Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the university and former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England is to join the board of trustees for the charity parkrun, it was announced today (Monday 9 January 2023).

Professor Van-Tam is among seven new trustees to strengthen the leadership provided by the Board, as well as improve diversity and provide expertise and guidance for the delivery of an ambitious five year strategy, due for release in February 2023.

The new trustees will join current Global Board members, Christine Gibbons, Gavin Megaw and Jeremy Townsend. Six of the seven will become Board members in January 2023, with Professor Van-Tam joining in March 2023.

Through the extensive recruitment process for the roles, the charity sought a range of diverse and experienced individuals to bring the right amount of challenge, lived experience, alternative perspective, and professional experience across a range of disciplines.

parkrun started in 2004 with just 13 runners and 5 volunteers in London’s Bushy Park. Events now take place in more than 2,200 locations in 22 countries around the world. Hundreds of thousands of people from all ages, backgrounds and abilities take part every single weekend as walkers, joggers, runners and volunteers.

parkrun events in the Nottingham area have seen 75,340 participants walk, run or volunteer, with 8,664 unique volunteers amongst them. There have been more than 800,000 parkruns completed and almost 93,000 instances of volunteering. 2022 saw 9,377 participate at a parkrun in the area for the first time

Professor Van-Tam said: “parkrun is a fantastic organisation which has done so much to promote free, inclusive, friendly participation in sport, exercise, movement and mental wellbeing and I am delighted to be joining it this year as one of its trustees.

“As a public health professional, I am passionate about supporting initiatives which focus on the benefits that an active lifestyle can bring to our physical and mental wellbeing both in the short term and in helping us to live longer and healthier lives. I look forward to contributing to the charity’s continuing success.”

parkrun Global CEO Russ Jefferys said: “We have been working through a huge programme of change over the past 12 months, as we seek to invest in the organisation and strengthen our governance and leadership, to ensure we are meeting and exceeding our responsibilities as a global health and wellbeing charity.

“A big part of this work has been the recruitment of new trustees, and it has been incredibly humbling to see the calibre and passion of the individuals applying to join us. I’m looking forward to welcoming them all to the team and working with them on this next exciting chapter for parkrun.”

The new Trustees are:

Sonya Byers

Long-standing parkrun volunteer Ambassador with a passion for delivering equity, diversity, inclusion and social impact. Sonya is Chief Executive of the non-profit Women in Transport with a mission to support and advocate for women working in transport.

Nat Poulter

Joint CEO of Jungle Creations, a media, marketing and commerce business that has appeared on the Financial Times list of Europe’s fastest growing companies. Nat is a digital community expert with a demonstrable track record of creating content and channels to reach diverse and hard to reach audiences and has introduced world class diversity, equity and inclusion practices in his agency. Joins the Board in January 2023.

Sarah Powell

Chief Executive of British Gymnastics. Sarah joined British Gymnastics in late 2021 to lead a major remodelling of its safeguarding, operations, culture and future strategy. She was previously CEO of Sport Wales and a former international sportswoman.

Professor Sir Jonathan Stafford Nguyen-Van-Tam

Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England. He is presently Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Sir Jonathan is highly influential across public health and will help the organisation think through its public health positioning with a focus on delivering greater impact within communities across the world.

David Dinsmore

Chief Operating Officer of News UK, responsible for developing new digital revenue streams across the organisation while maximising the legacy print operations. He helped to lead the organisation through a significant period of turbulence and reform its governance structure. Prior to his current role, David was Editor of The Sun newspaper.

Gordon Seabright

Previously CEO of the Eden Project, Gordon has worked at a senior level for a host of charitable organisations. He now leads Creative Land Trust, a charity established by the Mayor of London, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Arts Council England to solve the problem of the loss of artists and creatives from London. He is a trustee at Five Talents, a charity that delivers financial inclusion for women in East Africa.

John Vickers

Chartered Accountant and currently Director of Finance and Corporate Services at St Christopher’s Hospice, the largest hospice in the UK, with an annual income of £30m. John has extensive experience of working in charity finance; prior to St Christopher’s Hospice he was Director of Finance and Corporate Services at the Design Council.