”ukactive exists to improve the health of the nation by getting more people, more active, more often. ukactive provides services and facilitates partnerships for a broad range of organisations, all of which support our vision and have a role to play in achieving that goal.
We serve over 4,000 members and partners from across the public, private and third sectors, from multinational giants to local voluntary community groups. We do so by facilitating partnerships, campaigning and providing outstanding membership services.
ukactive
Improving the health of the nation
Together achieving more
Our Mission and Vision
Tanni Grey-Thompson was appointed ukactive chair in 2015, turning her seasoned campaigning voice to the crucial issue of turning the tide of physical inactivity.
She has been a leading public face for the organisation, outlining several key ukactive policy recommendations in the past two years. Tanni has appeared regularly on TV as chair of ukactive, including on BBC Breakfast and Daily Politics, highlighting ukactive policy recommendations as well as promoting the myriad benefits of physical activity as a whole.
Tanni is also a regular feature in the print media, providing expert comment on all things physical activity related
As a Paralympian over an international wheelchair racing career spanning 5 Games she won 11 Paralympic Gold medals, held over 30 world records and won the London Marathon six times.
In 2005 she became ‘Dame’ Tanni Grey-Thompson for her services to sport. On 23 March 2010, Grey-Thompson was created a Life Peer on the recommendation of the House of Lords Appointments Commission. Her title was conferred as Baroness Grey-Thompson, of Eaglescliffe in the County of Durham.
In addition to her work at ukactive she is also a Board Member of several organisations including the London Legacy Development Corporation and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
Sandra Dodd is Chief Executive of Places Leisure, with over 20 years’ experience in the leisure management sector, having joined the business in 1995.
She is a Chartered Management Accountant and has been a main board director since 2002 – previously holding the position of Finance Director for 12 years. During her time at Places Leisure, the organisation has grown into a quality leisure operator whose approach has been recognised through a wide range of accolades.
Sandra also sits on the board at both ukactive and Badminton England and is a Trustee of the CIMSPA Board enabling her to shape the future of leisure and create more active places and healthy people.
Mark Sesnan is the Managing Director of the leading leisure charitable social enterprise GLL, founded in 1993. Mark has extensive experience in leisure management, having worked for many years at a senior level in local government and the leisure trust sector.
He is Secretary of Community Leisure UK and Co-Chair of the London Social Enterprise Leaders Business Club. Mark has enjoyed 40 years in the leisure industry, working at every level, from poolside to Managing Director.
Huw has been CEO of ukactive since July 2019, following three years as Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Research. During his ukactive career, Huw has played a key role in shaping the organisation’s strategy and business plan, as well as leading its engagement with government and wider stakeholders.
In 2017, Huw was named Leisure Sector Champion for the Department of Work & Pensions disability taskforce, aiming to ensure that the work of the sector in the disability space is aligned to the DWP’s objectives. Previously, Huw was the Public Affairs lead at British Tennis, working across both the Lawn Tennis Association and The Tennis Foundation. He has also worked for both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Olympic Delivery Authority during the delivery of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In 2014 Professor Greg Whyte was awarded an OBE for his services to Sport, Sport Science & Charity, and was voted as one of the Top 10 Science Communicators in the UK by the British Science Council.
Greg is an Olympian in modern pentathlon, and is a European and World Championship medalist. He is an expert in the field of sports and exercise science. Graduating from Brunel University, he furthered his studies with an MSc in human performance in the USA and completed his PhD at St. Georges Hospital Medical School, London. Greg is currently a Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moore’s University and Director of Performance at the Centre for Health and Human Performance at 76 Harley Street, London.
Greg's former roles include Director of Research for the British Olympic Association and Director of Science & Research for the English Institute of Sport.
Greg is the preeminent authority on Exercise Physiology and Sports and Exercise Performance in the UK. An internationally recognised expert in the field, Greg has extensive professional experience assessing, treating and improving the performance of patients, sporting enthusiasts and athletes ranging from cancer sufferers to celebrities attempting their first mountain summit to Gold medal seeking Olympians.
Greg is well-known for his charity work including his involvement in Comic Relief (Sport relief) and, as a result of his work, Greg has helped raise over £45million for charity.
Sarah Kendall, Managing Partner at Fuse Sport + Entertainment, is a sports marketing and sponsorship expert who has developed international campaigns for major brands including Castrol, Powerade, Sainsbury’s, E.ON and Pirelli.
Sarah offers expertise in the construction and management of big-impact partnerships, as well as providing unique insights on ukactive’s broad range of public and sector-facing campaigns.
Peter Bonfield, Vice-Chancellor and President of Westminster University, is a leading figure in the world of infrastructure development and capital investment who has led three major policy reviews on behalf of the UK government.
Peter has a strong commitment to physical activity, cycling 18 miles to work every day, and he previously worked on developing the sustainability policy for the 2012 London Olympics.
Adrian Packer is the founder and CEO of CORE Education Trust. He took over as Executive Principal of Park View Educational Trust (PVET) and Interim Principal of Park View School in September 2014 and guided the schools in that Trust to a successful turnaround by March 2016. In 2012, Mr Packer was the founding Principal of Everton Alternative Provision Free School and 6th Form College, the first Free School set up by a Premier League football club.
From 2010, Mr Packer was an Executive Director and part of the founding team of Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA), an arts academy partnered with The BRIT School. Mr Packer was a senior Artistic Director at the BRIT School for 12 years and taught some of the country’s highest profile, award-winning talent in the music, theatre and television industries.
Mr Packer is a Member of the LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) Council and Director and Governor of the LIPA 6th Form. He is Governor of the City of Birmingham School. Nationally, he is an independent non-executive Director of ukactive and the Chair of the ukactive Kids Council.
Mr Packer was awarded a CBE in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to education.
Dame Carol Black, DBE, FRCP, BSD is Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge. From 2006 to 2016, she advised the British Government on the relationship between work and health. She is a medical practitioner and an expert on the disease scleroderma. Carol retired from full-time hospital work to become the President of the Royal College of Physicians in 2002.
In 2006, the government led by Tony Blair made Carol its national director for health and work and asked her to promote its policies across Whitehall, especially within the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions. In March 2008, she authored Working for a healthier tomorrow, a report which focused on the impact of sickness absence on the health of the working-age population and on the economy.
She was made a CBE in 2002 in recognition of her research work on scleroderma. Carol was upgraded to DBE in 2005 while she was President of the Royal College of Physicians. She was made an honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Bristol in 2003.
John Treharne is a former accountant and England squash player who’s experience in the fitness industry spans 29 years.
In 1991 John started his first gym business, Dragons Health Clubs, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, with 22 clubs. Dragons was sold in 2000. He then lent his expertise to premium gym chain Esporta, before he concentrated on the launch of The Gym Group in 2008.
Under John’s leadership, The Gym Group pioneered the low cost gym model with contractless, 24/7 operations and online sign-up. In November 2015, The Gym Group became the first UK health and fitness group to debut on the London Stock Exchange in over 15 years. In February 2016 the business was named as a finalist and Ruban d’Honneur recipient in the 2015/16 European Business awards. John stepped down as CEO of The Gym Group in September 2018, but remains on the board as Founder Director.
Today, The Gym Group is nationwide with over 159 sites and a roll-out programme of 15-20 new gyms each year. It has had over 100 million gym visits since launch in 2008, and has a membership of over 750,000.
Ukactive as an organisation is fully committed to championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion throughout all aspects of the organisation’s work. As part of this the ukactive Board has made a commitment to achieve and maintain the following targets:
- The Board has adopted a target of a minimum of 30% of each gender on the Board
- The Board demonstrates a strong and public commitment to progressing towards
a. achieving gender parity
b. achieving greater diversity on its Board, including, but not limited to, Black, Asian, minority ethnic (BAME) diversity and disability
Strategic Partners
