Leeds United have appointed two new board members with Andrew Schwartzberg and Eugene Schneur joining the English football club’s senior leadership team.
Schwartzberg — who is part of the majority ownership group at the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA — joins Leeds’ board as its new vice-chairman, replacing Rudy Cline-Thomas who remains a significant investor. Schneur joins as a board member and will sit alongside Schwartzberg, chairman Paraag Marathe, CEO Angus Kinnear and Peter Lowy.
Leeds play in the Championship, the second tier of English football, after suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2023. Later that year, the 49ers Enterprises investment group took control of the club from former owner Andrea Radrizzani.
Schneur and Schwartzberg are both part of the 49ers Enterprises group and both have backgrounds in affordable housing in the United States.
The pair have experience founding and running successful companies in the US, with Schneur’s businesses including real estate and affordable housing development.
Schneur moved from the former Soviet Union to the U.S. as a child and is a former lawyer turned investor. He started a real estate business with former New York Mets baseball player Mo Vaughn in 2003.
Former vice-chairman Cline-Thomas steps back from the board but remains part of the investment group at Elland Road as new members of 49ers enterprises step up.
He was appointed to the board following their takeover of the club in July 2023, along with Lowy and Marathe.
Cline-Thomas also co-owns Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Australian Leeds fan Lowy is a significant investor as part of the 49ers, while Kinnear has been on the board since 2017 when Andrea Radrizzani bought the club.
A Leeds spokesperson said: “Welcoming Andrew and Gene to the Leeds United board is an exciting moment for the club. They are experts in running successful businesses and will bring unique perspectives on how to run Leeds United.
“There is full confidence that they will be valued members of the club and community and provide additional momentum as the journey back to the Premier League continues.”
Why has Cline-Thomas stepped back?
The former basketball agent turned venture capitalist has a number of business interests which demand his time. Though he has stepped back from the board, he remains a significant investor in Leeds. He invested in the club via his company Mastry as part of the 49ers takeover, with the investment vehicle focused on early-stage entrepreneurial ideas.
One of its early successful investments was in Uber and Mastry also took a significant stake in Athletes First in 2023, a firm which represents players in the NFL. Cline-Thomas was named among the investors when U.S. fund Argyle Green took a 20 per cent stake in Plymouth Argyle in 2022. He gifted that stake back to Argyle to meet EFL rules and invest in Leeds.
How does this change things at Leeds?
At this stage, little has changed in terms of the 49ers retaining control of the club and driving the direction of things by having investors involved on the board. It is unclear at this stage whether Schwartzberg and Schneur will seek to work with particular areas of speciality in operations at Leeds.
However, the leadership feel that they have assembled a board with a wide range of business and sporting experience from a global background capable of helping Leeds win promotion to the Premier League.
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(George Wood/Getty Images)
