Retirement of BWL Independent Chair Angus Kinnear

British Weight Lifting (BWL) has announced the retirement of Angus Kinnear from his role as Independent Chair of the Board. After six years of dedicated service, Angus has decided to step down to focus on other projects including his new role as CEO of Everton Football Club commencing in June 2025.

Since 2019, BWL and under his stewardship, the organisation has achieved significant success both on and off the competition platform. This can be evidenced by recent milestones such as the organisation’s ongoing compliance with UK Sport’s code of sport governance in December 2024.  This compliance represents the top level of mandatory governance requirements in the code.

This requirement ensures the high governance standards are applied because of the significant public investment being made. For the LA 2028 cycle, BWL has been awarded £5,600,000 from UK Sport marking a strong and continued investment into the growth of Weightlifting and Para Powerlifting in Great Britain.  With an uplift of 52% from the Paris 2024 cycle and a return to the World Class Programme, the funding of the Weightlifting programme rises to £3,450,000.  At the same time, Para Powerlifting retains its status as a World Class Programme and sees a 21% increase of funding to £2,150,000.

The news for BWL follows an incredible summer of sport last year which saw our lifters return from Paris 2024 with four medals in total across the Olympic and Paralympic Games – the same medal tally result for consecutive Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Outside of the Field of Play, weightlifting and para powerlifting are currently undergoing a period of renaissance as demonstrated by increasing athlete participation, membership development, growing fanbase, marketing appeal, stakeholder value, and new corporate and strategic partners.

This has been achieved by working more closely with BWL clubs, athletes, officials, volunteers, but more so, with the functional fitness sector where BWL have hosted over the last few years national competitions in parallel with CrossFit events. In doing so, BWL has been able to protect the historical origins of our sports but at the same time engage with new audiences –thus aligning to our mission to educate, inspire and create greater opportunities that appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience in the UK resulting in greater levels of activity and a fitter, healthier and stronger nation.

In announcing his retirement, outgoing Independent Chair Angus Kinnear said ‘it has been an honour to serve as Chair of this incredible national governing body. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside dedicated colleagues, witnessing remarkable growth, and contributing to a vision that truly makes a difference to our passionate community. As I step down, I do so with immense gratitude and confidence in the future leadership, knowing that the best is yet to come.’

To ensure a seamless transition, the role of Interim Chair will be led by Senior Independent Director Rupinder Ashworth, the first woman to hold the position in the organisation’s history.

Interim BWL Chair Rupinder Ashworth reflected: ‘on behalf of the Board, we extend our deepest gratitude to Angus for his years of exemplary leadership and outstanding contribution and wish him every success in his new role’.

About the BWL Board

BWL prides itself on having a diverse and forward-thinking Board that includes both independent and non-independent individuals. BWL has a highly experienced Board that offers a wide variety of skills and expertise in the sport, commercial, marketing, legal, finance, and athlete advocacy.

Currently, the Board comprises of nine (9) members with a gender split of 55% women / 45% men. Of these members, 78% are independent with the remaining 22% being associated with the sport.

Recruitment of new BWL Independent Chair

The candidate briefing document for the recruitment of the new BWL Independent Chair will be published shortly.