Hatt had joined the group, which organises the annual SportAccord World Sport and Business Summit, bringing together international sports federations and organisations involved in the business of sport, in June 2012 when he took over from Anna Hellman.

The Dane joined after more than 14 years of managing global meetings and events for some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, lastly as global head of events for F. Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.

Hatt had organised seven editions of SportAccord in Saint Petersburg, Antalya, Sochi, Lausanne, Aarhus, Bangkok and Gold Coast.

But the event has not taken place since 2019.

Chinese capital Beijing and then Olympic capital Lausanne in Switzerland had been due to stage the 2020 edition, but COVID-19 led to it being cancelled altogether.

Yekaterinburg was then supposed to host the Summit in May 2021, before it was rescheduled to November 2021 due to the continuing effects of the pandemic, and then again to May 2022 before being called off following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

So far, a host city for 2023 has not been finalised and there are no plans in the near future to announce one.

It is widely assumed that if a host cannot be found, then Lausanne will step in to stage it. 

Hatt had also been acting as the interim manager of the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), which is also facing an uncertain future with plans to dissolve it.

Hatt confirmed his departure when contacted by insidethegames.

"I wish them all the best for the future and that my work over the past 10 years will benefit all members of the sport community in a transparent way," he told insidethegames.