Our Board

Michelle is the Chair of the Board of UK Coaching. Prior to becoming Chair, she served on the Board for five and a half years, as Senior Independent Director, Chair of the Governance Committee, a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, ESG Board Champion and Coaching Advisory Panel member.

Michelle’ s career spans international law, executive coaching and governance advisory roles across commercial and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Board of UK Coaching, she had a 30-year career at global law firm Freshfields as a senior lawyer and business leader (most recently as Global Head of Knowledge), where she worked extensively across countries and cultures, leading dispersed and diverse high performing teams and delivering organisational, cultural and digital transformation.

Alongside her role at UK Coaching, Michelle is an executive and leadership development coach and sits on the Legal, Finance and Accounting panel of Skills England.

Michelle is passionate about tackling inequalities and enabling a diverse and more inclusive coaching community. Having grown up playing a range of team sports in an economically deprived area of the North East of England in the 1970s and 80s, she saw at first-hand how great coaching can help change lives. She is committed to lifelong physical activity, having taken up skiing in her thirties and running in her forties.

Committees: Nominations (Chair), ESG working group (Chair), Coaching Advisory Panel.

Katie has served on the board of UK Coaching for 3 years, is on the Nominations Committee and a director of UK Coaching Solutions.  

Katie is a digital product leader with over 20 years’ experience shaping and delivering customer-focused technology in fast-growing organisations such as Amazon, WorldFirst and BeautyPie. She began her career in corporate finance before moving into product leadership, where her work has centred on using technology to help organisations scale, transform, and better serve the people who rely on them.  Alongside senior in-house roles, Katie has also provided product consultancy and advisory support to growing businesses. 

She is deeply committed to supporting leaders and teams, working now as an executive coach and offering her time as a mentor through One Million Mentors.

Katie is a keen spectator of sport at a grass-roots level and has witnessed in her children, the impact and power of sport and great coaching.

Committees: Nominations Commitee and Director of UK Coaching Solutions.

Colin began his career with Shell with various periods in the business strategy and retail marketing departments. After leaving Shell, he moved from the energy sector taking on a variety of senior management roles in advertising, consumer marketing and technology consulting roles in Asia and Europe. 

Colin is a former athlete and Olympic bobsledder, representing Great Britain at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Games. He has coached at elite and grassroots levels across three sports. He believes in the strong connectivity that sport can changes lives and coaching is the catalyst and enabler of that goal in society. 

Committees: Finance, Audit & Risk.

Adi has worked in the sports sector for over 25 years in the UK and Australia, across a range of sports at both grassroots and performance.  She is currently working as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Basketball England alongside consultancy work for British Rowing as a coach educator and DiSE mentor.

Her career started as a British Rowing Regional Development Officer, based in the North East and then the South West, supporting club development and delivery of coach education programmes.  She successfully made the transition into professional coaching working with under 18 athletes and achieving notable wins at national and international level representing GB.  She then moved into a role as a talent development coach as part of the innovative British Rowing World Class Start programme based in Manchester.   Adi continued to support high performance athletes working for Rowing Australia, based at the NSW Institute of Sport based in Sydney.   This was a role stepping away from day to day delivery and becoming part of the support team for coaches and athletes.

In return to the UK Adi has played a key role in a number of projects - developing the Diploma in Sporting Excellence qualification at a national level with NGB colleagues, constructed and implemented the Volleyball Futures programme, led Cerebral Palsy Sport through the COVID 19 pandemic whilst raising in excess of £1,000,000, worked within the criminal justice system delivering rugby programmes and securing the inclusion of Frame Running (an athletics discipline) at the LA 2028 Paralympic Games.

In 2023, Adi was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree (honoris causa), by the University of Hull in recognition of her contribution to sport and commitment to widening diversity in sport."

Adi is the Board EEDI Champion and the Board Welfare & Safeguarding Lead.

Committees: HR & Remuneration and Chair of Coaching Advisory Panel.

Karim Harbott is a non-executive director, board advisor, and executive educator with deep expertise in strategy, AI governance, and transformation. He works with FTSE-250 boards, executive teams, and government organisations to strengthen governance, responsibly oversee digital disruption, and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. 

With a career spanning more than two decades, karim has led transformation and innovation programmes at McKinsey, Barclays, and Lloyds, and advisd leaders in financial services, technology, and the public sector. He is a fellow of both the Institute of Directors and BCS, and a faculty member at the IoD, where he teaches the Strategy for Directors and Leadership for Directors modules. 

Passionate about sport and sports coaching, Karim is a former professional tennis player, holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in innovation and entrepreneurship. He is the author of the best-selling book The 6 Enablers of Business Agility: How to Thrive in an Uncertain World, widely used by boards and executives globally, and he writes AI in the Boardroom, a newsletter providing practical insights for directors navigating the risks and opportunities of AI. 

Karim is the Board's Cyber Security Champion and is a Director of UK Coaching Solutions. 

Committees: Finance, Audit & Risk, Governance. 

Michael is a corporate lawyer with international legal experience across a range of sectors, most recently in financial services. 

He started in private practice as an M&A lawyer and has worked in senior roles at a multi-national FTSE-100, an entrepreneurial FSTE-250 and a high-growth private equity backed business, providing strategic leadership on a broad range of legal, commercial, governance and regulatory issues.

Throughout his career Michael has coached and mentored other lawyers and non-lawyer colleagues. He is a qualified basketball and football coach at youth level, and coaches at his children's grassroots football club.

Michael is a strong believer in the value great coaching can bring to individuals and communities beyond just those who are being coached and the positive, sometimes life-changing, impact it can have on them.

Committees:  Governance (Chair), Finance, Audit & Risk.

Steve is Head of Policy & Public Affairs at the Youth Sport Trust, a national charity for improving the education and development of every child through play and sport.

His role includes working with government and policymakers, and alongside education, sport and health organisations to create change so every child has an active start in life and can access the associated benefits including for wellbeing and life chances.

Prior to joining the organisation, he worked in a number of roles in politics, for a national charity and in research communications. He graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in Law.

Outside of work, he is a keen spectator of sport and spends much of his time supporting his daughter and nephews in their sporting journeys.

Committees: HR & Remuneration.

Russ Burt is a senior finance and governance professional with extensive experience supporting boards through growth, transformation, and strategic change.

Russ currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Actuate Global, where he works closely with executive teams and non-executive directors to strengthen financial governance, improve commercial performance, and support long-term organisational sustainability. His work spans strategy, risk management, performance reporting, and operational oversight across education, professional development, and skills-based organisations.

Alongside his executive role, Russ has built a strong Non-Executive portfolio, advising boards on financial resilience, decision-making, accountability, and effective governance. He brings a practical, outcomes-focused perspective, translating complex financial and operational data into clear insight that supports better board decisions.

Russ has a particular interest in capability building and leadership development, working with organisations that support people to perform, progress, and succeed at every stage of their career. He is experienced in operating within regulated and values-led environments, balancing commercial discipline with purpose, impact, and public accountability.

In his spare time Russ volunteers as a grass roots football coach and is currently in his 12th consecutive year or coaching, something he takes great pride in developing both the talents and maturing personalities of his players.

As a Non-Executive Director of UK Coaching, Russ contributes financial insight, governance rigour, and strategic challenge, supporting the organisation’s mission to develop great coaches and strong coaching systems across the UK.

Committees: Finance, Audit & Risk (Chair), Governance Committee

Julie is a Non-Executive Director at UK Coaching and Chair of the Remuneration Committee, with over 30 years’ international leadership experience in people, culture and organisational transformation.

She has lived and worked in Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore and the United Kingdom, building her career across the hotel, airline and financial services sectors. Her executive roles have included leadership positions at Allianz, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Novotel and Hilton.

She is passionate about the connection between colleague experience and customer outcomes, and how strong cultures drive sustained performance. Coaching has been a consistent thread throughout Julie’s life - from sport in her early years, to being coached throughout her executive career, to becoming a qualified coach herself.

Julie believes coaching is transformational, building confidence, unlocking potential, and supporting people through change and transition. She has developed programmes supporting Olympic and Paralympic athletes as they moved into corporate careers and has personally coached elite athletes preparing for life beyond sport.

Alongside her Board and advisory work, she coaches aspiring Chief People Officers stepping into executive roles for the first time. She is known for her pragmatic, diplomatic and people-centred approach.

Outside work, she continues to challenge herself physically and mentally through kitesurfing and golf.

Committees: HR & Remuneration (Chair)