Monday, 09 January 2023
Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham and former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England is to join the board of trustees for the charity parkrun.
Professor Van-Tam is among seven new trustees to strengthen the leadership provided by the Board, as well as improve diversity and provide expertise and guidance for the delivery of an ambitious five year strategy, due for release in February 2023.
The new trustees will join current Global Board members, Christine Gibbons, Gavin Megaw and Jeremy Townsend. Six of the seven will become Board members in January 2023, with Professor Van-Tam joining in March 2023.
Through the extensive recruitment process for the roles, the charity sought a range of diverse and experienced individuals to bring the right amount of challenge, lived experience, alternative perspective, and professional experience across a range of disciplines.
parkrun started in 2004 with just 13 runners and 5 volunteers in London’s Bushy Park. Events now take place in more than 2,200 locations in 22 countries around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people from all ages, backgrounds and abilities take part every single weekend as walkers, joggers, runners and volunteers.
parkrun events in the Nottingham area have seen 75,340 participants walk, run or volunteer, with 8,664 unique volunteers amongst them. There have been more than 800,000 parkruns completed and almost 93,000 instances of volunteering. 2022 saw 9,377 participate at a parkrun in the area for the first time.
Active, healthier lives
Professor Van-Tam said: "parkrun is a fantastic organisation which has done so much to promote free, inclusive, friendly participation in sport, exercise, movement and mental wellbeing and I am delighted to be joining it this year as one of its trustees.
"As a public health professional, I am passionate about supporting initiatives which focus on the benefits that an active lifestyle can bring to our physical and mental wellbeing both in the short term and in helping us to live longer and healthier lives. I look forward to contributing to the charity's continuing success."
Chair of Trustees Gavin Megaw said: “I am delighted that such a wide group of talented people volunteered their services to help parkrun. Every one of our shortlisted 15 could have become a Trustee. We were focused on acquiring the skills we need to help the charity to become world class in terms of our operations and make more of an impact within communities across the world.
“I’m proud that we have selected Trustees from a range of backgrounds and skill sets,and, importantly, who are proven leaders with differing views of how the world works.
"This will ensure we challenge our thinking and assumptions, so we can deliver more for those who need it most in these challenging times.”
Calibre and passion
parkrun Global CEO Russ Jefferys said: “We have been working through a huge programme of change over the past 12 months,as we seek to invest in the organisation and strengthen our governance and leadership, to ensure we are meeting and exceeding our responsibilities as a global health and wellbeing charity.
“A big part of this work has been the recruitment of new trustees, and it has been incredibly humbling to see the calibre and passion of the individuals applying to join us. I’m looking forward to welcoming them all to the team and working with them on this next exciting chapter for parkrun.”
The new Trustees are:
Sonya Byers
Long-standing parkrun volunteer Ambassador with a passion for delivering equity, diversity, inclusion and social impact. Sonya is Chief Executive of the non-profit Women in Transport with a mission to support and advocate for women working in transport.
Nat Poulter
Joint CEO of Jungle Creations, a media, marketing and commerce business that has appeared on the Financial Times list of Europe’s fastest growing companies. Nat is a digital community expert with a demonstrable track record of creating content and channels to reach diverse and hard to reach audiences and has introduced world class diversity, equity and inclusion practices in his agency. Joins the Board in January 2023.
Sarah Powell
Chief Executive of British Gymnastics. Sarah joined British Gymnastics in late 2021 to lead a major remodelling of its safeguarding, operations, culture and future strategy. She was previously CEO of Sport Wales and a former international sportswoman.
Professor Sir Jonathan Stafford Nguyen-Van-Tam
Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England. He is presently Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Sir
Jonathan is highly influential across public health and will help the organisation think through its public health positioning with a focus on delivering greater impact within communities across the world.
David Dinsmore
Chief Operating Officer of News UK, responsible for developing new digital revenue streams across the organisation while maximising the legacy print operations. He helped to lead the organisation through a significant period of turbulence and reform its governance structure. Prior to his current role, David was Editor of The Sun newspaper.
Gordon Seabright
Previously CEO of the Eden Project, Gordon has worked at a senior level for a host of charitable organisations. He now leads Creative Land Trust, a charity established by the
Mayor of London, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Arts Council England to solve the problem of the loss of artists and creatives from London. He is a trustee at Five Talents, a charity that delivers financial inclusion for women in East Africa.
John Vickers
Chartered Accountant and currently Director of Finance and Corporate Services at St Christopher’s Hospice, the largest hospice in the UK, with an annual income of £30m. John has extensive experience of working in charity finance; prior to St Christopher’s Hospice he was Director of Finance and Corporate Services at the Design Council.
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About parkrun
parkrun started in 2004 with just 13 runners and 5 volunteers in London’s Bushy Park. Events now take place in more than 2,200 locations in 22 countries around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people from all ages, backgrounds and abilities take part every single weekend as walkers, joggers, runners and volunteers.
parkrun Global Limited is a UK-based registered charity (1175062) and a UK registered company (09411750) limited by guarantee, and is the organisation that governs and protects parkrun events and territories around the world. It is governed by a Charity Board of Trustees.
The Global Board's role is to set and oversee the Charity's strategic direction. The Board ensures the organisation works within the charitable objects, upholds its values and governance, ensures appropriate use of funds, and holds to account, advises and supports the Chief Executive Officer, who leads the Senior Leadership Team towards achieving the Charity's vision and mission and delivering against the strategic plan.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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