UK Sport has today (3 July) announced the appointment of Mark Hanson as Deputy Chair of the UK Sport Board.
Hanson is a Director of Hakluyt & Company, an organisation offering strategic advice to multinationals and investors. He is a former pentathlete and Non-Executive Director of the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain and is responsible for aspects of international and commercial strategy, reporting to the Chairman. Hanson was also a strategy consultant with Bain & Company and was previously a Captain in the British Army and First Secretary in the British Diplomatic Service.
A UK Sport Board member since June 2011 and the chair of its Major Events Panel, Hanson presided over the strategic investment of a record £355 million of National Lottery and Exchequer funding into Olympic and Paralympic sport in December 2012. Hanson also represents UK Sport and DCMS interests on the board of the World Athletic Championships London 2017. He will now work closely with Chair Rod Carr CBE and the UK Sport Board with the focus firmly on delivering medal success at the Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson said: “This is an excellent appointment. I look forward to working closely with Mark on UK Sport’s ambition to win more medals in Rio in 2016 and to land more major sporting events as part of the legacy from London 2012.”
Mark Hanson said: “It is a great honour to be made Deputy Chair of the UK Sport Board at a time when British elite sport has never been in better shape.
“I have immensely enjoyed the past two years serving as a Board member and I am now looking forward to the new challenges that my role as Deputy Chair will bring.”