LTA Appoints Councillors To Drive Inclusion
The LTA has appointed seven new Board Nominated Councilors to the LTA Council, as part of its work to drive forward inclusion and diversity in tennis.
The new Councillors each bring with them unique backgrounds and experiences, and have been recruited to further enhance the LTA’s governance and leadership by ‘positively contributing to the diversity of LTA’s thoughts, ideas and approaches’ to help the governing body deliver its Tennis Opened Up strategy.
The new Councillors, who will each serve for a minimum of three and maximum of nine years, officially joined the Council this week and attended their first LTA Council meeting on Wednesday. Of the new appointees, four are men and three are women, four are people of colour, two have declared they are part of an underrepresented group, while three are of a significantly younger age.
Among the appointees are former Arsenal footballer Lottie Birdsall-Strong, who has led strategy and research initiatives for The FA and has been appointed to work with The ECB’s Strategy Department; former professional player and tennis coach Yasmin Clarke; LTA Young Person of the Year 2019 winner, Jonathon Dawes; Managing Partner of First Team Partners and Essex CCC Board Member Wasim Haq; Club Welfare Officer Judith Loffhagen; CEO of the CORE Education Trust and Non-Executive Director, ukactive, Adrian Packer; and LGBTQ+ activist Shiv Paul.
The LTA says the appointment of the Councillors is the latest in a series of actions it is implementing ahead of the publication of its new inclusion and diversity strategy for tennis later this year.
The news also builds on the recent announcement of the establishment of the LTA’s new IDEA Group, and comes ahead of the appointment of a new Non-Executive Director to the LTA Board to be announced shortly.
“The LTA Council plays a vital role in the governance of our sport, and so we are delighted to be able to announce a group of such high caliber Board Nominated Councillors to join our team,” said David Rawlinson, President, LTA.
“We are making progress on our commitment to embed inclusion and diversity throughout what we do, and these appointments will help us continue that.
“They collectively bring with them a diverse range of experience and views that will be of real value to us in our work to achieve our vision of opening up tennis and making it a sport for anyone, no matter their age, background, gender or ability. We welcome them to the LTA and are looking forward to working with each of them over the course of the coming years.”
