Our Team
James Tozer
Co-Founder
James co-founded Oval Insights and is the Director of Analytics. He previously worked as a data journalist at The Economist for 6 years, using statistics and machine learning to tell stories about all sorts of subjects, including sport. In 2021 the Society of Editors named him as a co-winner of Data Journalist of the Year for his work on covid-19. He was also highly commended by the Royal Statistical Society and invited onto an advisory group by the World Health Organisation.
Mark Einhorn PHD
Lead Data Scientist
Mark joined Oval Insights as Lead Data Scientist in May 2021. Mark oversees the design, development and delivery of all analytic models. He holds an MSc and PhD in Operations Research from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. During 5 years of experience at McKinsey & Company, Mark led McKinsey’s development of predictive and prescriptive models for global airline, logistic and pharmaceutical companies, among others.
Rob Lowe
Co-Founder
Rob founded the first rugby data collection business in the UK, Atlantis, in 1996. Atlantis was acquired by Opta in 2001. While at Opta, Rob managed official data collection for rugby, football and cricket across multiple countries and World Cup events.
Gordon H. Fairley
Co-Founder
Gordon co-founded Oval Insights…He previously worked as a consultant for the Rugby Football Union, running analytical projects supporting coaching staff. Alongside analytical work at the RFU, Gordon graduated from University of Virginia with a double major in Economics and Politics and spent 5 years at Oakwell Sports Advisory. Oakwell is a corporate advisory business specialising in the sports and media sector. While at Oakwell, Gordon advised CVC Capital Partners on their investments into Premiership Rugby, United Rugby Championship and Six Nations Rugby.
Karl Binks
Operations Manager
Karl spent 8 years as part of the Rugby Operations team, including 2 as Rugby Operations Manager, at Opta (now Stats Perform), managing the collection and distribution of rugby performance data. Karl previously worked as a Rugby Analyst for Opta, providing both live and post-match analysis for professional games and holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of York and Université Paul Sabatie.
Angus Campbell
Performance Analyst
Angus graduated Northumbria university with a degree in applied sports and exercise science in 2021. While completing his studies he worked alongside World Rugby collecting data matches as well as doing his thesis on ‘The Assessment of KPIs in elite rugby 7s’. Since joining in September 2021 Angus has worked in live and post-match analysis, Quality assurance and Data visualisations.
Conor Wilson
Performance Analyst
Originally an IT security specialist and member of the Army Reserve. A change of path led to Conor graduating from a MSc in Performance Analysis in Sport from Hartpury University, where he worked closely with Gloucester Rugby and Hartpury.
Sam Akers
Commercial Director
Sam has worked in the sports business industry for over 10 years, previously specialising in Sponsorship Sales. Working for both rights holders and agencies, Sam has helped develop world class partnerships for major events such as parkrun, The Manchester Marathon, and the Tour de France.