Board and Executive Leadership Team

His report, Made to Move, published in December 2017, set out a 15-step plan to transform how people get around in the city region. The plan has evolved into a £1.5 billion plan to create a world-class cycling and walking network with the first 100 miles of high-quality routes now being created.

In May 2021, Chris was appointed in an expanded role as Greater Manchester’s first ever Transport Commissioner, tasked with accelerating the delivery of the Bee Network – a fully integrated, city region-wide transport system.

He is one of the UK’s most prominent cycling and walking advocates and has been policy adviser to British Cycling since 2012.  

Chris launched his own range of bikes, BOARDMAN Bikes, in 2007 and is company chairman. He also worked as head of research and development for the Great Britain Cycling Team from 2004 to 2012, including at the 2008 Beijing Games where the Olympic team won eight gold medals. 

He was appointed Chair of Sport England in July 2021.

Prior to that, she held director roles in advice firms, providers and insurance companies.

She is a qualified actuary and holds non-executive positions at Fidelity International Holdings, Just Group Plc, Lloyds Banking Group Pension Trustees Ltd and PensionBee Group Plc.

She is passionate about helping people make more of their money and sees lots of parallels between motivating people to budget and take part in physical activity.

She joined our Board on a three-year term in 2023 and was reappointed for a second term in 2026.

As an urbanist, she has worked in the UK, the USA, Africa and Asia delivering a variety of major programmes, and has won multiple awards for this work.

Currently a senior public servant in regional government, Natalie is proud to lead a team committed to improving the lives of Londoners through housing delivery, specialist and supported housing services, and housing policy.

An experienced board member, she has had the privilege of serving charities working across housing, homelessness and international development.

The leadership, energy and collaborative spirit Natalie brings to all her work she believes was built through her sporting escapades.

She had the pleasure of playing – and coaching – football, rugby league and rugby union to respectable levels.

As well as having the scars to show for her sporting experience, it has also given her a deep understanding of the immense benefits of exercise to individuals and communities.

Natalie joined the board in August 2023 for a three-year term.

He is chair of our Investment Committee, overseeing the governance and oversight in how funding decisions align with Sport England's strategic priorities.

Jason is also director of Active Essex, one of the largest Active Partnerships in England, overseeing a large team that delivers the system partner responsibilities, and six Place Partnerships.#

He led the delivery of the Essex local delivery pilot (LDP) between 2018 and 2025, which was one of 12 LDPs that formed part of a ground-breaking £100m programme funded by Sport England to develop innovative new sustainable ways to tackle long-term levels of physical inactivity in deprived areas.

Active Essex delivers the Government Holiday and Activity Food (HAF) programme engaging over 30,000 disadvantaged children and families every year in over 200 clubs during school holidays.

Jason is a high-level strategic thinker and operator and is competent at building trusted relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

He has a strong track record in Essex of adopting a whole-system and place-based approach to drive up physical activity levels at scale.

He consistently demonstrates exemplary behaviour and ethics, and ensures Active Essex operates to the highest standards of governance. Jason also co-founded the successful charity ‘Active Essex Foundation’ and is a serving trustee.

Jason is a governor at Brentwood School, and he represented Great Britain at national and international level as a sprinter.

He joined our Board on a three-year term in 2023, and was reappointed for a second term in 2026.

He has over 20 years’ experience in strategy, creative development, commercial, public relations and behaviour change.

He is the founder of Planet League, a platform that mobilises sports fans to live greener and has partnered with Premier League, NFL, NBA, and NHL teams.

Tom is also one of the founders of the annual Green Football Weekend campaign and has worked with many professional athletes to drive leadership in sustainability and sport.

Earlier in his career he founded Boost, a digital platform to get young people more physically active and has worked in the digital innovation sector.

Tom has taught management and entrepreneurship at UCL, he is trustee of Nottingham Forest Community Trust and entered the BIMA Class of 2025, which recognises individuals who are shaping the future of Britain’s digital industry.

Tom was appointed in September 2025 for a three-year term.

Vaughan was the CEO at Climate Impact Partners and is an advisor to a number of businesses and private equity companies interested in the carbon markets.

He has over 20 years’ experience in the charity sector and is currently chair of New Philanthropy Capital and the Oversight Trust (dormant assets for public good).

He is also a keen triathlete and is representing GB (age group) in the world championships.

Vaughan was appointed in September 2025 for a three-year term.

She is currently the managing director of the Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025, a landmark event for women’s sport.

Prior to this, Sarah was the CEO of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, and her career spans various roles across Olympic and Commonwealth Games, as well as cricket and hockey World Cups.

She has worked with multiple international and national sports governing bodies across a range of sports globally.

She firmly believes in the positive impact that sports can have on individuals and communities and actively supports work to reduce the dropout rates of teenage girls, helping them benefit both physically and mentally through staying engaged.

Passionate about all sports, she is an England representative in the Masters age group for 10km and as a qualified athletics coach who regularly volunteers at her local club.

Sarah was appointed in September 2025 for a three-year term.

Her main policy interests are sport, education and culture. She works for HENI, an art technology company, and sits on the Sport Honours Committee and the Board of the Football Foundation. 

An evangelist for the value of grassroots sport, Elena has been involved in setting up, running and volunteering at several clubs across different sports. She is a qualified boxing coach and weightlifting technical official. 

She has boxed for England and is a football Blue, an enthusiastic cricketer and a West Ham fan. 

As chief executive of HM Land Registry, he successfully led the organisation through the unprecedented challenge of Covid-19, before rebuilding capacity and capability after many years of under-investment. 

He has accelerated HM Land Registry’s transformation into a much more modern, digital and customer-focused organisation, built around its groundbreaking Strategy 2022+, which is helping to drive the development of a world-leading property market in England and Wales. 

Simon joined the Home Office in 1997 and held several positions across police, criminal justice and immigration policy, before becoming chief of staff for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in 2005.

In 2008, Simon became UKBA’s first regional director for the Americas, based in Washington DC.

Simon returned to the UK in 2012 and became UK Visas and Immigration’s international director and later director of visas and citizenship. His responsibilities included oversight of all visitor, tourist, work, study and citizenship routes, as well as the immigration sponsorship system.

He also set up the EU Settlement Scheme for European citizens residing in the UK, which was successfully launched in 2019.

Simon is a passionate sports fan and an ardent supporter of Nottingham Forest. He still plays five-a-side football every week and has also taken up padel, as well as making sure his three school-age children have similar opportunities to play sport and keep active.

She joined Sport England in 2022 from the University of Warwick, where she was Director of Sport & Active Communities and has a strong career history working in communities and sport.

Previous roles include Director of Sport and Culture at Wakefield Council and Coventry City Council, where she headed up their sports team.

She chairs the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Physical Activity & Health Board and represents the Higher and Further Education sectors on ukactive’s Membership Council.

He joins from BBC Studios, where he held a range of senior roles, most recently as President, Global Markets, overseeing distribution activities across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia & New Zealand, including content sales, co-production, channels and streaming, and brands and licensing. He also served on the committee responsible for content investment decisions.

Nick began his career at McKinsey & Company, advising clients across sport, media and government.

He's also worked at Diageo in its global strategy team and contributed to a major cross-government childcare policy review in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.

He holds an MBA from INSEAD and has lived and worked in the UK and Australia.

She began her career as a prison governor and went on to hold senior roles at the Ministry of Justice, where she led major change across policy, commissioning, programme delivery and people functions, as well as sponsoring arm’s length bodies.

She later founded and led a multi-academy trust of 17 schools in Yorkshire.

Prior to her role at Sport England, Amy worked in the commercial sector delivering people-centred services to local and national government, including through a community interest company.

Amy has also held a number of non-executive roles, including supporting the delivery of the English stages of the Tour de France in 2014 and serving on the Board and Audit Committee of Northumbria University for nine years.

She is passionate about improving outcomes for people from disadvantaged backgrounds and enabling communities to thrive.

He has represented Sport England as a Board Director of both the Football Foundation and UK Coaching.

Phil’s team manages long term investments of several hundred millions in various sporting bodies, and giving the subsequent advice to achieve results. The ultimate aims are to grow the number of people regularly engaged in sport, while maximising international and domestic sporting success and helping the sport sector to become more productive, sustainable and responsible.

Within these aims, Phil leads the organisation’s work in talent development and performance, club and workforce development, volunteering and coaching, equality and diversity and improved governance. 

Phil joined Sport England in 2008 from The Football Association, where his professional career started after Euro ‘96 as the General Secretary of the County FA in Manchester.

His football career took him through various roles in the game before becoming The FA’s Head of Policy and Public Affairs, responsible for football industry policy in relation to Government in both the UK and international bodies.