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Over 10 years experience in the sports industry and currently working as Head of Partner Performance at Sport England working with National Governing Bodies & other Core Market partners. Also sitting as a Non-Exec Director and Trustee of Cerebral Palsy Sport. Skilled in Project and Grants Management, Sports Administration, Portfolio Management and Sports Development. 2:1 degree in Sports Technology from Loughborough University.
John's Career History
Cerebral Palsy Sport
Trustee & Non-Executive Director
November 2019 - Ongoing
Sport England
Head of Partner Performance
November 2017 - Ongoing
Managing the year-round performance of the Core Market portfolio of investments including the c£280m investments into National Governing Bodies. Relationship managing, and working with partners to identify and address poor service to the Core Market consumer, generating insight, and sharing good practice and learning to optimise performance.
Sport England
Programme Lead
June 2017 - November 2017
Providing programme level grants management expertise to various Sport England directorates and funding programmes. Current pieces of work include NGB 17-21, Volunteering, Tackling Inactivity and Economic Disadvantage, Major Events.
Sport England
Senior Grants Manager
September 2016 - May 2017
Providing Grants Management expertise to the NGB and Sport Directorate, as well as working with Business Partnerships and Insight teams.
I have overseen the National Governing Body 17-21 funding cycle from a Grants management perspective. This included developing a robust assessment process, managing a team of assessors and ensuring a clear audit trail for the £220m investment portfolio.
I have been overseeing the Grants Management process for Sport England's 2 Volunteering programmes which total £6m of investment.
Sport England
Senior Manager, Sport for Development
February 2015 - August 2016
Working with a range of partners to develop initiatives that provide a social and sporting benefit
• Drafting award documentation and monitoring progress against awards
• Providing relationship management to key organisations delivering Sport for Development projects
• Undertaking visits and meetings with sport for development funders, capacity builders and direct delivery organisations, building and maintaining effective relationships with key external organisations
• Developing this work-stream stream, using commissioned insight.
Sport England
Grants Manager - Senior Grants Management Team
April 2014 - February 2015
Processing of applications and post award management for the open strands of the Places People Play Olympic Legacy mass participation programmes
• Assuring compliance with legislation and Distributor Body requirements for all funding programmes, including applicants' compliance with award conditions and management of disputes
• Managing the financial closure of awards ensuring unspent funds are returned to Sport England
• Leading from a Grants Management perspective on the Flood Relief Programme
• Responsible for Sportsmatch legacy work
Sport England
Grants Manager - Sportsmatch & Programmes
August 2012 - April 2014
Managing the Sportsmatch programme and team with an annual budget of £3,000,000 to award to not for profit organisations to deliver community sports projects.
My role covered the day-to-day management of the team and programme, co-ordinating Panel meetings, assessing applications, ensuring reporting and decision deadlines were met, as well as compliance with programme process and procedure.
I also managed the business support team and function out of our Shared Service Centre ensuring robust checks were carried out on applications across our funding portfolio and was involved in assessing Capital bids across other funding programmes including Inspired Facilities.
Sport England
Grants Officer
March 2009 - August 2012
Worked as a Grants Officer assessing applications for funding within the Small Grants and Sportsmatch teams based in Loughborough.
Sportsmatch is a programme which made awards of up to £100k to not-for-profit organisations that had secured sponsorship to deliver new community projects to grow or sustain participation in sport.
Sportsmatch used money from the government to encourage new sponsorship of grassroots community sport.
I was also involved in a range Olympic Legacy programmes including Iconic Facilities, Inspired Facilities and Protecting playing fields under the strapline People, Places, Play and have been involved in the Sport and National Governing Body recognition process.
Ram Sports International
Sales Support and Servicing Co-Ordinator
July 2006 - August 2007
I was involved in the development of new sports equipment particularly with the design of the ‘Rambow’ Cricket range. I also assisted the Marketing team with production of literature for these new products.
I helped prepare and present reports on sports technology and development within the company, including plans on future product design. Furthermore I was an integral part of the sales and support team.
I also headed up the Scrum Machine Servicing Department, ensuring that our customers used the technology safely and understood the importance of maintaining the machines. I had to coordinate a team of staff to complete services across the whole country, make sales, manage stock and control a budget.
Day to day activities meant I needed to be familiar with both ACT and Sage software along with training on various other design packages such as Photoshop, whilst client managing over 100 customers.