Jamie Copas, former chief executive of WPP’s Prism Sport & Entertainment agency, has been appointed CEO of the E1 Series, SportBusiness has reported. E1 confirmed the appointment to Powerboat News after publication.
Copas replaces co-founder Rodi Basso, who stepped down from the chief executive role in January and moved to a non-executive position. At the time, E1 chairman Alejandro Agag told The Times that a new CEO would be appointed “in due course.”
Who is Jamie Copas?
Copas is a London-based advertising and sports marketing executive with a career spanning Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann London, and WPP. At WPP he served as global client leader for Aston Martin before taking on the leadership of Prism Sport & Entertainment, the WPP sports sponsorship agency whose clients have included MasterCard, Aston Martin, Ford, and INFINITI. Prism has since been absorbed into VML Live, WPP’s sport and entertainment offering, where Copas most recently held the title of Global Executive Lead.
He has no background in engineering or motorsport operations. The contrast with Basso, a former Ferrari and Red Bull F1 race engineer and McLaren Applied managing director who co-founded E1 during the COVID-19 pandemic, is pointed.
A commercial bet
The appointment reflects where Agag believes E1 needs to go. The championship reported revenue of £25.9 million in the year to December 2024 and Agag has projected a £5 million profit for 2026. He has also been explicit about wanting a major streaming deal, naming Disney+ and Amazon Prime as targets.
Copas has spent his career on the brand side of sport – buying and activating sponsorships on behalf of major commercial partners. He now runs the property those brands are being asked to invest in. Whether that perspective translates into the operational and sporting demands of running a global championship is the question the appointment raises.
“Jamie Copas brings to E1 a successful agency background in brands, sports and entertainment to help the Championship through its next phase of growth. Working closely with founder and Chairman Alejandro Agag, the Board, executive, wider E1 team and key stakeholders, Jamie will focus on driving forward E1’s commercial relationships, ambitions and delivery.” – E1 spokesperson
Basso remains with the series in a non-executive capacity.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
