Ismail Amla, Chief Growth Officer at Capita, and Chris Pilling, who was most recently the Chair of Yorkshire 2019, the body responsible for delivering the UCI Road World Cycling Championships in Yorkshire, will join UK Sport’s Board in June.
UK Sport Chair Dame Katherine Grainger said: “I’m delighted to welcome Ismail and Chris to the UK Sport Board. Both bring an incredible range of knowledge and experience from hugely successful careers in financial and professional services. We find ourselves in unprecedented times, and therefore the ability to draw on their insights at a time of such change will be invaluable as we build for the future. I’d like to welcome them both to the team.”
Ismail Amla was appointed to the Board by the Secretary of State in April 2020 for a three-year term. As a former Partner for Accenture, Ismail was a member of the UK and Ireland leadership team. He has also been the UK and North America CEO for Capco, the business and technology consultancy, and between 2016 – 2018 was Managing Partner for IBM Global Business Services, in North America. Ismail has an MBA from Manchester University and is a member of the Advisory Council at the Weissman Center for International Business at the City University of New York.
Ismail Amla said: “Sport has been such an important part of my life and is something which I believe has huge value to local communities and so I’ve always taken huge pleasure in supporting grassroots sport in various ways over the years. I’m excited to now be joining UK Sport and have the opportunity to play a part in helping to make sure that the success of our brilliant Olympic and Paralympic athletes inspires communities up and down the country.”
Chris Pilling was appointed to the Board by the Secretary of State in April 2020 for a three-year term. After graduating from Cambridge with a degree in geography, Chris started his career in marketing, working for Procter & Gamble, British Airways and Asda. He Became CEO of HSBC owned First Direct in 2006 and subsequently led them through the financial crisis and, more recently, Yorkshire Building Society Group where he was also CEO. Chris has served as Non-Executive Director for the Yorkshire Tourist Board, and the Department of Health. He is currently Non-Executive Director for Musgrave Group plc and Barclays Bank UK.
Chris Pilling said: “I’ve worked closely with a number of colleagues at UK Sport in recent years as part of my role at Yorkshire 2019. In partnership we achieved some wonderful things which we can be very proud of and I’m now excited to be able to build on that work in this new role at UK Sport.”