DCMS seeks new chair for UK Sport

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is on the hunt for a new chair for UK Sport to replace the outgoing Rod Carr.

Carr will step down from the position he had held since 2013, and not seek reappointment for another four-year term.

The application period opened yesterday (6 February), and is due to close on 24 February.

A final interview will take place on 4 April before an appointment is made later that month.

Carr’s decision to stand aside represents a good opportunity for the DCMS to appoint a female candidate, or someone from a black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) background to demonstrate its diversity credentials.

UK Sport – alongside Sport England – published the UK Sports governance Code late last year.

Boardroom diversity has a significant presence in the document, with the threat of public funding for national governing bodies being withdrawn if they do not comply. However, UK Sport can boast just one BAME board member out of 10.

Former Royal Yachting Association chief executive Carr replaced Sue Campbell as UK Sport chair four years ago, and oversaw Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s barmstorming Rio 2016 Olympics, in which both teams bettered the performance of the London 2012 cohort.

Carr had been on the UK Sport board since 2005 prior to his appointment as chair.

The quango’s incoming chair will be at the helm ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, and all through the Tokyo 2020 cycle.