Tim Hollingsworth is the Chief Executive of Sport England, the agency responsible for delivering sport and physical activity at community level across England. He has held the role since November 2018.

For seven years prior to this, Tim was Chief Executive at the British Paralympic Association, the National Paralympic Committee for the United Kingdom. He also served as Secretary General for ParalympicsGB at four Paralympic Games, during which time the team recorded its best ever medal performance at both a summer and winter Games.

Prior to that, Tim was first Director of Policy & Communications and then Chief Operating Officer at UK Sport. Previously, Tim worked as Director of a strategic communications consultancy, HBL Media, as Head of Corporate Communications at Granada Media plc, and Head of Media Relations at the CBI.

Tim is a Council Member of the University of Bath, a Trustee of the Football Foundation and a Member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Games Committee. In January 2022, Tim was appointed as one of the Government’s Disability Access Ambassadors, advising on opportunities for improvements in sport and activity services and facilities for disabled people. He holds Honorary Degrees from both Bath and Exeter University as well as a master’s degree in Drama from Exeter. Tim received an OBE for services to sport in the 2017 Queen’s New Year Honours List.

As CEO of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Tara Dillon leads the institute's headline work in professionalising UK sport and leisure and transforming the workforce development opportunities of those who work in the sector. Tara was appointed as CEO in January 2015, before which she was interim chief operating officer whilst on secondment from IQL UK. Previously, Tara has held a variety of senior management roles within the leisure sector, combining 12 years working in local authorities and 9 years in the private sector, culminating in a customer-focused commercial role as executive director of IQL UK.

Tim Hollingsworth is the Chief Executive of Sport England, the agency responsible for delivering sport and physical activity at community level across England. He has held the role since November 2018.

For seven years prior to this, Tim was Chief Executive at the British Paralympic Association, the National Paralympic Committee for the United Kingdom. He also served as Secretary General for ParalympicsGB at four Paralympic Games, during which time the team recorded its best ever medal performance at both a summer and winter Games.

Prior to that, Tim was first Director of Policy & Communications and then Chief Operating Officer at UK Sport. Previously, Tim worked as Director of a strategic communications consultancy, HBL Media, as Head of Corporate Communications at Granada Media plc, and Head of Media Relations at the CBI.

Tim is a Council Member of the University of Bath, a Trustee of the Football Foundation and a Member of the International Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Games Committee. In January 2022, Tim was appointed as one of the Government’s Disability Access Ambassadors, advising on opportunities for improvements in sport and activity services and facilities for disabled people. He holds Honorary Degrees from both Bath and Exeter University as well as a master’s degree in Drama from Exeter. Tim received an OBE for services to sport in the 2017 Queen’s New Year Honours List.

Elaine Briggs, Chief Education & Partnerships Officer at Future Fit Group and Managing Director at Future Active Workforce CIC, has over 25 years’ experience in the education sector having begun her career in the fitness industry as a lifeguard, swimming teacher and aerobics instructor before realising that her passion and talent lies in educating and inspiring others. Elaine is recognised as a leading voice within the industry, steering and contributing to the future direction of the fitness sector. Having worked across several sectors, training providers, and awarding organisations, she is incredibly passionate about the value of training and education for our workforce.

Leading the way in calling for a more holistic and community-based approach for our sector, Elaine recognises that workforce development of today will need to ensure individuals can deliver a fully rounded service. Believing resolutely that collaboration and leadership is key for expanding our sectors facilities to provide holistic services for our communities, she drives forward her passion by working with industry leaders and employer partners to identify the essential skills and tools to achieve this. Through meaningful partnerships, Elaine looks to create sustainable training, programmes and solutions that will raise a professional and credible workforce who are highly skilled and equipped to undertake the vital role our sector plays in people's health.

Huw is the CEO of ukactive, the not-for-profit health body which represents the physical activity sector and has a mission to get More People, More Active, More Often. He took the role in July 2019 following three years as Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Research. During his ukactive career, Huw has played a key role in shaping ukactive’s strategy and business plan, as well as leading the organisation’s engagement with government and wider stakeholders. In 2017, Huw was named Leisure Sector Champion for the Department of Work & Pensions disability taskforce, aiming to ensure that the work of the sector in the disability space is aligned to the DWP’s objectives. Previously, Huw was the Public Affairs lead at British Tennis, working across both the Lawn Tennis Association and The Tennis Foundation. He has also worked for both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Olympic Delivery Authority during the delivery of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

John is a GP with a keen passion for lifestyle medicine. He completed his medical training at the University of East Anglia, having previously completed a Cell Biology BSc. (Hons) at Durham University. John has always been a keen sportsman which set him up to be interested in sport and exercise medicine. This fuelled a passion for exercise medicine which incorporates using exercise as a method to cure, treat and prevent many non-communicable diseases. He became a director of a group called Move Eat Treat, worked for Public Health Wiltshire and has organised several conferences around physical activity and lifestyle medicine for doctors and medical students including the inaugural RCGP Lifestyle Medicine Conference 2017.

John is a keen sports man having represented both his Universities at 1st team football and completed a sub 3-hour Marathon in Berlin. He still plays football every Saturday and enjoys running with the occasional charity run as well as various aspects of strength and conditioning training.

Elaine Briggs, Chief Education & Partnerships Officer at Future Fit Group and Managing Director at Future Active Workforce CIC, has over 25 years’ experience in the education sector having begun her career in the fitness industry as a lifeguard, swimming teacher and aerobics instructor before realising that her passion and talent lies in educating and inspiring others. Elaine is recognised as a leading voice within the industry, steering and contributing to the future direction of the fitness sector. Having worked across several sectors, training providers, and awarding organisations, she is incredibly passionate about the value of training and education for our workforce.

Leading the way in calling for a more holistic and community-based approach for our sector, Elaine recognises that workforce development of today will need to ensure individuals can deliver a fully rounded service. Believing resolutely that collaboration and leadership is key for expanding our sectors facilities to provide holistic services for our communities, she drives forward her passion by working with industry leaders and employer partners to identify the essential skills and tools to achieve this. Through meaningful partnerships, Elaine looks to create sustainable training, programmes and solutions that will raise a professional and credible workforce who are highly skilled and equipped to undertake the vital role our sector plays in people's health.

As CEO of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Tara Dillon leads the institute's headline work in professionalising UK sport and leisure and transforming the workforce development opportunities of those who work in the sector. Tara was appointed as CEO in January 2015, before which she was interim chief operating officer whilst on secondment from IQL UK. Previously, Tara has held a variety of senior management roles within the leisure sector, combining 12 years working in local authorities and 9 years in the private sector, culminating in a customer-focused commercial role as executive director of IQL UK.

John Penny is the MD of Third Space where he has held this role for over four years overseeing operations, sales and product development strategy. John comes from a back ground of Sports Science, Coaching and Business Development and has held senior leadership role across premium high volume operations in London with multiple brands over the past fifteen years. Third Space is positioned as London's Luxury Health Club offering- inspiring members to be their personal best through outstanding experiences -and plans to expand its club portfolio further into London over the coming years.

Sue has over 30 years’ experience in the fitness industry as a group ex Instructor, PT and International Fitness presenter, developing programming and education in the UK and America for brands including TRX, TriggerPoint, and Total Gym. Throughout the pandemic Sue represented the group exercise sector, working with the government to support instructors and ensure they were able to get back teaching face to face. As part of this work Sue authored the Group Ex Support Pack and Return to Play guidelines. Sue work for instructors continues – she is currently in talks with PRS for Music to seek simpler, more cost-effective music solutions for the sector.

Oliver Patrick is a Physiologist and leading expert in lifestyle management. He speaks widely on the application of contemporary wellbeing strategies and consults to businesses and individuals globally. Oliver was Head of Physiology at Nuffield Hospitals where he co-founded and led the largest team of applied physiologists, wellbeing advisors and nutritionists in the UK. In 2009 Oliver co-founded Viavi on London’s Harley St, to deliver the most advanced health assessment and health evaluation service available globally. In his clinical role at Viavi, Oliver worked alongside each key discipline of medicine to drive accelerated health outcomes in his clients.

Alongside advanced health assessments Oliver co-founded the first Lifestyle medicine gym in Oxford, tailoring exercise and lifestyle advice to the non-exercise market. Latterly Oliver runs a corporate wellbeing consultancy service, is Clinical Director for Pillar Wellbeing, and has founded Future Practice, an industry specific education platform to drive practical coaching skills in the broader undervalued areas of lifestyle (beyond movement and nutrition) particularly stress, sleep, environmental toxicity and mindset.

Hilary is the Strategic Lead for EmployAbility Leisure at Aspire, an initiative to create more accessible and inclusive training and workplaces for disabled people in the leisure sector. Previously, Hilary managed the InstructAbility programme at Aspire that helped hundreds of disabled people gain training and work in the sector. During this time Hilary worked with Professor Brett Smith and Dr Juliette Stebbings to undertake a research with disabled people, training providers and employers to produce a set of evidence-based Guides for the industry based on the insight gained. Hilary formed an EmployAbility strategic group which includes representatives from Activity Alliance, CIMSPA, Community Leisure UK, Sport England, ukactive and UKCoaching as well as a team of disabled people and researchers.

Colin has worked in education and skills in the sport and physical activity sector for over 20 years, he is responsible for providing leadership for the future direction of the sport and physical activity workforce, aiming to influence external stakeholders to view our sector as a respected profession everyone wants to be part of. He leads on future policy development and manages the workforce governance system of Professional Development Boards & Committees. He has previously worked in similar roles at the Association of Colleges, UK Coaching, Skills Active, Swim England & Loughborough & West Nottinghamshire Colleges.

Katy is the Founder of Seated SOSA Dance Fitness and SOSA & Starlets CIC)

A highly qualified and accomplished professional dancer, choreographer and fitness presenter, with a career spanning 28 years, Katy Barrow, created SOSA Dance Ltd in 2012, and has since trained over 600 dance/fitness instructors in 16 countries worldwide to deliver her programmes. SOSA offers a unique, innovative and sustainable approach, incorporating authentic movements from 37 international dance styles, with an iconic soundtrack of music spanning the past century.

Katy worked with Aspire’s InstuctAbility programme to train disabled people as SOSA instructors. Katy is passionate about providing fully accessible and inclusive training courses to encourage and support more disabled people to gain a professional qualification and build a life-long career within the fitness industry. Katy features in Aspire’s ‘EmployAbility Leisure Guide for Training Providers’ as a case study in support and adaptation for disabled learners.

Katy established SOSA & Starlets Community Interest Company during the pandemic, and was awarded funding from Sport England ‘Tackling Inequalities Fund’, to lead a nationwide project in target LSEG areas, providing inclusive, accessible and affordable dance activities for older adults, those with long-term health conditions and disabilities. This led to the development and trial of Simply SOSA ‘Falls Prevention’ strength and balance programme, with additional considerations for GP Health Referral patients.

Lee Welch started playing wheelchair basketball aged 13, and joined the Great Britain Under23 squad at seventeen before making his debut in the senior squad at twenty two.. When Lee retired from wheelchair basketball he wanted to inspire other people to get fit and was keen to give something back to the community. Lee joined Aspire’s InstructAbility programme and became a Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer. As part of the programme, Lee undertook a work placement at Hartham Leisure Centre and was offered subsequent employment in 2014 where he continues to work as part of the fitness team.

Lee set up disability and limited mobility exercise classes to help show people what they can achieve. His work to engage disabled people in fitness activities has been recognised by an InstructAbility Award and in 2016 he won the Herts Disability Sports Coach of the Year. While Lee continues to work at Hartham Leisure Centre, he has also set up his own personal training business. ‘Beyond Limits Health & Fitness is a thriving business and stimulated by the Covid-19 lockdown he now works out of his own purpose built gym.

Ian Ling has over fifteen years experience working in the leisure industry. He joined Everyone Active in 2010 as Fitness Manager at Hartham Leisure Centre in Hertford. In 2013 the centre partnered with Aspire’s InstructAbility programme to offer work placements to disabled fitness professionals. Ian was instrumental in supporting instructors to develop their confidence and skills and set up inclusive fitness activities for disabled people in the local community. Ian subsequently went on to manage Loughton Leisure Centre and is currently General Manager at Westway Sports & Fitness Centre in London.

Daniel is Sports and Physical Activity lead at Flair, Technology experts who leverage the power of data to beat racial bias in business. Prior to joining Flair, Daniel spent 4 years with OurPeople where he helped operators including Virgin Active, Serco Leisure, Gymbox and Third Space to better engage with their frontline teams. Daniel speaks on topics including Engaging Deskless Teams; Communicating with Diverse Workforces and the Business Impact of Racial Equity & Diversity of Thought.

Flair helps leading organisations (inc. The Premier League, EY and the NHS) break down the barriers to racial equity. Presenting employees with a safe platform to share their lived experiences while their data analytics engine uncovers bias blindspots, benchmarks racial equity performance, and generates roadmaps to meaningful action on ED&I.

Viveen joined Sport England in 2018 as Strategic Lead for low socio-economic groups and became Director for Equality Diversity Inclusion at the beginning of 2021. Through strong leadership Viveen is actively influencing a change, working with partners to build a sporting landscape which redresses the deep-rooted issues of exclusion and discrimination. With a strong belief that we are all accountable for the change we must see, Viveen is committed to creating spaces that are welcoming, affordable, inclusive and accessible; especially audiences who often feel marginalised and excluded.

“My objective is to ensure wherever people are they can experience the true benefits of being active through sport and physical activity. In my position of influence, I will do everything I can to create an environment where all communities feel valued and included.”

Rachel is the D&I & Wellbeing Lead at The Gym Group. Having been with the business for over 6 years, Rachel has supported in the development and implementation of EDI initiatives and strategy through a focus on utilising data insights and creating a culture of inclusion and trust to drive progress in this area.

Iffy is Head of Race Equality at The Premier League, having been appointed in April 2021. Amongst his duties, he’s Chair of the PL’s Black Participants Advisory Group (BPAG), and leads on the PL’s flagship, No Room For Racism, action plan. Prior to this he’d spent nine years working for the Players Union (the PFA), in a joint role as Coach
Educator and Equalities Executive. As part of his role there, he was a Trustee of the anti-racism organisation, Kick It Out, and sat on the FA Council as part of the FA’s Inclusion and Advisory board.

Before joining the PFA in 2013, he’d taken several Coaching roles as an Assistant Head Coach and Head Coach both in the UK and abroad, and all this after a fifteen-year playing career spanning three decades. Having grown up on Merseyside, he’s a lifelong and long-suffering Everton fan, and with a well-honed jealousy of near neighbours Liverpool FC, he’s intent on sharing his current allegiances with both Man City and Real Madrid for the remainder of the season !

Chris has been working in the leisure industry since 1995 and his experience to-date has seen him progress from delivering parties and holiday camps at his local sports centre to high profile national roles for both public and private leisure operators.

Children’s activities, sport (particularly football) and fitness have always been at the core of Chris’ work and since his move from General Management in 2004 he has been responsible for developing innovative products and cutting edge brands for various high profile national and international organisations; such as Disney, Virgin Active, Thomas Cook, Challenger Sports, David Lloyd and global children's TV show LazyTown.

Chris has a flair for creating financially profitable products that truly engage children of all ages, increasing participation whilst at the same time re-energising staff and coaches set the task of bringing his products to life and using them to drive successful businesses.

Chris co-founded Topodium Group in 2020 with a single mission; to transform the sports, health and wellbeing industries. By leveraging a powerful set of collaborative solutions and industry expertise, from sports marketing and technology, to youth consultancy and business growth, Topodium Group are able to effectively and efficiently address change, achieving better outcomes and inspiring new possibilities for partners across the globe. 2022 has seen Topodium Group launch Kidztivity, an innovative new brand delivering a series of off-the-shelf solutions for the children's activities sector.

Matthew Hopkinson is Deputy Director leading the Life Skills Division in the Department for Education, which covers policy on what schools do on pupil wellbeing and development, including PE and sport, wider enrichment activities, relationships, sex and health education, citizenship and equalities.

Dan worked in education for 12 years, teaching in primary, secondary and special schools in Southampton, Newcastle and Coventry. After a brief spell leading a School Sports Partnership in London he was appointed to a local authority Curriculum Consultant role for PE and Sport.

As the Director of Development at the Yorkshire Sport Foundation, Dan leads the Children and Young People, Workforce, Clubs, NGB and Active Design teams, as well as looking for new opportunities for funding and further development of the organisation, including its continuous improvement strategy.

In his role as Vice Chair of the Active Partnership national Children and Young People group, Dan has worked with government departments to develop thinking around the PE and Sport Premium and the PE, Sport and Activity Action Plan. He also sits on the All Party Parliamentary Group for a Fit and Healthy Childhood, having contributed to several influential reports.

Dan has been instrumental in bringing together leaders from different sectors to develop the influential Creating Active Schools (CAS) Framework, which emphasises the importance of putting physical activity at the heart of school strategy. CAS is now changing behaviours in local authorities, multi academy trusts and hundreds of schools across England so that more children reap the benefits of being more active throughout the school day.

Outside of his work for YSF, Dan is a proud father of two, Chair of Governors at a large Academy in North Yorkshire, a Trustee for the communities’ charity Groundwork and occasional triathlete.

Alina is the co-founder and COO of GetSetGo! Family Clubs, a game-changing business in the family activity market. Having secured over £2m in funding GetSetGo! opened their first club in April 2021 and now plan to open a further 7 clubs across London in the next 5 years – with sites in Golders Green, High Street Kensington and Marylebone already in the pipeline.

Alina and co-founder, Claires' vision was to create a space for families where you can find time for you, time for them and time together allowing for friendships to flourish, children to grow and develop and for family members of all ages to get active.

In just 12 months they have delivered over 40,000 swimming lessons and over 20,000 studio classes and see over 3000 family members per week!

Having worked in the leisure industry for over 15 years Alina has extensive experience at both management and board level. Starting her career as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor Alina rapidly progressed into multisite management. Following many years in the private health club sector Alina then took on the role of Global Commercial and Operations Manager, overseeing sales in the UK and US office, along with the management of the global distributors.

In the last 8 years Alina has moved onto successfully consult and launch a number of new start ups and alongside founding GetSetGo! Family Clubs also sits on the board for Six3Nine Personal Training Studios and Swimming Rocks.

Craig has over 20 years’ experience working with children and young people within education as well as the sports, health and fitness industries. Originally from Coventry, he has worked throughout the UK and Europe, implementing Children and Families strategies across product development, operating models, H&S and compliance.

Craig's core focus is on increasing physical activity levels among children and young people. Craig is known for his caring, nurturing approach to leadership, which enables him to bring out the very best in his team members. His passion lies in developing and supporting the best people to manage, lead and inspire children’s professionals within organisations.

An energetic, results-driven individual, Craig aims at all times to provide high-quality, engaging childcare programs and solutions.

Craig wanted to be a kids TV presenter in his younger days, and while he hasn't made a name for himself on the small screen, he has dedicated his life to bringing joy to children (including his own now). And like Peter Pan, Craig believes that he's never really grown up.

Craig wanted to be a kids TV presenter in his younger days, and while he hasn't made a name for himself on the small screen, he has dedicated his life to bringing joy to children (including his own now). And like Peter Pan, Craig believes that he's never really grown up.

Chris is the current Chair of BASIS a role he has fulfilled for the last 9 years. A founder member of the Association, he spent 12 years at the England and Wales Cricket Board as a Facilities and Investment Manager, coordinating and supporting the delivery and implementation of the National Governing Body facility funding programmes in the recreational game. He worked on several pilot and landmark projects which helped to drive the adoption of sustainable practices within the recreational game including the state of the art and forward looking, Urban Hub at the Leyton Sports Ground in East London.

Chris facilitates and manages the Special Interest Groups at BASIS which bring together leading specialists in their field to ‘deep dive’ into topics which are the burning issues within sport, with the purpose of sharing and publishing information relevant to the industry.

Outside of BASIS, Chris currently Chairs a not for profit, social enterprise providing leadership and life skills to young volunteers.

Emma Osmundsen is Managing Director of Exeter City Living Ltd, the ‘Profit for Purpose’ Development Company of Exeter City Council. Emma’s Passivhaus journey started in 2008 when she headed up the development of the UK’s first multi-residential certified Passivhaus scheme for Exeter City Council. Since then, Emma has been responsible for delivering more than 100 Passivhaus homes across the city and, more recently, two of the UK-first Passivhaus developments; an Extra-Care elderly housing, Edwards Court and St Sidwell’s Point Leisure Centre and spa.

Keith is the CEO of SPACE & PLACE, Europe’s leading architects in sport, leisure, and entertainment. He’s proud to be the present leader of, what he describes as, the awesome S&P team, who for over 40 years have successfully delivered some of the most innovative and pioneering projects for the UK’s sport and leisure market. Every year over 100 million people use S&P buildings and he’s equally animated whether talking about S&P’s tiniest community sports clubs, their 2012 London Aquatic Centre with Zaha Hadid, or S&P’s, and the world’s, most energy efficient sports and centre for Exeter City, which is the first and only facility in the UK to receive Passivhaus Certification.

Keith is a regular contributor to local government on the development and funding of community sport and improved activity levels, and works with International Federations and NGBs on outstanding contemporary strategies to get more people engaged in improving physical and mental wellness.

He is known throughout the sector for his creativity and thought leadership and challenges everyone to do better, whether it is on big issues like climate crisis action, or on the smallest construction detail in one of S&P’s buildings

Keith has Previously held roles at the Royal Household, the board of Swim England, and has chaired BISL’s sport sector. He’s currently a Non-Executive Director of British Swimming and is passionate about GB Olympic and Paralympic success.

"Male innovator of the Year”, Will Flint, is the Founder and CEO of Energym, where he's leading the charge, and rebellion, against climate change. Recently awarded “Tech Startup of the Year”, Energym is a precision-engineering, tech-for-good scale-up based in Birmingham, UK, that has developed highly efficient, patented systems and equipment that efficiently captures the energy from peoples’ exercise, converting it into clean, green (and free) sustainable energy. As a self-titled “tech-geek” with an early career in the energy efficiency industry and a love for fitness (with a Bodybuilding Pro Card) - Will has built a business that delivers products and solutions that combine all the things he is passionate about. One that’s empowering the fitness industry to create a better future for our planet.

Find out how Energym is turning Human Power: On - www.energym.io

William has helped transform the health of millions of people across the UK through innovative initiatives he has developed. As a family GP, he began to get his patients more active by setting up the first Health Walk scheme in April 1996. This led to him creating the Green Gym one year later as he realised that companionship and contact with nature were major driving forces in keeping people active.

As CEO and Founder of Intelligent Health, William developed the hugely successful Beat the Street programme which has encouraged more than 500,000 people across the world to get moving and improve their health. William’s leadership has grown the company from just three employees to an innovative industry leader in promoting physical activity.

Ever since he was a child, William has been fascinated by the connection between humans and their environment, so it was inevitable he would set up a company whose aim to improve health through community interventions. Dr William Bird said: “Our bodies are meant to be active and we’re designed to be connected to nature. We’re hunter-gatherers and our bodies currently exist in an alien environment of being indoors all the time and living under artificial lights and so on. Owing to this, our bodies respond with chronic inflammation which leads to cancer and long-term illness.

“The technology behind our programmes is an enabler to make the game simple and accessible to a whole population. The real aim of the game is to get people moving and connect them to their place.”
William has worked as a GP since 1991 and has been awarded ‘Innovation Doctor of the Year’ in 1996 and ‘Innovation Team of the Year in 1997’. In 2015, he was voted as one of the top 30 most influential conservationists in the UK by BBC Wildlife Magazine, named by The Independent as one of the top 100 people making Britain a happier place, and in 2010 was appointed MBE for services for health and physical activity.
He has worked for the World Health Organisation to develop a physical activity strategy for the Middle East which is now being implemented in many of the countries there and also worked on an innovative project for the Met Office, developing Health Forecasting that has resulted in heat health forecasts, cold weather forecasts and forecasting workload for the NHS.

As a result of his substantive knowledge and experience in nature, health and physical activity, William is also heavily in demand as a speaker: delivering addresses to many conferences and organisations including Yale University, American Medical Association, British Medical Association, Local Government Association and The Wildlife Trust.

He adds: “I like to think way beyond the current constraints of normal healthcare; developing innovative projects that will have a lasting and meaningful change for the health and wellbeing of entire communities.”

As Chief Commercial Officer, Alex leads growth and customer engagement for SweatWorks - the leading global technology agency for the fitness and wellness industry. With over two decades of experience in building and scaling companies across the fitness technology space, Alex was previously CEO of Netpulse, a leading provider of branded apps to fitness operators, which was acquired by EGYM in 2018. Prior to Netpulse, he established and led Zoom Media’s operations in Europe for 10 years.

Following 8 years in the military, Phill pursued a passion for health and fitness, initially as a personal trainer before establishing a training company and then going on to setting up and running a large gym. Phill has over 15 years of experience within sport and physical activity and is fully committed to helping to drive the recognition that sector professionals and volunteers receive. He has worked for the last 3 years as part of the CIMSPA team with a focus on insight and innovation.

Alex Zurita is London Sport’s Head of Sport Tech Hub, with responsibility for shaping its strategic commitments to supporting technology, data and digital initiatives designed to raise levels of participation in physical activity and sport in the capital and beyond.

Alex has led Sport Tech Hub’s delivery since its inception, supporting over 45 tech ventures which, between them, have reached more than 130,000 Londoners and raised over £5.5m of investment.

Alex joined London Sport in 2011 with brief stints as Great Britain Women’s Football Team Manager, and a secondment to the London Legacy Development Corporation as Programme Manager for the post-London 2012 legacy and multimillion-pound project - Active People, Active Park.

Having used technology and data while coaching football with grassroots and international players, Alex is a committed technophile, a widely-recognised advocate for the role of technology and open data in boosting participation in physical activity and sport, and a champion of the importance of sport for the future health of London and its residents.

Dr Davina Deniszczyc joined Nuffield Health as London Clinical Lead GP in 2010. During her time with organisation, Davina has worked as Professional Head of Physicians, Wellbeing Medical Director, Charity and Market Development Director and most recently Charity and Medical Director. Having graduated from the University of Manchester in 2003, Davina trained as a GP and in 2007 she gained membership to the Royal College of General Practitioners.

During her time as a GP, Davina identified a lack of resources and the inadequate focus on preventative medicine in the NHS. In an attempt to tackle this, she set up independent Wellness Clinics within some of her GP surgeries. Now in her role, Davina is responsible for developing activities focused on improving health and wellbeing right across the spectrum from prevention through to cure, providing significant and measurable health and wellbeing benefits to more people. Davina also continues her work as a GP once a week.

Kenny leads on ukactive's health and wellbeing development by linking the fitness and leisure sector to health and social care. With a physiotherapy background, he is passionate about the essential role of gyms leisure centres and pools supporting the NHS backlog, active ageing, social prescribing and embedding activity as a therapy for Long-term Medical Conditions.

Colin has worked in education and skills in the sport and physical activity sector for over 20 years, he is responsible for providing leadership for the future direction of the sport and physical activity workforce, aiming to influence external stakeholders to view our sector as a respected profession everyone wants to be part of. He leads on future policy development and manages the workforce governance system of Professional Development Boards & Committees. He has previously worked in similar roles at the Association of Colleges, UK Coaching, Skills Active, Swim England & Loughborough & West Nottinghamshire Colleges.

Dr Dimple Devadas is a London based GP, Lifestyle Medicine Physician and Psychological Health coach.

Dimple is passionate about sport and volunteering and was selected to be part of the London 2012 Olympic, Paralympic Games medical team and London 2012 Gamesmaker. She is a former tennis line judge and is currently undertaking further training in physical activity with a leading U.K. training academy.

Her work and projects are inspired by and explores Health in a broader, integrated and holistic context to include the person within their family, social & work networks, technology and community. An award winning creative, she incorporates multimedia arts with behaviour change coaching and reflective creative enquiry with health education.

Dimple is also a NHS Social Prescribing Champion - NHS England and Improvement & National Academy for Social Prescribing 2022-2023

As CEO of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Tara Dillon leads the institute's headline work in professionalising UK sport and leisure and transforming the workforce development opportunities of those who work in the sector. Tara was appointed as CEO in January 2015, before which she was interim chief operating officer whilst on secondment from IQL UK. Previously, Tara has held a variety of senior management roles within the leisure sector, combining 12 years working in local authorities and 9 years in the private sector, culminating in a customer-focused commercial role as executive director of IQL UK.

David studied Sport Science at college and Sport Studies at university. In late 2003 he started his own Personal Training business and fell into Education and Training because he could not grow his business because he could not find anyone with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to employ.

In 2004, whilst still running his Personal Training business, David worked at a college developing sport and physical activity qualifications and training whilst working with employers for the next 6 years. Fusing both education and physical activity work within the Sport and Leisure sector and understanding the needs of employer and the importance of workforce development.

In January 2010, David took a role as a Senior Manager for commercial development at a large college and in late 2012 he felt it was time again to go back to starting another business and joined a Learning Foundation, whose mission was to completely focus on employer led skills training. In August 2013, David founded Creative Sport & Leisure Ltd adopting a GTA model and became the Managing Director and in July 2017 became the 100% shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

David created the CSL Group which is a collection of businesses that draws upon their own specialisms within their market and come together to complement one another. This enables the group to function in a cost effective and sustainable way by drawing upon individual expertise and strengths as and when required to ensure an efficient and professional service is delivered to its common but wide ranging of customers, employers, stakeholders and learners. The group has a direct focus on sport, physical activity, education and skills sectors

David is also a Chief Officer and Founding Director of the Essex Provider Network, which represents Colleges and Training Providers throughout Greater Essex. He works on behalf of the provider network to lobby at national level including central Government to give a voice to Essex Training providers.

David also became a partnership Governor of a local school in 2014 and then spent a lot of his time at the school focusing on funding and finance and then subsequently became the Chair of Finance and then Chair of Governors. In 2017, David became the Chair of Trust and took the legal responsibility for the school.

In 2021 David become approved by the Secretary of State for Education as the founding proprietor of a newly approved DfE Independent Special School for Social Emotional Mental Health and Autism Spectrum Disorder for Boys aged 12-16yrs. The school focuses on a sports curriculum for social change. David and his wife also have a huge passion for supporting Mental Health and working in communities to drive positive wellbeing through B mindful a company founded by his wife.

Through the exposure to physical activity and sport from a young age, David has been able to use the skills learnt from being part of a team and leading teams in a sporting and physical activity context and uses these transferrable skills in business through his management and leadership styles. He strongly believes ‘The team is greater than the individual’ and working in partnership is a key driver to success.

When not working, you’ll find David enjoying spending time with his family, travelling, walking his dogs, playing football, volunteering by supporting others in the community and by giving back his knowledge and experience. He can be found generally outside either in the garden or building something usually with the kids!

Stuart is a Sports Science Graduate from University of Wales who has worked in sports development, talent and performance sport for the over 20 years. In 2000 Stuart designed and launched a ground-breaking golf programme aimed at children aged 5 to 11 called Tri-Golf which has gone on to become a globally recognised development product that has now provided golf experiences to over 2,000,000 children across 22 countries.

Stuart has held positions in performance and talent development at England Golf, UK Coaching and the Rugby Football Union that have all focussed on creating optimal development environments for young people to thrive and reach their potential. Stuart is currently the Head of Workforce Transformation at Sport England. He has been responsible for writing and publishing two national strategy documents, ‘Coaching in an Active Nation: The Coaching Plan for England’ and ‘Working in an Active Nation: The Professional Workforce Strategy for England’.

Stuart is a highly regarded public speaker having delivered keynote presentations across the globe for a range of organisations both in and out of sport. He is also an expert facilitator who leads workshops for organisations striving to support people to be the best they can be. Stuart also owns the website www.thetalentequation.co.uk and is host of the 5 star rated podcast ‘The Talent Equation’ which is dedicated to providing advice, guidance and support to people at the cutting edge of coaching and performance development.

Stuart has coaching qualifications in Hockey, Cricket, Rugby and Golf, He has coached internationally, at national league level and has held roles as a National Age Group Talent Development Coach at England Hockey working with some of the top U16 and U18 players in the country. Alongside all this Stuart also volunteers at his local clubs and faces his biggest coaching challenge with 50 U10 hockey players in the winter and 40 U11 cricketers during the summer!

Clare is a senior executive in sport and physical activity, currently Head of Partnerships for the sector’s only chartered institute. This role sees her leading a team of eight - developing and delivering a strategy for engaging with over 16,000 individual members and 500 commercial and public sector partners, including some of the biggest leisure operators and governing bodies within sport.

Clare’s work helps to support and empower the 500,000+ employees and 3m+ volunteers in the sport and physical activity sector, contributing to CIMSPA’s vision of shaping a respected, regulated and recognised sector.

Clare has been with CIMSPA since 2018 and was previously Customer Engagement Manager for RLSS UK (the Royal Life Saving Society) along with over ten years working in the leisure sector.

As the Executive Director of Partnerships, Phil Smith is one of a Sport England leadership team of six and has individual responsibility for several areas of the business.

His partnerships team manages long term investments in various sport and activity organisations, who work in partnership with Sport England to achieve the aims of the ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy. Those partnerships and investments are aimed at helping more people to enjoy the multiple benefits of sport, with an emphasis on tackling inequalities.

Phil’s team also leads Sport England’s work to develop sporting talent, which helps to find and develop successful England and GB athletes and teams, working closely with UK Sport and the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations. The long term vision is for our international teams to not only be successful, but truly representative of our country.

In addition to helping people to be active, Sport England is striving with partners to make the sport system better, which covers the good governance, financial sustainability and integrity of sports bodies. Phil and his team produces guidance and advice for leaders in sport to use.

Phil also has the responsibility for the people team at Sport England, with expertise covering all the different types of roles essential for the sport and physical activity industry. This includes the needs of 7 million volunteers, 1.2 million coaches and 400,000 professional staff – again focusing on the inequalities what exist in those groups.

Phil has always worked in sport and 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.

Sam Cumming is Head of Mental Health at the English Institute of Sport (EIS) where he is responsible for delivery of the EIS Mental Health Strategy across Olympic and Paralympic sports. He is a sport psychologist by training (BSc in Applied Social Psychology with Clinical Psychology; MSc in Sport Psychology) and before moving to the EIS in 2019 Sam worked with British Rowing in the management and support of the GB Rowing Team.

Holly is the London and South Partnerships Manager for LAPS: Life After Professional Sport; a platform that helps current and former professional and elite athletes transition into the working work. As a former rugby player, Holly will be drawing upon her own experiences and stories from former teammates, that has armed them with unrivalled resilience, through injury and navigating the challenges in a male dominated sport.

She will also touch upon how a career in elite sport has improved overall mental health and how that filters down to being seen as role models and mentoring upcoming athletes from grassroots. Holly played rugby league for England and rugby union in the Premiership for Richmond and Harlequins, finishing off her playing career with Toulouse in the Top14, in France. Since retiring, she has taken up refereeing where she has progressed quickly onto the National Panel with the RFU; refereeing national league men’s rugby, women’s premierships and internationally in her first season.

Natasha has 10 years’ experience working in the Further Education sector, where she developed an in-depth knowledge of qualification design, development and assessment. She has a keen interest in developing the next generation of learners through high-quality teaching, learning and assessment achieved through employer lead professional standards that will drive the sector forward.

Keri-anne is a triple Olympian, competing in Rio, London and Beijing where she won a silver medal in the inaugural 10km Marathon swim. Keri-anne also won two World Championship titles for the same event. Since retiring from competitive swimming in 2017, Keri-anne has set up two businesses. Triscape is a swimming coaching and swim retreat business aimed at helping anyone take on their next swimming challenge and Straight Line Swimming which focusing on empowering the world to swim outdoors by qualifying and supporting open water coaches through the STA Level 2 open water coaching qualification. Keri-anne has qualified over 400 coaches so far with about 80% being female. This has led her to look more into all coaching qualifications and how to create the right environment and knowledge to attract more women to the amazing world of coaching.

Dr Emma Ross was, until recently, the Head of Physiology at the English Institute of Sport, supporting practitioners working across Olympic and Paralympic sports and leading the EIS Female Athlete Programme. This programme aimed to empower coaches, athletes and sports practitioners to better understand the exercising female, how to capitalise and cope with her physiology and psychology in the context of sport.

Emma recently co-founded The Well HQ, to continue this mission to tackle the taboo’s, educate and empower people in sport and beyond, about topics such as periods and the menstrual cycle, breast health, pelvic floor health and what it takes for girls and women to thrive in sport, in health and in life. Emma sits on the Chartered Institute for Physical Activity and Sport Professional Development Board, is an external examiner for the University of Portsmouth and is on the Business Advisory Board for the University of Southampton. In 2021 Emma was awarded the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year Changemaker Award for her work to make sport better for girls and women.

Kate heads up the Insight & innovation team at Women in Sport, a charity with a 35-year record of success in securing change, based on its deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of women and girls and breaking down stubborn gender inequalities within the sports sector and beyond. With over 25 years of experience in insight, behaviour change and strategy development, Kate has recently headed up a number of influential studies including ‘Reframing sport for teenage girls’ and how to prevent teenage girls from dropping out of sport, sustaining activity during menopause and examining the impact of sports sector culture on inclusion. Prior to her role at Women in Sport, Kate held senior roles at Twinings and Kimberly-Clark leading insight and strategy development for international markets.

Prior to joining Myzone as the CEO of Myzone EMEA David was CEO of Oxygen Freejumping, the UK largest and leading operator of world-class trampolining. Prior to that he was CEO at UKactive, wherein he oversaw the operations and administration of the organization. While at UKactive, he chaired and delivered a 5-year strategy, set out the future plans for the Fitness industry, created relationships between the industry & its key delivery partners. David has also held roles as a Director at Bladerunner Ltd, at the time UK’s largest Corporate Fitness Facility Management Company where he contributed to all aspects of the company's aggressive growth strategy, reviewing the business development division, assisting in the implementation of the marketing strategy. The business sold to Nuffield Health. Managing Director at WWH Corporation Ltd, Managing Director Harpers Fitness Clubs Ltd and Group Brand Director at Leisure Connections PLC. As a non-executive Director, He served as a member of the board of Directors of Europe Active, was Chairman of CIMSPA and is a Chartered Fellow of the Institute, he was also previously Chairman of Fit For Sport Ltd. He is currently Chairman of Marwell Zoo and a trustee of the Kenya Wildlife Trust.David has a reputation as a straight talker who has huge passion for the fitness industry, he has strong views to why and where the industry may still be going wrong, the vicious circle of selling, service, and looking after 'people' he believes is still a fundamental challenge. He believes that future success for the sector will be all about impending itself in the community which will literally save lives and be the key factor in saving the National Health Service.David was born and raised in Kenya, is a passionate Conservationist. He moved to the UK 30 years ago and has worked in the Leisure industry ever since. He is married with two grown up children.

A globally recognised business leader with broad P&L operating experience and over 25 years in corporates and start-ups, Phil has worked in the US, APAC and Europe and played an integral part in structuring and scaling Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) to IPO and revenue growth from $50m to $2.3B. He has managed multiple departments across the world, motivated large teams, played a key role in international expansion, 1 funding round and 3 major acquisitions.

Currently, Phil is Managing Director of EMEA at Mindbody, the global leading studio management software for the wellness industry. Phil is responsible for all aspects of Mindbody’s business in EMEA, including Sales and Customer Support.

Previously Phil was Chief Revenue Officer at MotorK, one of the world’s leading digital automation companies for the Automotive sector and prior to this was VP of Central Sales and Sales Ops at Criteo, a global leader in commerce marketing, looking after the global Sales Strategy and Sales Analytics teams.

In 2016 Phil was recognised as one of the world’s top 100 Sales Enablement and Operations executives in Hot Topics Magazine.

Charlton Clarke, National Customer Experience Manager for Les Mills UK has over 18 years’ experience working across Health and Fitness. With experience as an Instructor, Trainer, operator and supplier before joining Les Mills 7 years ago, Charlton brings a wide scope of insight and knowledge to help drive engagement within the industry. At Les Mills, where he now leads Customer Experience across the UK, Charlton collaborates with many operators across the UK and is dedicated to help business partners achieve their goals by building long term partnerships that get more people active.

As a Director of charitable leisure social enterprise GLL, Steve has overall responsibility for company-wide digital and technology programmes. This exciting role involves developing and executing the short, medium and long term strategies that aim to improve the customer and staff journey through the use of technology platforms to provide a first class experience ensuring GLL become leaders in the digital space.

More recently, Steve has led GLL’s development of a brand new leisure management software solution which, coupled with extensive use of the Better UK app, has made a significant improvement in the customer experience and digital offering.

Alex Zurita is London Sport’s Head of Sport Tech Hub, with responsibility for shaping its strategic commitments to supporting technology, data and digital initiatives designed to raise levels of participation in physical activity and sport in the capital and beyond.

Alex has led Sport Tech Hub’s delivery since its inception, supporting over 45 tech ventures which, between them, have reached more than 130,000 Londoners and raised over £5.5m of investment.

Alex joined London Sport in 2011 with brief stints as Great Britain Women’s Football Team Manager, and a secondment to the London Legacy Development Corporation as Programme Manager for the post-London 2012 legacy and multimillion-pound project - Active People, Active Park.

Having used technology and data while coaching football with grassroots and international players, Alex is a committed technophile, a widely-recognised advocate for the role of technology and open data in boosting participation in physical activity and sport, and a champion of the importance of sport for the future health of London and its residents.