BaseballSoftballUK announces Board Appointments

Mon 6 Apr 2020

Four new Independent Directors were appointed to the BaseballSoftballUK Board at the organisation’s General Meeting on Tuesday, 17 March.

Appointed as Independent Non-Executive Directors were Prashant Dave, Partner at Blake Morgan LLP; Fiona Breeden, Lead Consultant at Two Circles Sports Marketing Agency; Gary Henderson, Partner & Chief Operating Officer at 4global Consulting, and Matthew Knowles, Global Corporate Communications at Inmarsat.

They were joined by British Softball Federation nominated Director, Bridget Cameron, who works as Head of HR at Amazon.

Additionally, Simon Winman, Director at Ithika Ltd, was reappointed to the Board as an Independent Director.

Independent Directors remaining on the Board are Chris Greenhalgh and Jayne McLernon, while Jenny Fromer remains a BSF nominated Director, bringing the total number of Members to nine.

Chris Deacon is no longer a member of the board following the withdrawal of his nomination by the British Baseball Federation.

"We are very excited to fill these positions on our board," said John Boyd, BaseballSoftballUK CEO. "The six individuals nominated today each bring a diverse skill-set to our organisation and I look forward to their knowledge and experience being used to grow the sports of baseball and softball in the coming years. Additionally, I'd like to thank Chris Deacon for his years of service to BSUK and wish him well in his future endeavours."

About the new appointments

Prashant Dave

An experienced commercial real estate lawyer, Prashant’s practice covers all aspects of commercial real estate, including acquisitions and disposals, leasing and development. He also has expertise in the restaurant and leisure sector acting for occupiers on the acquisition and disposal of sites. Prashant has also worked extensively with charities, particularly on land-related issues.

“I’m excited to join the BaseballSoftballUK Board of Directors and look forward to assisting the organisation in any way I can,” said Prashant. “This is an exciting time in British baseball and softball history, and I’m looking forward to helping both sports grow and expand in the UK.”

Fiona Breeden

Fiona has spent her career working with sports organisations in both the UK and the US and brings a wealth of marketing and commercial expertise to her role with the Board. She has worked with National Governing Bodies, professional sports rights holders and brands, investing in and partnering with sports. In her current role with sports marketing agency Two Circles, she helps rights holders deepen their relationship with fans using data as an enabler of growth.
She resides in Hertfordshire with her husband and son.

“I am delighted to be appointed as a Non-Executive Director for BaseballSoftballUK,” said Fiona. “I’m committed to help the organisation navigate the challenges ahead to enable more people to play baseball and softball in parks and communities across the country.”

Gary Henderson

Gary’s career has involved substantial work within sport and physical education. Starting as a P.E. teacher, he later joined the Rugby Football Union in a variety of roles culminating in the role of Head of Game Development. This role led a local and national team delivering coach, referee, player and medic development services throughout the UK. Gary then worked with British Judo’s High Performance team and later as Corporate Services Director. More recently, he became a partner with 4global Sports Management Consultancy in London and has maintained involvement within local sport by chairing the Board of Sussex RFU and being a trustee of a local sports charity in Brighton and Hove. Gary is also a Trainer for the World Academy of Sport, delivering training to a range of international agencies (IPC, IOC) and federations.

“Having previously worked with a number of sports organisations, I’m very excited to join the BaseballSoftballUK Board,” he said. “I’m looking forward to helping the organisation and sports grow, especially at the local, developmental level.”

Matthew Knowles

Matthew is a communications and public affairs professional with more than 20 years of experience in UK and international politics, trade associations and global businesses. A native of Leeds, he is a graduate of the University of Leeds, l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Strasbourg and Queen Mary College of the University of London. He is a Boston Red Sox fan, ever since his first visit to the US in 1998, as well as a follower of Leeds United, the LSU Tigers football team, Yorkshire and England cricket, the Miami Dolphins in the NFL and Hull FC in the Super League. Knowles lives in Hampshire with his wife, son, daughter and Labrador.

“I’m honoured and delighted to be a part of the Board of BaseballSoftballUK,” he said. “I’m a huge fan of the sports and I’m keen to get to work to help BaseballSoftballUK grow participation further in this country.”

Bridget Cameron
Bridget has been a softball umpire for 25 years at a domestic and international level. Currently, she is the Head of HR at Amazon’s largest Fulfilment Center in Europe, responsible for over 4,000 employees, where her focus is not only on customers, but on staff enjoyment. She is a former practicing Australian lawyer, has worked in Australia and the UK as a government regulator and has previously held Board Director and Vice-Chair roles for not-for profit organisations and charities.

“I am excited to be joining BaseballSoftballUK as a Board Member, sharing my professional knowledge and other Board management experience for my passionate of softball,” she said. "I have previously been a board director and vice-chair with not-for profits and charities, and I’ll be assisting BSUK with my professional experience in human resources, as an employment lawyer and government regulator. I have played baseball and softball from five years of age and umpired for 25 years and can’t wait to get started helping the sports that I love.”

Simon Winman’s reappointment

Following a 20-year career at the Rugby Football Union and was most recently Head of Club Development responsible for the retention, recruitment and recognition of volunteers, facility investment and improving the leadership, management and governance of clubs, Simon now trains and coaches a wide variety of clients from the worlds of education, the military and sport through associations with M2M2 Coaching & Mentoring, Ashridge Hult Business School and 4Global. He currently sits on the Boards of Aylesbury Grammar School and Buckinghamshire County RFU in addition to his professional roles. Simon is married with two children and two cats and can, on occasion, be seen out running around the streets of Aylesbury.

“I am delighted to have been reappointed to the Board of BaseballSoftballUK, having already spent two years on the Board working closely with the Executive, Board Members and both softball and baseball,” remarked Simon. “The last 12 - 18 months have been an unprecedented opportunity for both sports to gain greater visibility and I look forward to helping BSUK through its next period of change, growth and development."

Board demographics

As the development agency for baseball and softball in the UK, BaseballSoftballUK has an important role to play in the make-up of the sports we deliver. The organisation is committed to encouraging equality and diversity amongst Board, staff, players and volunteers.

With the new appointments to the Board, BaseballSoftballUK’s Staff and Board demographics are now as follows: