Ralph Rimmer
Biography
Ralph Rimmer was appointed as a non-executive director of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in July 2023.
Ralph was first appointed as CEO of the Sheffield Eagles Super League club in 1997, a club which went on to produce the biggest cup upset in the history of the competition in winning the Challenge Cup in 1998. He then went on to be CEO at Huddersfield Giants and between 1997 and 2002 he managed the Irish International team.
In 2004 he was invited onto the Board of Huddersfield Town, during which time the club was rescued from Administration and went on to achieve promotion to League 1. He was also made Managing Director of the Kirklees Stadium Development Limited in 2004.
Following 7 years as Chief Operating Officer of the Rugby Football League (RFL), he was appointed CEO on 01 January 2018 and led the sport through the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, he drove the RFLs ground-breaking strategic realignment whilst also leading the organisation in support of the RLWC team in the highly successful Rugby League World Cup 2021, which delivered competitions in Men’s, Women’s, Wheelchair and Physical Disability Rugby League team competitions. He was a director of the International RL Board for 6 years.
Non-executive director
The main responsibilities of non-executive directors are to:
- attend meetings of the departmental board, chaired by the Secretary of State
- provide over-arching strategic guidance and insight to the department