The Coaching Advisory Panel
Dedicated to advancing our support for coaches and enhancing coaching practices
At the heart of our panel's mission is the support in delivering our strategic intent, all the while ensuring that we consistently meet the diverse needs of individual coaches and the broader coaching workforce. This commitment aligns with our overarching purpose of being ‘here for the coach’.
Discover more about the members of the Coaching Advisory Panel by exploring their bios below.
Adi Fawcett (Chair)
Adi has worked in the sports sector for the last 25 years, devising and implementing programmes at the participation and performance level across a range of sports in both the UK and Australia. She is currently working as Head of Delivery at 3 Pillars Project delivering sports-based mentoring programmes for young men in the criminal justice system.
Adi’s career in sport started as a British Rowing Sport Development Officer delivering coach education and participation programmes. She then successfully made the move into coaching starting at junior level and then moving into the role of Talent Development Coach for British Rowing. Following this success, Adi moved to Sydney to work for Rowing Australia.
Adi returned to the UK as Talent Manager for Volleyball England. Most recently she has been working in senior roles at Special Olympics GB and Cerebral Palsy Sport to advocate and lobby for all disabled people to be physically active, whether as a participant or as a performer.
She is an Executive member of the World Ability Sport International Frame Running Committee, developing the sport of Frame Running globally to secure inclusion at the LA28 Paralympic Games.
In 2023, Adi was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the University of Hull in recognition of her contribution to sport and commitment to widening diversity in sport.
Michelle Bramley
An international lawyer, executive coach, non-executive director, and board advisor working across commercial and not for profit sectors, Michelle has worked extensively across countries and across cultures.
As a non-executive director at UK Coaching, Michelle chairs the Governance Committee, is the Duty to Care Board champion and is a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.
With experience in leading large teams and as an active coach and mentor, Michelle has a passion for developing diverse, high-performing teams with a strong focus on inclusion. Her goal is to see diversity and inclusion be firmly embedded in sport and physical activity.
Ian Braid
Ian is the founder and MD of DOCIAsport, a bespoke consultancy that focuses on helping organisations in sport bring aspects of duty to care to life in a sustainable manner.
DOCIAsport won Mental Health Consultancy of the Year 2020 at the ‘This Can Happen’ Awards for their work on well-being in the sector, which included a collaboration with Edge Hill University to conduct the UK’s first survey of the mental health of the workforce in sport.
Having also represented the needs of athletes as CEO of the British Athletes Commission, Ian is strongly committed to supporting the “people looking after the people.”
Colin Huffen
Colin is Head of Policy and External Affairs with CIMSPA and has worked within education in the sport and physical activity sector for the whole of his career, previously having worked for AoC Sport, UK Coaching, Skills Active, British Swimming and Loughborough College.
Niall Judge
Niall is currently Head of Workforce Development at Sport England, having worked across higher education, community sport and physical activity and now national policy development and activation.
He is passionate about people development and enabling change to happen through supporting the skills, behaviours and cultures that allow people to thrive.
As well as this, Niall is an active coach and coach developer within Athletics, supporting athletes and coaches from beginners to national level. In his spare time, he enjoys running, cycling, cooking and family time.
Sophie Burton
Head of Insight, Evaluation and Workforce at Energise Me – the Active Partnership covering Hampshire & IOW – Sophie has over 25 years’ experience in the sport and physical activity sector.
Sophie has been involved in some innovative approaches to workforce development including ‘Pride in Our Workforce’ and ‘Project 500.’ She plays a keen role in navigating and balancing the ask alongside the expectations of the workforce to maximise positive impact.
Having previously worked for local authorities and leisure providers, Sophie has a strong appreciation of the valuable role that the workforce plays in creating environments that motivate people to engage in physical activity.
Matt Rhodes
Senior Policy Manager at AoC Sport, Matt has worked in Post 16 Education for the last 10 years, having previously worked in School and Local Authority Sport Development roles.
Through stakeholder engagement and research Matt’s role is to ensure members are informed with policy changes and insight to ensure effective study programme design which leads to positive outcomes for sport students.
Amy Porter
Amy is currently the Head of Development at British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) and has 18 years’ experience working in the sports industry sector. Having worked at BUCS since 2013 she has a great depth of knowledge of the higher education sector and the value institutions across the UK have in developing workforce and active wellbeing initiatives for young people. Amy is driven by supporting young people to have exceptional sporting experiences whilst in higher education and working in collaboration with multiple stakeholders to create impactful programmes that inspire, develop and unite. |
Helen Rowbotham
Helen is CEO of Access Sport, a national charity on a mission to make inclusion the norm in community sport, with a focus on disadvantaged and disabled children. She is also a Non-Executive Director of Paralympics GB.
Helen was previously Director of Innovation and then Director of Rowing Community and Strategy at British Rowing, where she had a remit to support the rowing community, broaden the appeal of the sport and drive growth. This included overseeing the coach education programme.
Prior to British Rowing, Helen worked in sports management consultancy for 17 years including five years as Director of Consulting at CSM.
Ladi Ajadi
Ladi has been involved in sport for nearly 40 years as a performance athlete and a sport development professional and has extensive management experience.
Coming from a deprived background and growing up in the care system, sport helped Ladi to feel normal and to survive. Those experiences, coupled with often being a pioneer and even a first in some cases within local, regional, and national organisations, has given Ladi a well-rounded perspective of sport and physical activity and its power to change lives.
Ladi has been involved in the ‘Leisure and Physical Activity Development' service in Hackney and running community sport in Lambeth. One of the first Active Sport Managers in the country, he is currently a board member of the Black Collective of Media in Sport. His legacy cements his role as a driving force for transformative sport and physical activity development.
AJ Jackson
AJ is a retired Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball player and competed with the GB Team for 10 years from 1998-2008, earning 85 International Caps.
They are an Ambassador for UK Coaching and run their own business as a Wheelchair Basketball Coach, Tutor and mentor and regularly appear as a motivational speaker to a wide variety of audiences. They also work as a Mental Health Crisis worker and am on the MA in Clinical Counselling at University of Chester.
They are currently the Head Coach at Cheshire Phoenix Wheelchair Basketball Club and is a Grade 3 Advanced Wheelchair Basketball Coach.
Ben Rigby
Ben’s background is in community development and sport development, using sport as a tool to change lives.
As a CIMSPA Chartered Fellow, he has driven a lot of work tackling inactivity in deprived communities and addressing inequalities in sport. Services that he has overseen have always aligned with wraparound support to ensure that behaviour change takes place, and this impact is well-documented in numerous publications that highlight his contributions.
He is also a Coach and Coach developer with my main sports being hockey, badminton, and football, and is a Trustee on two charities: one focussing on mental health, the other a third-sector capacity-building charity.
Michael Inpong
Michael is Chief Marketing Officer at Valeo Foods UK. He started his career at P&G and L'Oréal before moving to the C-suite of Nestlé and Müller. At Valeo Foods UK, the makers of KETTLE® Chips, Rowse Honey and many confectionery favourites like Poppets and Wham, Michael has accountability for brand and retail own brand, R&D, business intelligence, shopper marketing and the creative studio. Michael is also the executive sponsor for the UK’s ESG strategy.
Outside of work, Michael is a Fellow of both the Marketing Society and the Marketing Academy, a winner of The Grocer’s brand of the year and a trustee for the charity Take Her Lead, supporting women and girls in cricket.
Crofton Alexander
Crofton is an accomplished performance specialist with experience working across a number of sports, including professional Rugby, County & International Cricket, Formula 1, and Tennis. Alongside this, Crofton also has experience in academia, mentoring and coach development.
Crofton sat on the Board of Directors for the UK Strength & Conditioning Association between 2013 and 2019. During this period, Crofton was responsible for implementing a number of projects in order to help develop the Strength & Conditioning landscape in the UK.
Jay Roper
An internationally experienced leader, coach and learning and development practitioner, Jay has supported people to learn, develop and perform as a coach, coach developer, executive coach and mentor, and leader across the public, private and voluntary sectors. He has worked in participation and high-performance environments, both within and outside of the sports industry.
Currently, Jay is the Director of Learning and Development at British Gymnastics and an Independent Member of the Performance Advisory Panel for Archery GB. Additionally, he has supported the wider sports sector, and corporate clients outside of sport including Premier League, Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), Scottish Golf and House of Krug.
Lisa Wainwright MBE
Lisa trained as a Physical Education teacher at the University of Warwick and went on to gain an MA in Learning and Teaching.
She has held a number of senior roles at Sport England, initiating the work on the safeguarding standards, Clubmark and volunteering before moving to become CEO at Volleyball England in 2008 and then British Basketball in 2016.
Lisa has held a number of Non-Executive roles: Swim England (Vice Chair and Interim Group Chair of the Group Board 2013-2017); Institute of Swimming (Chair 2014-2017).
She has also been a Director of the BOA and has been involved in both FIVB and FIBA roles including governance and ethics.
Lisa became Chief Executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance in May 2019 and received her MBE in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to sport.
Paul Thompson
After becoming a coach in his teens, Paul – who is Director of People & Learning at Coach Core Foundation – fell in love with making people smile and developing them through sport and physical activity.
Due to his passion for people development and learning, he has had a number of roles helping people and organisations develop their workforce. Paul has always been extremely passionate about playing his part in trying to truly change the lives and the of young people and has worked for a host of national, regional and local organisations that have allowed him to do this.
Lisa West
Lisa is Head of Policy, Partnerships and Public Affairs at Women in Sport and is a passionate advocate for gender equality. Her 16 years in the sector enable a deep understanding of the system and how it needs to change to enable women and girls to thrive as participants, volunteers, professionals and, very importantly as leaders.
Lisa’s ability to lead and influence has been demonstrated throughout the years working with Government, Sports Councils, NGBs, leisure operators, charities and sports clubs.
An amateur triathlete, netballer and keen skier, she deeply understands the role that sport has played in her life and what it has brought her personally and professionally. Lisa is also a school Governor at her local primary school.
Joanna Jones
Joanna is the Coaching and Athlete Support Lead at UK Sport and Former Performance Advisor at UK Sport.
Amy Fazackerley
Amy first started coaching in 2018, working with children from marginalised/deprived communities and young adults with disabilities.
With a passion for sport for development, Amy progressed to designing and developing sports programmes for the community, specifically for those who may not traditionally have access to sport and physical activity, including women and girls, those experiencing mental ill health, older adults and those with disabilities.