime digital media executive to help guide the company’s strategy as it expands its AI-powered sports intelligence platform across global professional sports.

The London-based company said Slade will advise its leadership team on corporate strategy, product positioning and international growth. The appointment comes as Personar seeks to broaden adoption of its TrackSwift and CoachScribe platforms, which use artificial intelligence and audio analysis to deliver real-time insights for elite sports organizations.

Slade brings more than four decades of experience spanning technology, digital media and sports. As chief executive officer of Paul Allen’s Starwave in the 1990s, he helped launch ESPN.com, NBA.com, NFL.com and NASCAR.com, digital properties that became foundational platforms for online sports media before Starwave was acquired by The Walt Disney Company.

He later joined Apple’s executive team as a strategic advisor to Steve Jobs from 1998 to 2004 after previously serving as vice president of marketing at NeXT. Earlier in his career, Slade worked at Microsoft, where he helped bring products including Excel, Works and Microsoft Office to market.

Beyond operating roles, Slade has remained active as both an investor and advisor. He co-founded venture capital firm Second Avenue Partners in 2000 and became a co-owner of the Professional Bowlers Association. More recently, he served as senior advisor to Genius Sports, where he helped shape product strategy and commercial growth as the company expanded relationships with sports leagues, media organizations and sports betting partners.

Personar Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Adrian Jones said Slade’s experience building category-defining sports media businesses and advising high-growth technology companies aligns closely with Personar’s ambitions. He said Slade’s understanding of where sports, data and media are headed will help the company scale its TrackSwift and CoachScribe platforms.

Slade said Personar’s audio intelligence technology reminds him of the early days of internet-based sports media, describing it as a new source of value for sports organizations. He said the company has established products, commercial customers and a clear strategy for addressing a growing market, adding that he looks forward to helping accelerate its next stage of growth.

Personar develops AI-powered audio analysis and real-time decision intelligence tools for professional sports organizations. Its TrackSwift platform delivers live audio analytics, while CoachScribe provides AI-driven coaching intelligence for teams, coaches and athletes. The company’s customers include Formula 1 teams, Premier League organizations and other elite sports properties.

Headquartered in London with a development hub in Budapest and teams across Europe, the Asia-Pacific region and the United States, Personar has positioned itself at the intersection of artificial intelligence, sports analytics and performance technology. As professional sports organizations increasingly seek competitive advantages through real-time data and AI-driven insights, the company is expanding beyond traditional performance analytics into audio intelligence, a segment that remains relatively underdeveloped compared with video and statistical analysis.

The addition of Slade signals Personar’s focus on pairing technical innovation with commercial execution as competition intensifies among sports technology providers seeking to build AI platforms for teams, leagues and media organizations. His experience scaling digital sports businesses and advising technology companies provides strategic expertise as Personar works to expand its global presence in the rapidly evolving sports technology market.