James Johnson

Group Chief Executive Officer – Canadian Soccer Business

James Johnson is a globally respected sport and entertainment executive with more than two decades of leadership experience. He was appointed Group CEO of Canadian Soccer Business (CSB) in May 2025 with the mandate to leverage his strategic vision and international expertise to accelerate the growth of Canadian soccer.

Johnson previously served as CEO of Football Australia, where he guided the organization through a transformative era of record commercial success, surging participation, and the landmark hosting of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

His distinguished career includes senior executive roles at FIFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and City Football Group, where he honed his reputation as an innovative and forward-thinking leader dedicated to advancing sport worldwide both on and off the pitch. 

At CSB, James oversees the commercial and organizational development of Canadian soccer through a portfolio that encompasses the Canadian Premier League, League1 Canada, and CSB’s long-term representation agreement with Canada Soccer. He also oversees all media strategies for Canadian Soccer Business and serves on the board of OneSoccer.

Scott Mitchell

Chairman, Canadian Premier League and Canadian Soccer Business

One of Canada’s most-connected and respected sports business leaders, Mitchell has been a fixture on the Canadian and international sports landscape for 20+ years.

As Chairman, Mitchell oversees all corporate partnerships and media rights related to Canada Soccer and the Canadian Premier League – Canada’s professional men’s soccer league.

Mitchell was one of the founders of the CPL along with the iconic tech entrepreneur and sports team owner Bob Young. Mitchell is also the CEO of Bob Young’s group of Canadian Companies including the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Michael Beckerman

Chief Commercial Officer, Canadian Soccer Business

Michael Beckerman brings over two decades of global marketing and leadership experience across sports, media, and consumer brands. His career has spanned three continents, with senior roles including Director of Advertising for Nike Europe, Vice President of Marketing at Canadian Airlines, Chief Marketing Officer at the Bank of Montreal, and CEO of sponsorship agency MKTG Canada.

He also led Ariad Communications—an award-winning marketing and digital agency—for more than a decade and most recently served as Chief Client Officer at Torstar Corporation, helping major brands drive growth and innovation. A recognized voice in sponsorship and brand strategy, Beckerman is a frequent speaker on marketing trends, consumer engagement, and the evolving business of sport.

At CSB, Mike's role is to help partners connect with the soccer audience to meet their business objectives. CSB's platforms and assets include Canadian National Teams, Canadian Premier League, League1 Canada, One Soccer and other media and properties. Mike also helps guide the strategy of Canadian Soccer Business to be on the forefront of fan engagement and player experience to continue to grow the beautiful game in Canada.

Costa Smyrniotis

Executive Vice President, Soccer

Costa Smyrniotis, a proven Canadian executive with nearly two decades of experience contributing to the growth of soccer in Canada, boasts a deep understanding of both the youth and senior professional games domestically and internationally, as well as the business behind them, and a firm grasp of the global soccer market.

Smyrniotis has played an influential role in the growth of the CPL since its early days as a concept. Prior to joining the Commissioner’s Office in April 2023, Toronto-born Smyrniotis held the role of Director of Football and Business at Forge FC for five years. He established Forge as a leading club domestically and as a highly respected organization in the Concacaf region.

Smyrniotis has long identified and supported the development and careers of some of the most notable talents in Canada’s game, both at the youth and professional levels, as a founder of Sigma FC, one of the most respected development academies in North America. Sigma is responsible for producing a continuous pipeline of talented Canadian players and technical staff bound for the professional game including Cyle Larin, the current all-time leading goal scorer for the Canadian Men’s National Team.

Smyrniotis also established a leading player agency based in North America, managing the careers of many clients within the global soccer landscape, including many Canadian internationals.  He has a background in business, and previously held senior roles at numerous multinational corporations, before transitioning to working in soccer full time.

Glen Johnson

Executive Vice President

Glen Johnson joins the CSB/CPL as a seasoned senior executive in sports, business and technology.  He is well-known for innovative thinking, inspiring and leading change, operational excellence, and delivering on market expansion while instilling business discipline to scale growing companies.

Johnson has lead a Provincial Sport Organization, been a Board Member of a National Sport Organization, and served on various International Sport Committees. He has participated in many National and World Championship events, and the 1996 Olympic Games.

His business experience comes through a variety of senior leadership roles at the Canadian Football League as SVP Football, and GE Capital, Deloitte Consulting, Manulife Financial, Intelliware Software, and most recently at Smooth Commerce.

Marni Dicker

Executive Vice President, Infrastructure, and Chief Legal Officer

Marni spearheads the development of infrastructure that is critical to the continued growth of the Canadian soccer ecosystem, oversees the League’s legal affairs; works closely with the Commissioner to lead expansion efforts; and provides expertise in overall company governance, leadership, and direction.

Marni has served in senior legal and business roles such as Chief Commercial Officer and General Counsel for Infrastructure Ontario, where she negotiated and contract managed the construction of all venues for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for international real estate development and advisory firm Live Work Learn Play Inc. and more.

Marni has extensive experience on a variety of Boards, including the Board of Directors of Tarion Warranty Corporation, CreateTO, Technical Standards Safety Authority (Ontario), Habitat for Humanity GTA, Women’s Law Association Ontario, WireIE and SNC-Lavalin Operations and Maintenance.

She is a member of Urban Land Institute’s Hall of Champions, was included in Canadian Lawyer Magazine’s list of Canada’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers (2017), earned the ZSA/National Post’s Canadian General Counsel Award for Business Achievement (2017), was named an Outstanding Leader by the Women’s Infrastructure Network (2016), and was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN (2015).

Marni was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Toronto Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Engineering and Business and is currently a lecturer and mentor in its Faculty of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Western University, two law degrees from McGill University (LL. B and B.CL) and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Marni is also a proud wife to Paul and mother to sons Ryan and Lee.

Kristian Jack

Vice President of Media and Content

With over 25 years of experience in the media industry, including two decades in Canadian Sports Television, Jack has shown the ability to produce content and cover the world’s most popular sport like no one else in Canada.

A native of England, Jack began covering soccer at the 1996 European Championships and after moving to Canada in 2000 has since worked on six FIFA World Cups, plus all major international soccer tournaments.

Jack was a key member of the broadcast team around Canada’s qualification for Qatar 2022 and is one of the most recognizable faces in this country when it comes to this sport, developing key relationships with clubs and players in the Canadian Premier League and beyond.

Shaun Guest

Vice President, Commercial Operations

As Vice President, Commercial Operations, Guest leads the Corporate Partnerships, Ticketing and E-Commerce efforts for the CSB and CPL.

Previously, Guest served as the Vice President, Business Operations for both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Forge FC and was intimately involved with Forge FC’s launch across all facets of the business including ticket sales, corporate partnerships, community partnerships and marketing.

With over 13 years of experience in the sports industry, he previously held positions with the 2007 Grey Cup Festival and Toronto Rock, with a focus on revenue generation across all verticals.

Shaun is a graduate of Brock University’s Sport Management program and holds his Masters in Sport & Leisure Commerce from the University of Memphis.

Laura Armstrong

Senior Director, Communications

Laura Armstrong brings her life-long passion for growing the game of soccer in Canada to the role of Senior Director of Communications, using her background in storytelling to cultivate and engage the Canadian Premier League’s audience across the country.

Armstrong spent nearly a decade as a reporter at various publications, including seven years as a sports reporter with the Toronto Star, where she covered Toronto FC, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors, Canada’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams and more. Armstrong led the Star’s soccer coverage from 2015, reporting on such events as the Women’s World Cup, women’s Olympic qualification, TFC’s three MLS Cup appearances and CONCACAF’s World Cup qualification in 2021 and 2022. She has previously appeared on OneSoccer, Sportsnet, CBC, CTV and the BBC, as well as various radio shows nation-wide.

A bilingual native of Ottawa, Armstrong earned a combined honours in journalism and English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia