Jonathan Gee profile

Jonathan Gee has over 45 years’ experience of sponsorship, corporate hospitality, advertising, marketing and public relations.

In his early career, he worked for leading London advertising agency J Walter Thompson and, on the client side, for Unilever. Subsequently, he was an Account Executive with two Berkshire B2B agencies, Richardson Carpenter Advertising and Nicklin Advertising.

He founded the UK’s first and only magazine for the sponsorship industry, Sponsorship News, in 1982 and edited and published the title for over 27 years.

Jonathan’s publishing house, Charterhouse Business Publications, also published the first UK corporate hospitality magazine, Hospitality & Entertainment, for 13 years.

His long experience of sponsorship and corporate hospitality has given him a unique perspective on all aspects of these promotional methods, making him ideally-suited to providing

a holistic approach to the commercial side of motor racing.

He has particular in-depth expertise in motorsport and has worked with well-known drivers such as John Surtees OBE and Mike Hailwood MBE and Britain’s Dan Wheldon who won the IndyCar Series in 2005 and the world-famous Indianapolis 500 race in both 2005 and 2011.

In the 1970s and 1980s Jonathan worked on behalf of several F1 teams including Shadow Cars, Team Surtees and Theodore Racing.

He helped to introduce Matchbox Toys to their iconic and highly-successful 1970s Formula Two sponsorship and was instrumental in the controversial début of Durex as an international motor racing sponsor.

Now, in the 21st century, Jonathan Gee is in regular contact with several of the current F1 teams and personnel in key North American single-seater and sportscar categories.

In recent years, Jonathan has earned a reputation for successfully working with young, professional single-seater racing drivers - assisting them with their career development, often on a confidential basis.

The advent of Skype has allowed Jonathan to work with drivers, teams and sponsors around the world - one example being Australian F3 driver Christopher Anthony.

Well-known brands with which Jonathan has worked include Bausele Australian watches, British Caledonian Airways, Colman’s Mustard, GQ magazine, Hewlett-Packard, Maclean-Hunter Business Publications, the National Trust, Smiths Crisps and Wolfrace Wheels.