Why Sports Conference 2016

Geoff Thompson
Executive Chair MBE, FRSA, DL
The Youth Charter

Geoff Thompson was appointed to the GB Sports Council - now Sport England in 1990 following an outstanding career in competitive Karate. He was five times World Karate Champion from 1982 to 1986 and holder of over 50 national and international titles. As one of Britain’s most successful and celebrated sportsmen of the 80’s Geoff made a transition from tracksuit to lounge suit where he established himself as a sports politician and administrator. Geoff is one of the leading youth activists and experts in sports development and politics with over 25 years experience in the bidding and hosting and legacy of major games and the positive impact of sport and the arts in the social and human development of young people and communities. He is Founder and Executive Chair of the Youth Charter (www.youthcharter.co.uk), a UK registered charity and United Nations accredited Non-Governmental Organisation established in 1993.

Judith Rasmussen
Strategic Lead in the North
Sport England

Judith had 15 years experience within Local Government before moving to Sport England in November 1997. Her Local Government experience was gained with Middlesbrough Borough Council within Community Leisure before moving to Wear Valley District Council as Assistant Manager of Spectrum Leisure Complex. Following a number of years in operational management, Judith became Assistant Director of Leisure and Marketing with the specific responsibility for Sports Development, events, Arts Development, Health and Fitness and Education and training. Throughout this time she was an active ILAM (now CIMSPA) member and chaired the region in the late 1990s. Judith joined Sport England in 1997 as a Senior Development Manager and was promoted to Regional Director in July 2000 through to the present time now as Strategic lead for Sport England in the North. During her time at Sport England Judith has been involved in the development of many areas of work for Sport England and role now covers the North of England leading the local Sport England teams and working with Local Authorities, County Sports Partnerships and key stakeholders to deliver Sport England’s strategy

Barry Horne
Chief Executive
Activity Alliance

Barry Horne has been Chief Executive of the English Federation of Disability Sport in May 2010. EFDS is the National charity promoting and enabling more disabled people to become active in sport across England and has a simple vision: "Disabled People are active for life". Barry’s former role was as a Corporate Director in a large City Council but he has worked in a range of roles including as Chief Executive of the East Midlands Regional Assembly and Regional Local Government Association. His first seven years were in the community and voluntary sector and he is delighted to be heading up a National charity with such a vital role to play. Barry is a passionate advocate for the powerful role which sport and physical activity can play in improving disabled people’s lives and changing attitudes in society. Barry is a keen and regular tennis player and cyclist.

Ali Oliver
CEO
Youth Sport Trust

The Youth Sport Trust is an independent charity devoted to building a brighter future for young people through physical education (PE) and sport. We believe PE and sport have the power to fulfil young people`s potential, helping them to be healthy and happy, succeed in life and contribute to society. With over 20 years of experience, we specialise in developing and delivering high quality PE, sport and physical act ...

Nicola Miller
Director Of Campaigns and Communication
Women in Sport UK

Women in Sport aims to transform sport for the benefit of every woman and girl in the UK. Responsible for leading the full range of campaigning and communications activities; from strategic planning to tactical delivery, and supporting the Chief Executive in the corporate leadership of the charity.

Adam Walker
Open Water Swimmer
Ocean Walker

Adam Walker is an inspiring and record-breaking open water endurance swimmer, who became the 1st British person to swim the Oceans 7 (the toughest and deadliest seven ocean swims in the world) on 6th August 2014. Not only has he battled against currents, swells and extreme temperatures but against all odds he put himself through 7 years of vigorous training while holding a high-pressure full-time national sales position for a major blue-chip company. His story is one of struggle and success. He has been chased by Sharks, protected by Dolphins and stung by a Portuguese Man O War, he has swum continuously for 17 hours and when others might quit, Adam kept on pushing as he was determined to never give up on his dreams!

Sue Wilkinson
Strategic Lead
Association for Physical Education

Sue was formerly Secondary trained in Human Movement Studies and taught in secondary schools and completed outreach work in local schools. Having then been selected to take a lead on a TDA initiative for a Local Authority re: training primary colleagues as specialist in physical education, she then went on to become an Advisory Teacher responsible for First, Middle and Primary school physical education. Sue trained as an Estyn and Ofsted team inspector for Primary Physical Education. Whilst working in a Local Authority she was seconded to several Universities working on Initial Teacher Education programmes both in England and Hong Kong. Sue loved this work and became a Director of PE ITE and then as an assistant Director of Teaching and Learning at a Midland University. From there she was then seconded by the British Association of Advisers and Lecturers (baalpe) and the Youth Sport Trust (YST) to work on a national strategy for professional development, including the design of the PESSCL programme. In 2003 Sue became the full time professional development manager for baalpe and in 2006 when baalpe and PEA UK merged, she became the national Business Development Manager. Having overseen several national strategies for PE and school sport, and becoming a technical adviser to the TDA, Sue became the Association for Physical Education (afPE) Strategic Lead in 2011. She has authored and co-authored several publications and is currently leading the association’s initiatives for Quality Mark, effective use of the PESS premium and the new trail blazing Level 5 and 6 qualification for primary generalists in PE.

Mark Lawrie
Deputy CEO
Street Games UK Ltd

StreetGames (www.streetgames.org) is an award-winning national sports charity launched in 2007. A national partner of Sport England and a national centre of expertise for developing sport in disadvantaged communities, the charity helps to make sport accessible to all young people, regardless of their income or social circumstances. It does this by supporting and establishing local projects around the UK that deliver doorstep sport, i.e. positive activities and sport provided to young people when they want it, where they want it and how they want it. Over 2.4 million attendances have already been generated by StreetGames projects. StreetGames’ ongoing work to change sport, communities and lives have been recognised by The Chief Medical Officer’s Public Health Awards, The Charity Awards, The Business Charity Awards and Beyond Sport. Additionally, in 2011, StreetGames’ Chief Executive Jane Ashworth was awarded an OBE for services to community sport. These commendations demonstrate StreetGames’ effectiveness in sport and the wider impact on crime, health and community development.

Dr Justin Varney
National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing
Public Health England

Dr Justin Varney is the National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England. His portfolio of work includes physical activity, work, worklessness and health, prevention of domestic violence and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans health inequalities. He has previously led work in the organisation on older people, end of life and internal staff wellbeing. Prior to specialising in public health medicine, Justin trained in general practice and has a broad range of experience across both primary and secondary care. He spent the six years prior to PHE working in primarily in East London working across local government and the National Health Service on issues such as childhood obesity, immunisation and public/private partnerships for health improvement. Dr Varney has a special interest in the public health of minority and marginalised communities with an emphasis on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans communities and the homeless. He is a board member of the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence and a member of the Board of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine.

Yvonne Harrison
Managing Director
Project `92

Yvonne was appointed as Managing Director of Project 92 in March 2018, after leading Greater Manchester Charity, GreaterSport, as their Chief Executive for four years. Having spent over fifteen years within the sport and physical activity landscape, Yvonne has a wealth of experience across the sector incorporating strategic development, relationship management, finance, business planning and communications. Yvonne has been a key driver to galvanize the Greater Manchester network to produce Greater Manchester Moving, the blueprint for physical activity and sport across the City Region, as Greater Manchester trailblazes with radical reform of the health and social care system through devolution and begins to implement Sport England’s local delivery pilot. Yvonne led GreaterSport to multiple awards, before leaving to embark on a new challenge, working with the ‘Class of 92’ across their sport and education portfolio, which includes the brand new University venture UA92 in Trafford. Yvonne joined the Board of Why Sports Media Group in 2017 following a positive working relationship with the Founders and recognising the contribution she could make through her experience and network. Yvonne is enjoying helping the social enterprise realise its objectives and ensuring customers of Why Sports experience great content, networking and cutting edge thinking through the series of conferences and panel debates delivered.

Arun Kang
CEO
Sporting Equals UK

Arun Kang is Chief Executive of Sporting Equals, a national partner of Sport England. Sporting Equals works across the UK with a network of over 5000 sports clubs and community organisations and 150 ethnic media outlets. Arun is widely recognised as a leading authority on equality, diversity and inclusion in sport and secured his status having graduated with a Masters in Promoting Equality and Managing Diversity. Arun has pioneered the `Inclusive Club` model which makes the business case for inclusion for professional sports clubs. He is the founder of the British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards (BEDSAs) and lead member for sport for the World Entrepreneurship Forum. Arun is a key Adviser to Public Health England, DH, DCMS and is a visiting lecturer for the University of Birmingham, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Mentor for the European Social Innovation Academy. He began his career in the media, working as a producer for the BBC. Sporting Equals key clients include Equality and Human Rights Commission, Liverpool FC, Glasgow Life, the Lord’s Taverner’s, Age UK, and the Tennis Foundation.

Jemma Coles
Head of Stakeholder Management
The Football Foundation

The Football Foundation was founded in 2000 and is the UK’s largest sports charity. Funded by the Premier League, The FA and Government, via Sport England, the Foundation awards grants towards developing better local sports facilities and increasing participation in football, and other sports, right across the country. In 2012 the Football Foundation developed Upshot, an online management system. It was built to help the hundreds of organisations it funds to manage, monitor and evidence their sports projects, and designed with a high degree of flexibility to provide value to a variety of organisations. Upshot has been so well received that it is now being used by over 500 different organisations, including NGBs, Sport Foundations, County Sports Partnerships, universities and Sport for Development organisations.

Tara Lee
Senior Consultant
Upshot - The Football Foundation

Upshot is an online management system developed in 2012 by the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity. It was built to help the hundreds of organisations it funds to manage, monitor and evidence their sports projects, and designed with a high degree of flexibility to provide value to a variety of organisations. Upshot has been so well received that it is now being used by over 500 differe ...

Hayley Jarvis
Community Programme Manager
Mind

Hayley Jarvis – Head of Physical Activity, Mind Hayley Jarvis is the lead for Sport and Physical Activity at Mind the mental health charity, she has worked in the sector for over 15 years and has an MEd in Inclusion and Special Educational Needs. For the last three year’s Hayley has led programmes at both ends of the performance pathway including: Get Set to Go a three year Sport England and National Lottery funded programme which supported people with mental health problems to become active in their local communities through peer support. Mind's support to the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation, Duty of Care for elite sport and work with sports ambassadors and supporters. Secured Mind’s two-year partnership with the English Football League for the 18/19 and 19/20 football seasons. Through this work, Mind has developed a range of resources and toolkits to embed learning across the sport and physical activity sector. Mind coordinates a bi-annual network of likeminded professionals delivering sport and physical activity programmes for people with mental health problems. In her spare time, Hayley is a mental health advocate, peer volunteer for Dudley Mind and lead trainer for Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity training.

Carrie Ann Whitehead
Volunteer
Rochdale Mind

I am a Peer Sport Navigator (volunteer) on the Get Set to Go physical activities program at Rochdale & District Mind. I have been with Mind for nearly 2 and a half years as a service user and volunteer. I have suffered from depression most of my life and experienced agoraphobia and panic attacks for the last 12 years. I started Mind as a service user going to the anxiety group and also did a few self-help courses to help me with cope with my depression. I volunteer as a Peer Sport Navigator on the Gym and Boxing sessions. My role is to be there as the ‘go-to’ person from Mind – I am a friendly and familiar person who is there to meet and greet, support, assist, encourage and take part in the sessions with participants. Doing this has helped me to learn so much about myself and what I am capable of doing. People often comment on how much personal progress I have made. I get so much out of volunteering - seeing people develop, gain in confidence and become physically and mentally fitter over a period of time. The social aspect of our sessions is probably the most important aspect of this program, for people to get together and have a chat and some fun whilst exercising.

Radojka Miljevic
Partner
Campbell Tickell

Dr Radojka Miljevic is a Partner at Campbell Tickell Ltd, a company providing a wide range of services to not-for-profit organisations; she has been with the practice for a decade. Radojka has over twenty years of management and research experience across a number of sectors and particular expertise in governance, team development, research, strategic planning, and stakeholder engagement. She has co-written many governance materials, from codes to guidance manuals, and has worked with a diverse group of clients, from government bodies to campaigning charities and research organisations. She is currently working with a sports national governing body and is leading the design and delivery of the County Sports Partnership Network’s Board development programme. Among her recent projects are co-authoring a code of governance and a volume of learning from governance problem cases in the world of social housing. Radojka is a Board member at Soho Housing Association and Chair of Trust, a charity which helps women exiting prostitution in Lambeth.

Dr Michael Brannan
Deputy National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing
Public Health England

Mike is Public Health England’s Adult Lifecourse Lead and was an author of the National physical activity framework, Everybody Active Every Day. He is an experienced policy expert and manager across the public, private, academic and voluntary sectors. With over ten years of experience as a public health professional at local, regional and national levels, he has held leadership roles on health inequalities, transport, sustainability, housing, employment, health and work and physical activity. He has sat on a number of national and regional advisory committees. Prior to entering public health, Mike had an eclectic background across the private, academic and voluntary sectors. He holds a Biochemistry PhD and a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification.

Simon Hall
Physical Activity Strategy Lead
West Midlands Combined Authority

Simon is the Physical Activity Strategic Lead for the West Midlands Combined Authority in its Public Service Reform Directorate. Over the last 10 months, he has led on the development and now implementation of the “West Midlands on the Move” Physical Activity Strategic Framework with Local Authorities, County Sports Partnerships, Public Health England, Sport England and 30 plus stakeholders which positions active communities as the dynamo of a happy, healthy, better connected and more prosperous West Midlands. The Strategic Framework was launched by the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street in November 2017 and included the opening of the Coventry “human power station”, a joint investment to bring activity into everyday lives. Simon is seconded from the Active Black Country Director post at the Black Country Consortium Limited, where he was Director for 12 years; developing an insight and intelligence-led approach to planning, championing skills, collaboration; addressing inequalities and economic growth. He previously worked for Sport England and a number of Local Authorities. After 35 years of football, in 2017 he ran the London Marathon and led the WMCA’s team to success in the Great Birmingham Half Marathon’s Arcadis business challenge, raising over £7500 for local charities. He is a guest Research lecturer at the University of Worcester and his passions include beekeeping, gardening; Public Service Broadcasting and the more sorrows, than joys of supporting Birmingham City.

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