Table Tennis England announces that following an open recruitment process, three individuals from within the sport have been appointed to represent the views and interests of table tennis on the Independent Review Panel (IRP).
Joining recently appointed chairman Marc Mazzucco, will be: Neil Hurford, Phil Ashleigh and Shaun Parsley.
Neil Hurford
With 45 years’ experience of table tennis as a player, coach and administrator at all levels – club, league, county and national, Neil has been involved in the game in many parts of England – from Lincolnshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire in the North to Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire in the South.
Neil now plays his league table tennis in Oxford, Didcot and Reading, as well as representing Oxford in the over-60s county championships. He is an active member of his local PremierClub and a National Councillor for Oxfordshire.
Neil has a broad business background, with wide experience as a consultant and project manager. He is currently a director of a software company.
Phil Ashleigh
As a licensed UKCC Level 3 coach Phil has tutored and assessed coaching courses since 2003, teaching and mentoring several hundred coaches over this period.Phil has been Head Coach at Mossford TTC since 1990 and part of the management team that have developed the club from modest beginnings into a substantial organisation with a significant and well-regarded coaching operation.
Phil has played table tennis for many years and competed at junior county level, local leagues, British League and many tournaments. He joined National Council in 2016 and has since become an active participant. He is passionate about table tennis and is committed to help make the experience of our sport as good as it can be.
Phil has an extensive background in Sales Management, Marketing and Logistics leading to setting up and successfully running his own business consulting with clients and providing best routes to market and strategic realignment. In recent years he has also worked in Facility Management controlling Operations in a multi-million pound venue in the charity sector.
Shaun Parsley
Shaun has played competitive table tennis for 30 years and additionally he continues to serve as a committee member for the Norwich League.
Working as an actuary in financial services for almost 20 years, Shaun has held a number of senior positions often focused on the building of their governance frameworks, product development and pricing.
Currently he is working as an advisor to a number of start-up businesses supporting the evolvement of their operational capability.
Completing the panel are Jonathan Hall and Karl George MBE; both professionals in the field of corporate governance.
Jonathan Hall
Jonathan has held senior leadership roles in two large national sports governing bodies and is a qualified lawyer. He was Company Secretary of the RFU when the game’s governance was having to modernise and he was Director of Governance and then Director of Football Services at the FA.
More recently he has advised and helped British Judo lead its corporate governance changes and related compliance with the Code of Governance for UK sports.
Karl George
Managing Director at The Governance Forum, Karl is also a board member of the Association of Corporate Governance Practitioners (ACGP) the only professional body for cross sector governance practitioners; and was a pioneer of the Governance Assessment Process (GAP) a cross sector standard.
Mark Quartermaine, Chair of the Governance Review Group (GRG), the Board’s sub-group which will oversee the process, procedure and timetable of the review, said:
We are delighted to announce the individuals who will form the Independent Review Panel. They represent a strong balance of experts in governance and table tennis knowledge. Above all, they have all demonstrated a commitment to carrying out a wide and open consultation to ensure that the views and opinions of our members are heard in this process to ensure that Table Tennis England is fit for the future.
Details of the first stage of consultation online will follow before Christmas, and the Table Tennis England Board will receive an update at its meeting on November 30, as per the timeline set out for the Governance Review.
The IRP will also meet with various groups including the Young Ambassadors and National Council as we look to the future.