I am passionate about the difference that physical activity and sport can make, especially for disabled people and people living with life-long conditions. As a father of a child with chronic lung disease, I have seen first hand the difference that physical activity can make to physical and mental health.
Given the opportunity, I can bring a broad set of skills and knowledge of governance, marketing, sport policy and business, partnership influencing and engagement, an international track record of delivery and a portfolio of experience that encompasses a very wide range of public, private and third sector organisations and stakeholders. This will allow me to represent UK Active and the sector in the most positive way, working closely with the rest of the Council and UK Active senior management team.
I understand the challenges faced by large and small organisations, being a Strategic Director of a company with 4,000+ employees and £100m+ turnover, but also having set up my own limited company, growing it from nothing.
In my role as Strategic Director at Parkwood Leisure, I am responsible for our marketing team (including public relations, corporate partnerships and direct to customer marketing), business development team and health & wellbeing team, which gives me an excellent up-to-date understanding of key developments and landscape changes in the physical activity sector. Much of the work of our health & wellbeing team is delivering physical activity interventions within complex local systems across local authorities, CVSE organisations, Integrated Care Systems and private sector partners.
Having been a trustee of two charities and a school governor at two schools, I am acutely aware of the pressures on key partner sectors such as education and CVSE organisations. I was a founding trustee of Everyone Health & Leisure in Cheshire East and recently became a trustee of Together Active, the Active Partnership for Staffordshire.
I joined Parkwood Leisure from British Cycling where I spent 3 1⁄2 years overseeing the development of their capital grant programmes, operating model and business plan. Whilst there I also designed and implemented their Places to Ride investment programme.
I have worked in the industry for more than 20 years and worked with national and international clients including Sport England, UK Sport, SportScotland, Sport Wales, a number of high profile NGBs, Core Cities and local authorities
