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,
Chief Executive
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!
Peter Emptage,
Chair of the Board of Directors
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.
Jackie Newcombe
Senior Independent Director, Chair of the Nominations Committee.
Jackie 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.
Joyce Church,
Chair of the Finance Risk Committee, Chair of the Transform Group
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
Chair of the Development Committee, Chair of the Disciplinary Committee
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.
Harley Towler
Non-Executive Director
Harley has been involved in badminton for over 20 years as a player, coach, and academic.
Harley currently works for the International Tennis Federation as Project Lead (Research) within the Tours and Player Pathway department, where his responsibilities include evaluating the player pathway from junior to professional tennis, driving tournament standards across the World Tennis Tour, and using data to inform strategic decisions.
A former GB player who competed at the Yonex All England on three occasions, Harley remains involved in the badminton performance structure as U15 National Age Group Coach as well as coaching at Wycombe Performance Centre and previously Leicestershire Performance Centre. Harley also remains involved in academia as Visiting Fellow in the Science of Racket Sports at Loughborough University, where he completed both an undergraduate degree in Sport & Exercise Science and a PhD in Sports Biomechanics and Engineering. Outside of badminton, Harley enjoys music and playing electric guitar.
James Thomas,
Chair of Perform Committee
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 and is a member of the GB Badminton Board.
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.
Kate Aldridge,
Chair of Governance Committee
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.
Kate is our EDI Champion.
Chris Clements
Chair of the Inspire Committee
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.
Gene Joyner,
Non-Executive Director
Alongside being a master’s European gold medalist, Gene is also a coach and a passionate champion of inclusivity.
Gene wears many hats as current CEO for the charity FareShare South West, Chair of Avon County Badminton Association, Welfare and Safety Champion and a trustee of the SS Great Britain.
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.
