Jennie Price, Chief Executive
Jennie Price, a barrister by training, has
been at Sport England since April 2007. Since joining as Chief
Executive, she has successfully implemented a new strategic
approach to investing in community sport, and a restructuring of
the organisation to better deliver the new strategy. The sports
bodies with which Sport England works now have a clear direction,
linked to the outcomes of growing and sustaining regular
participation, as well as nurturing talent. Jennie has a strong
track record of working with Government, and in 2010 the incoming
Coalition Government gave Sport England responsibility for
designing and delivering the mass participation legacy from the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Prior to joining Sport England, Jennie was the
founding Chief Executive of WRAP (Waste & Resources Action
Programme) which was established by Government in 2000 to improve
the UK’s recycling performance and reduce waste. As part of WRAP’s
work, she oversaw the delivery of one of the most successful
consumer communication campaigns in the environmental field –
Recycle Now - increasing the number of committed recyclers in
England by five million people in just two years. Before heading
WRAP, Jennie Price spent 17 years in the construction industry,
first as a lawyer and then as Chief Executive of the Major
Contractors Group and the Construction Confederation, two of the
leading representative bodies for the UK construction industry.
Her extensive senior management experience has
been recognised in her appointment as a Visiting Fellow at the
Cranfield School of Management. She is also an Honorary Member of
the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and has written two
text books on construction law.
Mike Diaper, Director Youth and Communities
Mike joined Sport England in November 2006. He leads Sport
England's work with NGBs and CSPs aimed at getting children and
young people doing sport in their their own time and in their local
communities; and the work to get 300,000 further and higher
education students doing more sport by 2012-1013 (part of Sport
England's one million participation target). In addition, Mike
leads the organisation's engagement with local partners, in
particular the interface with local government. He also takes
responsibility for human resource and development.
Prior to joining Sport England, Mike led the PE,
School Sport and Club Links strategy, working across the
Departments for Education and Skills and for Culture, Media and
Sport. His leadership saw the percentage of 5 to 16 year olds doing
2 hours of PE and school sport rise from 25% in 2002 to 80% in
2006, beating the Government’s target by 5 percentage points. He
was awarded an OBE in the 2007 Queen’s Birthday Honours for
services to school sport.
Charles Johnston, Director of Property
Charles is a qualified engineer who also has a Masters in
Business Administration.
He started his career at Jaguar before joining Sainsbury’s where
he helped to develop Homebase stores and the Savacentre
Hypermarkets as Project Manager before he eventually progressed to
Director of Construction and Facilities.
Charles was one of the founders of the Reading Construction
Forum and led the team that developed the system of partnering in
conjunction with Reading University.
On leaving in 2000, he joined MDA Consulting as Chairman and CEO
to lead the management buy-out and restructuring. He sold his share
to the future management to join Sport England, initially as a
consultant.
Lisa O'Keefe, Director of Sport
Former Scottish rugby international Lisa O’Keefe has
had a long and varied career in sport. She has worked as a
development officer for both the Women’s Sports Foundation and the
National Coaching Foundation. During this period she was also
volunteered as the under-16 development co-ordinator for Scottish
Women’s Rugby Union.
Since joining Sport England’s South East office in the year
2000, Lisa has held a variety of roles including Head of Sports
Development, Head of Delivery, and interim Regional Director.
She moved to Sport England’s national office in 2007 as Head of
National Sport and in July 2008 was appointed Director of
Sport.
Her career is no less illustrious on the playing field. She won
45 Scotland international rugby caps between 1994 and 2006 and
competed in two World Cups, one European championship and numerous
Six Nations, and enjoyed great success domestically winning league
and cup titles with Richmond Rugby Club for whom she was Club
Captain. She is also a qualified rugby and hockey coach.
Phil Smith, Director of Sport
Phil
was appointed in September 2008 to manage the sport team alongside
Lisa O’Keefe.
The team is responsible for the funding of sports national
governing bodies and other national partners as they work together
with Sport England towards Grow, Sustain and Excel.
Phil joined Sport England from The Football Association, where
his professional career started in 1996 as the General Secretary of
the County FA in Manchester. In recent years he was The FA’s Head
of Public Affairs, responsible for policy and public affairs,
including working with the Government on the various issues
affecting both professional and amateur football.