Changes to Sport England's Executive Team

Three of Sport England’s executive directors, Thomas Godfrey (Commercial), Judith Dean (Communities) and Mihir Warty (Strategy and Research) will be leaving the organisation in September.

Thomas is moving on to take up a new role as Partnerships Director at A4e, a company committed to getting long-term unemployed people back into work. As Sport England’s first Commercial Director, Thomas has made a significant contribution to the organisation, securing ground-breaking partnerships with Facebook and JustGiving. Thomas’ last day with Sport England will be 10 September. Sport England has reviewed how best to organise its commercial function and we have decided to declare his post redundant and integrate the Commercial Team into our communications function.

Judith is taking voluntary redundancy and is planning to relocate with her family to the South West. Judith has made a major contribution to the deliver of our strategy, establishing the Communities Directorate and helping us to develop the commissioning process for our investment in national governing bodies of sport. Her last day with Sport England will be 3 September. We have reviewed the executive leadership of the Communities Directorate and are planning to integrate the management of our local specialist staff with those undertaking a national role.

Mihir has resigned from Sport England in order to return to the media sector. His post, subject to the current public sector recruitment freeze, will be advertised as soon as possible. Mihir played an important role in developing and writing our current strategy. He also oversaw the creation and launch of the Sport Satisfaction Survey which deepens our understanding of the barriers to, and opportunities for, increasing participation in sport. Through his leadership of the Active People and Sport Satisfaction surveys we now have a robust measurement framework against which our investments can be assessed, which is fundamental to our strategy and approach to funding.  His last day with Sport England will be 30 September.

Sport England’s Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “I would like to thank Judith, Thomas and Mihir for the significant contribution they have made to the delivery of Sport England’s strategy. We wish them every success in the future.”