June marks the start of a new Commonwealth Games cycle and a new look for the board of Commonwealth Games England.

Long serving non-executive directors Martin Thomas, Hamish McInnes and David Ross leave the board after eight years. All were 'founder' directors of Commonwealth Games England when it ceased being the Commonwealth Games Council and took up corporate status, under the Chairmanship of Sir Andrew Foster.

Chair of Commonwealth Games England, Ian Metcalfe, said

“I would like to thank Martin, Hamish and David for their service over the past eight years. All three have made a huge difference to the organisation’s planning and performance in Delhi, Glasgow and most recently on the Gold Coast.

“Martin has helped to transform the communications and marketing function of Commonwealth Games England. The organisation is in a much stronger place in this respect thanks to Martin’s guidance.

“As Chair of the Sport Committee, Hamish has provided invaluable counsel to the organisation and especially in how it can retain its sport and athlete centred approach. Hamish has been involved in Commonwealth sports administration for many years since Manchester 2002 and I am sure he will continue to be a close friend to Team England long into the future.

“David is known across sport for all that he does to support the athlete performance pathway and this has been instrumental in Commonwealth Games England’s success over the past three Games. 

“I would like to wish all of our non-executive directors who are standing down the very best for the future.”

Commonwealth Games England’s focus now turns towards the exciting prospect of a home Games in Birmingham in 2022 as well as a Commonwealth Youth Games in Northern Ireland in 2021. Helping take the organisation forward will be Dame Caroline Spelman MP and Delia Bushell whose appointments were announced earlier this year. Dame Caroline and Delia formally take up their positions as of today (5 June 2018).

Ian Metcalfe added:

“We are really fortunate to have two people of the calibre of Delia and Dame Caroline to be joining the Board of Commonwealth Games England, making our Board gender balanced for the first time. These next four years are quite possibly the biggest in the organisation’s history and the whole Board will be working hard to make the most of the opportunities that Birmingham 2022 will bring.”