Azeem Akhtar, Tove Okunniwa and David Mahoney appointed as Board Members at Sport England
The Secretary of State has appointed Azeem Akhtar, Tove Okunniwa and David Mahoney as Board Members of Sport England for three years from 2 September 2019 and 28 October 2019.
More information about the appointments:
Azeem Akhtar
Azeem Akhtar, is currently Chief Technology Officer at BT Global where he engages with multi-national clients at C-Level to articulate BT’s vision for digital transformation to deliver the client’s desired business outcomes. After graduating from King’s College London in Mathematics and Business Management, Azeem went on to complete a Masters in Sea-Use Law, Economics and Policy Making at The London School of Economics.
He commenced his professional career working first in the oil and gas industry before moving into the telecommunications industry just as the dot.com era was really taking off. Azeem has held senior commercial, finance, business development and technology leadership roles to date and has extensive international experience where he has utilised his multi-lingual skills.
A committed sportsman, Azeem plays cricket, football, squash and tennis and is a die-hard Liverpool FC supporter. He currently holds a non-executive director role as Chairman of Active Essex and passionately leads the charge against physical inactivity to improve the quality of life for all people, of all ages in Essex.
In 2016, Azeem was named in the UK’s Top 100 Most Influential BAME Business Leaders. Azeem is married with 3 children.
Tove Okunniwa
Tove Okunniwa is Chief Executive Officer of London Sport, an ‘Active Partnership’ dedicated to making London the most active city in the world, funded by Sport England and the Mayor of London. She has a background in strategic marketing and content creation, with extensive experience in both commercial and non-profit sectors. Previously, she led two successful sport and entertainment marketing agencies, WPP owned MEC Access and Havas Sports & Entertainment.
Prior to this, Tove spent 10 years at the BBC in senior brand marketing roles, including Head of Marketing at BBC Sport and during which time she completed an Executive MBA. Her career started in the Arts at the London Symphony Orchestra and the South Bank Centre.
She is a long-time Trustee of Catch 22, a leading social business and a Non-Executive Director of England Boxing.
David Mahoney
David is currently Chief Operating Officer at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Prior to this, he oversaw the strategy, insights, HR, integrity and public policy teams as ECB’s Chief Strategy Officer.
Before joining ECB, David held a number of senior roles at Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, including Director of Policy and Chief Advisor to its CEO. He was also seconded into Government in 2009 as a Director of the Digital Britain Report, which examined the transformational nature of digital technologies and the policy responses needed as a result.
A qualified lawyer who specialised in competition and media law before joining Ofcom, David is a keen sports fan who enjoys cricket and golf as well as following West Ham United.
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These roles are remunerated at £218 per day. This reappointment has been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as including holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Azeem, Tove and David have made no such declarations.