Cricket Scotland appoints chair and independent non-executive directors
Jamie Cox and Harry Singh (Images by Cricket Scotland)
Cricket Scotland has confirmed the appointment of a new Chair, Wilf Walsh, as well as four new Independent Non-Executive Directors to the Cricket Scotland Limited Board.
Wilf Walsh, appointed as Cricket Scotland Chair, is Chair of the Racecourse Association, which includes five racecourses in Scotland, and a Board member of the British Horseracing Authority. He was previously CEO of Carpetright plc before becoming Chair of the parent group business, Nestware Holdings.
Prior to this, Wilf was Chair of Fortuna Entertainment Group, as well as being with the Gala Coral Group for fifteen years as both Managing Director and Non-Executive Director. He is a graduate in Law from The University of Leeds.
Shaista Aziz, appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director, is a journalist, writer, an Anti-Racism and Violence against Women and Girls Activist and campaigner, who is currently serving as an Independent Councillor with Oxford City Council. Her journalistic career has seen her work as a presenter, writer and producer for the BBC, The Guardian, and the New York Times amongst others.
Shaista is currently a Director of Three Hijabis, a campaign group working with stakeholders including the Premier League, the Football Association, the England and Wales Cricket Board, Marylebone Cricket Club, and government to tackle racism in football and sport, whilst making sport inclusive for all.
Tricia Bey, appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director, with a specialist focus on Finance and Audit, is currently Deputy Chair of Court at the University of Dundee, Chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Ltd, and a Trustee and Treasurer of the Textile Conservation Foundation.
Her business background includes 14 years with Deloitte Consulting, building and leading different practice areas, including two years as Managing Partner of the Dutch consultancy practice. Tricia has been Managing Director of a London-based management development school, and subsequently set up her own Ayrshire-based award-winning cheese-making business.
Jamie Cox, appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director, with a specialist focus on Performance, is currently Director of Cricket & Operations at MCC, based at Lord’s.
During his professional cricket career, Jamie enjoyed an 18-year career in Australia (captaining Tasmania) and in England (with Somerset, where he was captain), scoring more than 18,500 first-class runs, and nearly 6,000 in List A matches. He later moved into sports administration and has subsequently held senior roles across several organisations, including the Australian Institute of Sport, Cricket Australia (as a national selector), the South Australia Cricket Association, St Kilda Football Club and Cricket Tasmania.
Harry Singh, appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director, is currently Chief Digital Officer at BT Group. He was previously Chief Product Officer with global energy research & consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie, as well as group sponsor for Diversity & Inclusion.
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Harry has led and supported cultural transformations within several of his previous organisations. With an extensive background in digital technology and analytics, he has served as Senior Vice-President of data analytics and consumer technology company Experian and has had several director roles with the likes of Lloyds Banking Group and Centrica.
The new Board appointments join the current transitional Cricket Scotland Board, which consists of Ajit Trivedi (Independent Non-Executive Director), Pete Fitzboydon (Chief Executive), Khizar Ali and Chris Blake (Cricket Scotland Council Ltd representatives). The appointments follow last week’s confirmation of Trudy Lindblade as incoming Chief Executive Officer in early 2024.
Wilf Walsh will begin his tenure as Chair on November 1. The four Independent Non-Executive Directors will start work on the Board as capacity allows, ahead of major governance changes to be voted on by clubs.
The Board appointments ensure completion of some of the actions laid out within Cricket Scotland’s “Changing the Boundaries” Action Plan:
Recruitment of a Chair and new Board members.
The recommendation that new Board members must not have a relationship with Cricket Scotland, organisations, or individuals that could cause a conflict of interest.
The appointments will ensure Cricket Scotland reaches the minimum target of 25% of total Board makeup being from Black, South-East Asian, or other mixed or multiple ethnic groups.
A further requirement of the Action Plan concerning diversity is that the Cricket Scotland Board should be made up of a minimum of 40% men and 40% women. This threshold will be met once Trudy Lindblade replaces Pete Fitzboydon and commences her role as Chief Executive Officer in early 2024.
Pete Fitzboydon said: “I am delighted to confirm these new Cricket Scotland Board appointments. We received a huge amount of interest from across a wide variety of fields and conducted a best practice process including anonymous shortlisting to reduce bias. It is imperative that our Board is diverse, talented and possesses a wide range of experience and skillsets, and I am confident these appoints confirm our ambition for Cricket Scotland.
“I welcome every Board member to our team, I look forward to working with them shortly and I wish them every success as they help to drive the governing body forward in the coming years.”
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