Vacancy: Independent Chair, British Weight Lifting

Vacancy: Independent Chair, British Weight Lifting
£12,000 plus expenses
4 year term (up to 2 terms permitted)

An exciting opportunity exists to become Chair of British Weight Lifting, the national governing body for the sports of Olympic Weight Lifting and Para-Powerlifting, to succeed the current chair. This is a great time to be involved in the sport, where interest, participation and medal successes are at their highest levels. It is an empowering sport for both sexes. Female participation has grown considerably and participants benefit from a range of mental and physical health improvements that the sport can give. Para Powerlifting has excelled with a number of UK Sport funded athletes, delivering two medals at the Rio Paralympic Games. Alongside Weight Lifting (8 medals), the Para Powerlifting team (3 medals) also shared the sport’s best results for over 20 years at the recent Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Building upon the successes of the last 5 years, the new Chair will lead the organisation through further growth and innovation in widening grassroots participation, increasing membership, coaching standards and talent development, utilising an annual operating budget in excess of £1.6m.

The Chair is responsible for strategic leadership, external relations, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness of the Board and building a strong relationship with the Chief Executive and the wider management team to achieve agreed objectives.

Key responsibilities for the Chair position include;

• Strategic responsibility for British Weight Lifting in conjunction with the Board, helping to provide the vision for continued development of the organisation
• Ensuring that the Board continues to operate in line with the Code for Sports Governance, demonstrating the highest standards of integrity
• Maintaining positive relationships with major external stakeholders including UK Sport and Sport England, as well as fostering international relations and influence with relevant federations
• Chairing the Board meetings, creating a culture of openness and collaboration, encouraging views from fellow Board members
• Acting as an ambassador for the sport, creating and maintaining effective relationships with members and key partners, establishing mutual understanding of interests, needs and outcomes
• A clear commitment to improving diversity and equality, understanding the needs of under-represented groups in sport

Leading candidates should possess a visionary approach, with the entrepreneurial skill to help maximise opportunities. Board experience with an understanding of how to get the best from other Board members is important and a general understanding of how public funding bodies operate would be advantageous. It is anticipated that the candidate will have a passion for sport, with candidates from both the sport sector and the general business or public sector being considered.

The national governing body holds five Board meetings per annum and the overall time expectation for the role is around 2-3 days per month. There is an honorarium of £12,000 plus expenses. There is no fixed location for the  Chair position as meetings are held in various locations including Leeds, Loughborough and London.

British Weight Lifting is an equal opportunities employer that celebrates diversity and welcomes new ideas and perspectives.

To apply, please send your CV with a brief covering note to daryl.mason@hartmannmason.com or email Daryl to organise a call.

Closing Date 22^nd February.