Our executive team

Jennie Price, Chief Executive

Jennie Price, a barrister by training, has been at Sport England since April 2007. Since joining as Chief Executive, she has successfully implemented a new strategic approach to investing in community sport, and a restructuring of the organisation to better deliver the new strategy. The sports bodies with which Sport England works now have a clear direction, linked to the outcomes of growing and sustaining regular participation, as well as nurturing talent. Jennie has a strong track record of working with Government, and in 2010 the incoming Coalition Government gave Sport England responsibility for designing and delivering the mass participation legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Prior to joining Sport England, Jennie was the founding Chief Executive of WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) which was established by Government in 2000 to improve the UK’s recycling performance and reduce waste. As part of WRAP’s work, she oversaw the delivery of one of the most successful consumer communication campaigns in the environmental field – Recycle Now - increasing the number of committed recyclers in England by five million people in just two years. Before heading WRAP, Jennie Price spent 17 years in the construction industry, first as a lawyer and then as Chief Executive of the Major Contractors Group and the Construction Confederation, two of the leading representative bodies for the UK construction industry.

Her extensive senior management experience has been recognised in her appointment as a Visiting Fellow at the Cranfield School of Management. She is also an Honorary Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and has written two text books on construction law.

Rona Chester, Chief Operating Officer

Rona is responsible for serveral functional areas including finance, business planning, information technology and grants management, in addition to working closely with Richard our Chair, and Jennie Price our Chief Executive on broader operational matters.

Rona joined Sport England on in 2010 from the Law Society, where she was Group Finance Director since 2007. As well as supporting the CEO on all financial and governance matters at the Law Society, she was responsible for developing the commercial awareness of the organisation and managing a team in finance, facilities and internal audit.

Her previous roles have included Finance Director at the communications industry regulator, OFCOM, and European Finance Director for Sotheby’s. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants ( ICAEW).
 

Mike Diaper, Community Sport

Prior to joining Sport England, Mike led the PE, School Sport and Club Links strategy, working across the Departments for Education and Skills and for Culture, Media and Sport. His leadership saw the percentage of 5 to 16 year olds doing 2 hours of PE and school sport rise from 25% in 2002 to 80% in 2006, beating the Government’s target by 5 percentage points. He was awarded an OBE in the 2007 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to school sport.

Charles Johnston, Director of Property

Charles is a qualified engineer who also has a Masters in Business Administration.

He started his career at Jaguar before joining Sainsbury’s where he helped to develop Homebase stores and the Savacentre Hypermarkets as Project Manager before he eventually progressed to Director of Construction and Facilities.

Charles was one of the founders of the Reading Construction Forum and led the team that developed the system of partnering in conjunction with Reading University.

On leaving in 2000, he joined MDA Consulting as Chairman and CEO to lead the management buy-out and restructuring. He sold his share to the future management to join Sport England, initially as a consultant.

Tanya Joseph

Tanya joined Sport England in January 2012 as Director of Business Partnerships, responsible for corporate affairs and commercial relationships.

She has spent her entire professional life in communications, starting her career as a journalist before becoming a press secretary initially to the Lord Chancellor and then the Prime Minister, a role she held for over four years.

In 2003 she left the Civil Service to join the world of consultancy including senior roles at international agency Grayling and at the head of her own consultancy, Tanya Joseph Consulting.  Over the years she provided strategic counsel and practical advice to a wide range of clients including Tesco, Mars, Heinz, the Nuffield Trust, the Royal Mint, De Beers and Sir Robert McAlpine.

Tanya is a Fellow of the RSA, a member of the PR Council of the PRCA, and a Trustee of the Legal Assistance Trust, a charity that supports poor and marginalised communities in South Africa assert their rights under the Constitution.

Lisa O'Keefe, Director of Sport

Former Scottish rugby international Lisa O’Keefe has had a long and varied career in sport. She has worked as a development officer for both the Women’s Sports Foundation and the National Coaching Foundation. During this period she was also volunteered as the under-16 development co-ordinator for Scottish Women’s Rugby Union.

Since joining Sport England’s South East office in the year 2000, Lisa has held a variety of roles including Head of Sports Development, Head of Delivery, and interim Regional Director.  She moved to Sport England’s national office in 2007 as Head of National Sport and in July 2008 was appointed Director of Sport.

Her career is no less illustrious on the playing field. She won 45 Scotland international rugby caps between 1994 and 2006 and competed in two World Cups, one European championship and numerous Six Nations, and enjoyed great success domestically winning league and cup titles with Richmond Rugby Club for whom she was Club Captain. She is also a qualified rugby and hockey coach.

Phil Smith, Director of Sport

Phil was appointed in September 2008 to manage the sport team alongside Lisa O’Keefe. 

The team is responsible for the funding of sports national governing bodies and other national partners as they work together with increase participation in sport.

Phil joined Sport England from The Football Association, where his professional career started in 1996 as the General Secretary of the County FA in Manchester. In recent years he was The FA’s Head of Public Affairs, responsible for policy and public affairs, including working with the Government on the various issues affecting both professional and amateur football.