The British Cycling board yesterday elected Jonathan Browning as its new chair following the decision of Bob Howden, who will remain as president, to step aside.
Jonathan Browning was first appointed to the British Cycling board as a non-executive director in March 2015. A former chairman of Vauxhall and managing director of Jaguar Cars, Jonathan has over 30 years’ experience leading large, complex businesses and overseeing significant organisational transformation.
Browning said:
“I am honoured to have been elected as the new chair of British Cycling at such an important moment in its history. British Cycling has delivered tremendous success for the sport at every level over the past two decades, but there is clearly work to do to take the organisation to the next level.
“I look forward to working with the executive leadership team, including our new performance director Stephen Park, to do just that. Recruitment for a new chief executive is going well and we expect to make a further announcement in the next few weeks.”
Howden said:
“The appointment of an independent chair brings British Cycling more closely in line with the new Code for Sports Governance and is also an important step in work that has been going on for some time in updating the structures of the organisation to ensure we have the capacity to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead of us.”
There have been quite a number of staffing changes of late, and the report into allegations of sexism and the culture at British Cycling is understood to have been delayed until early March to enable parties to respond to issues raised. No doubt British Cycling will be hoping that once it is published, this appointment of an Independent Chair will help them to put the past behind them and move forward into a new era. Let’s hope that’s one where mountain biking is given a little more attention than the past.
