Board of directors
Board of directors
To find out who the members of The Board of Directors are, including their names, contact details and a short biography, please click here. Members of the Board of Directors are appointed via a recruitment process.
The Board of Directors must adhere to the Articles of Association and a copy of this can be found on the ‘Governance‘ webpage.
The Board of Directors adhere to a Code of Conduct.
Should you have any questions relating to Badminton England’s governance please contact the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive in the first instance via ea@badmintonengland.co.uk.
Meet our board of directors
Sue Storey
Sue is the Chief Executive of Badminton England. Her role is to lead the organisation, work with the board, the team and key volunteers to deliver the strategy, to develop and grow the sport, deliver major events for badminton (including Yonex All England Championships), developing the top performance athletes to compete in Olympic/Paralympic Games and other international competition and promote the fantastic, exciting sport of Badminton.
Previously, Sue was the Chief Executive at Volleyball England, where she oversaw the three disciplines of Volleyball, Sitting Volleyball and Beach Volleyball, working collaboratively to deliver huge improvements across the sport.
Prior to that, Sue was an Inspector for the Sport Grounds Safety Authority, who, as authors of the ‘Green Guide’, are unique as the world’s only government funded body set up specifically to develop safety at sports grounds. She has also had a key role in developing stakeholder relationships and working collaboratively with national and international sporting bodies, federations and organising committees.
She is a cyclist, road and velodrome, she previously played hockey at Midlands League level and was a past Taekwondo GB Veterans Champion.
Sue also holds two NED positions; Trent Bridge Cricket Ground and Active Partnerships National Team.
The final interesting fact about Sue is she has two sets of twins!
Joyce Church
Joyce has been a member of the Finance Risk & Corporate Services Board since January 2018.
As a former partner of Equistone, a private equity investor, Joyce brings broad business experience and has sat on a number of Boards for consumer facing businesses as a non-executive, investor director.
Joyce has been a keen badminton player and club member for 14 years and is an active volunteer
Mark King
Mark has been involved in badminton for over 40 years, as a player, coach, and administrator.
He is currently Leicestershire Senior County Captain, Chairman of Leicestershire Performance Centre and he is playing on the Masters’ circuit where he has had medal success Nationally, at World Senior, European Senior and All England Senior Championships.
Mark has been at Loughborough University for over 30 years and is now Professor of Sports Biomechanics and Associate Dean for Enterprise in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences along with being a member of BWF’s Injury Prevention Working Group.
Jackie Newcombe
Jackie is the Senior Independent Director. She was co-opted to the Badminton England board in June 2017 and brings with her a wealth of experience in marketing and communications, having served on the board of the UK’s largest magazine and digital publisher for ten years. She was also on the board of Speciality Stores, a subsidiary of Ocado PLC and volunteers as a business mentor for The Prince’s Trust.
Jackie now runs her own business consultancy, specialising in content strategy and creation.
A graduate of Loughborough University with an honours degree in Sports Science, Jackie has been a lifelong fan of all sports.
Mike McSweeney
Mike McSweeney joined the Board of Directors in June 2019.
Mike is the current CEO of the Fulham Football Club Foundation and has over 15 years’ experience working in the sports sector across multiple fields. As a former Head of Commercial for the Lawn Tennis Association and Fulham Football Club, Mike’s breadth of knowledge covers all commercial rights, funding, sports charities, licencing, fundraising, supplier tenders, commercial operations and venue management.
Mike has played Rugby League for Ireland, gained two Blues whilst studying at Cambridge University and supported on the operational delivery of the Great Britain Davis Cup Team, including the teams first win for 80 years in 2015. A keen sports fan, he understands the pathway opportunities that sport can present from participation to elite level competition.
Mike also sits on the Commercial Committee of Swim England.
Peter Emptage
Peter has over 40 years of experience in badminton as a player and administrator.
He has achieved extensive medal success at World Senior, European Senior and All England Senior Championships, and has represented Essex on over 200 occasions. He was previously a member of Badminton England’s Council and remains a member of the Masters’ Policy Group, as well as holding other positions at national, county and club level.
Peter is a Chartered Architect running his own practice specialising in sport and leisure and is currently a facilities advisor to both BWF and IOC.
James Thomas
James joined the Badminton England board in July 2022 as the Performance Non-Executive Director.
He began his sporting career playing Rugby Union at Premiership Clubs in England and New Zealand. After injury brought about an early retirement in professional sport, James moved into working within the sport system.
James has held several senior positions within the UK Sport High Performance system over the last sixteen years and has worked with several sports including Athletics, Judo, Wheelchair Rugby and Boxing. He has spent the last five years as Performance Director at British Gymnastics and was the Team Leader at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Alongside his professional roles, he has also been a Non-Executive Director at GB Boxing, a member of the UK Performance Directors strategic group and the UK Sport People Development steering group.
James now works at Manchester City Football Club as the Director of Performance Services.
Alongside an undergraduate and post graduate background in Sport and Exercise Sciences, he is completing a Legal master’s in International Sport Law at Sheffield Hallam University, specialising in anti-doping and football law.
Outside of his professional career, James is an outdoor enthusiast, spending a lot of his free time mountain biking with his son and hiking in the Lake District. Committed to outdoor adventures, he is aiming to summit Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn in the near future.
George Wood
George is a sports development professional with 25 years of experience, the last 16 of which have been in senior leadership roles. Most recently he was Sport Development Director at Swim England for six years with responsibility for talent pathways, clubs, events, coaching and he development of the sport. George is currently working with sports organisations to support their development including the establishment of the Steelbacks Foundation with Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. He is also heavily involved in cricket as a volunteer, being Head Junior Coach of his local club.
George is a big fan of badminton having played for Bedfordshire as a junior before representing both Warwickshire and Buckinghamshire first teams. He has coached at a range of levels and managed the GB team at two editions of the World University Championships. Previously he was Community Game Director at Badminton England.
George got hooked on badminton at the Yonex All England Championships – first attending at the final edition to be held in Wembley Arena. He still remembers the magic of watching the best players in the world, the speed, power, pace and deception and the unmistakable ‘crack’ of a shuttlecock being hit perfectly.
Kate Aldridge – Board Director & EDI Committee Chair
Kate is currently Interim Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Director at the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB). She passionately believes in the power of sport to positively impact people’s lives and is committed to helping make sport more inclusive and accessible for everyone. Her first project at the ECB was developing their Transform women’s and girls’ cricket action plan which has led to huge grow in the profile and engagement with the women’s game. She currently leads a team delivering equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) initiatives across the whole game.
After a year on the Badminton England EDI Committee, she joined the Board as Non-Executive Director in 2023 to help drive progress around EDI across badminton. Alongside this role she is a committed mentor as part of the University of Bath’s Widening Participation scholarship programme.
Kate was a keen badminton player as a teenager, playing in County competitions and local adult leagues across Sussex and Kent. Although she’s lost most of her racket skills in the intervening years, she’s enjoying the opportunity to be involved in the game again.
Chris Clements
Chris joined the Badminton England board in July 2023, bringing a range of experience in digital and sports organisations.
He is currently Digital Products Lead at Wimbledon where his responsibilities include Wimbledon.com, the official mobile apps and other digital activation. This includes innovations to grow and deepen the Wimbledon fan base, utilising the latest AI technology, developing gaming/metaverse experiences and managing the release of digital artworks/collectibles.
Prior to this Chris spent three years at the Lawn Tennis Association where he was responsible for the migration of a number of key systems to the running of the sport, offering improved experiences and driving participation.
Outside these roles, Chris has over 10 years experience in a variety of charity trustee and board positions. He has competed at a national level in two sports and was recently responsible for the day to day running of one of the countries largest rowing clubs.
Should you have any questions relating to Badminton England’s governance please contact the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive in the first instance via ea@badmintonengland.co.uk.
