BWSW Board

The British Water Ski & Wakeboard Federation Limited is a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital. As a not for profit association of members all of our income is invested in developing and protecting water skiing across the UK from the grassroots level through to our top athletes.
The Board is appointed at our AGM and is directly accountable to the membership for the performance of the company and is responsible for corporate strategy, the management of the association’s policy development, business and financial planning, as well as safeguarding stakeholder's interests. Various committees support the Board in its function and the board delegates to the Chief Executive Officer the day-to-day and business management control.  The Board consists of a maximum of 8 directors, with 5 elected members, the CEO and 2 independent directors with varying portfolios dependent on project needs. Appointed Board members have a maximum tenure of 9 years before retirement.

View Board Appointment Flow Chart

Diversity

Our Board members come from a variety of backgrounds, have a variety of experience and skills and have a very great understanding of the positive impact sport can make.  They also fully understand the complexity of managing a sports governing body in an increasingly complex world and the need for good governance and to be fit for purpose for the 21st century. We very much recognise that a diverse board is able to make decisions more effectively by reducing the risk of 'groupthink', paying more attention to managing and controlling risks as well as having a better understanding of the company’s consumers / new markets for our sport.  Our organisation does not aim for “tokenism” in terms of diversity and as such welcomes applicants from all sectors of society and in particular from under represented groups.

We are pleased to have met our key target of having a minimum of 25% female members holding positions on our Board in line with A Code for Sports Governance.

You can view the BWSW Diversity Statement here. 

The BWSWF Limited Directors
 MW

Martin Winter
Chair


Martin worked in the City for 45 years as a lawyer with most of his involvement being in private equity transactions.  He continues his 35 year competitive waterski slalom career with a markedly lower degree of success although this is given reasonable balance by the performance of other family members.  He also chairs a small charity focused on the provision of sporting equipment to, and sponsoring sporting events in, communities under challenge.  He strongly believes the sport must operate on data rather than opinions.

Responsible for governance

Welfare & Safety Lead

maswinter@googlemail.com

 SS

Steve Sopp
Vice Chair

Responsible for risk management

Risk Committee
Insurance Working Group
 ML

Michael Lock

Responsible for operating safety and standards

Coaching & Driving Working Group
 Peter James

Peter James
Treasurer

Peter James qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in 2003. He was appointed to the Board of Solid State PLC in February 2017. Before joining Solid State PLC, Peter was Group Financial Controller at IQE PLC where he was a key member of the senior leadership team successfully completing two significant transactions. At PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Peter gained a wide range of experience in Audit and Financial Due Diligence and listings working with and advising a broad range of companies in a variety of sectors, including multinational main market and AIM listed companies. In addition, on a voluntary basis Peter is a non-executive director for The British Water Ski & Wakeboard Federation Limited providing independent financial oversight as Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee.

Responsible for finance

Finance & Audit Committee
MC

Margaret Curtis

Maggie has been an active member of Cotswold Water Ski Club for over 30 years and has been (and still is) the Membership Secretary with some 300+ members - a role she continues to enjoy, and has served on their board since 2011. She is actively involved in promoting all disciplines of waterskiing (and in particular Barefoot), especially by bringing new and young members to the sport as well as supporting Team GB members at her club.
Maggie is married with 2 adult daughters - Bibby who has previously been in the GB Barefoot Team and Annie who enjoys slalom and trick.  Maggie and her husband Mark have run two successful businesses over the years, and now in semi-retirement, Maggie enjoys music and other creative hobbies, plus she volunteers for the British Red Cross, as well as entering her fourth year on the BWSW Board.

 Responsible for clubs and members
 NF

Nick Fellows
Independent Director

Nick has been involved in sport for most of his life and has been fortunate enough to build a career in the sport and leisure industry, both public and private sector. His experience spans working as a competitor, volunteer, coach, official and committee member in the voluntary sector with clubs and leagues, through to leading publicly funded and unfunded NGBs as CEO and Accountable Officer.

Nick also led the British Olympic Association’s high performance sports science and rehab service and attended three Olympic Games as part of the HQ Operations Support team. He draws upon his experience from European and International Federations, as well as having been a Board member of a number of other sports bodies, to bring a broader perspective to Board discussions and challenges and is the BWSW Board’s Anti-Doping Lead.

Independent advice on all board related matters

Finance & Audit Committee
Anti-Doping Lead

 Clare Lobb

Clare Lobb
Senior Independent Director

Clare has been involved in High Performance sport for over 15 years.  She has worked for the International Olympic Committee, British Swimming and the English Institute of Sport where she is currently a Technical Lead.  She has been an Independent Director with BWSW since the end of 2016 and is currently helping drive the area of Diversity and Equality in the organisation. Clare enjoys any outdoor activities and acts as an ambassador for a charity promoting access for women to running and the outdoors in areas where this is limited.

Independent advice on all board related matters 

Diversity Champion
 pd

Patrick Donovan
Chief Executive Officer

Patrick has had a long and varied career in the education and sports sector for over 30 years both in the UK and overseas.  He has been the lead driver of four successful BWSW funding strategies which challenged the organisation to think bigger with innovative initiatives in relation to facilities, IT modernisation and ambitious development aims.  His days of slalom skiing through winter are very much a thing of the past now however he still enjoys the occasional summer wakesurf and attending events. 

Responsible for strategy, strategic relationships and partners

Finance & Audit Committee
Risk Committee
Insurance Working Group
  

Related documents

  1. Committee Terms of Reference

    13 Nov 2023 / 248kb

    Committee Terms of Reference

  2. The British Water Ski & Wakeboard Federation Limited Articles of Association

    30 Jan 2023 / 295kb

    BWSW Articles of Association - revised AGM 2023

  3. Committee Directory

    20 Nov 2023 / 59kb

    Current list of committee members

  4. BWSW Areas & Affiliates

    3 Jun 2021 / 15kb

    A document listing BWSW Affiliates by area

  5. Minutes Board March 2022

    23 Jun 2022 / 162kb

    Minutes Board March 2022 (republished)

  6. Minutes Board June 2022

    2 Jul 2022 / 151kb

    Minutes Board June 2022

  7. Minutes Board September 2022

    19 Sep 2022 / 147kb

    Minutes Board September 2022

  8. Minutes Board October 2022

    5 Nov 2022 / 274kb

    Minutes Board October 2022

  9. Minutes Board November 2022

    3 Dec 2022 / 115kb

    Minutes Board November 2022

  10. Minutes Board February 2023

    3 Mar 2023 / 109kb

    Minutes Board February 2023

  11. Minutes Board March 2023

    11 Apr 2023 / 110kb

    Minutes Board March 2023

  12. Minutes Board April 2023

    3 May 2023 / 95kb

    Minutes Board April 2023

  13. Minutes Board June 2023

    5 Oct 2023 / 130kb

    Minutes Board June 2023

  14. Minutes Board July 2023

    14 Jul 2023 / 89kb

    Minutes Board July 2023

  15. Minutes Board October 5th 2023

    24 Nov 2023 / 123kb

    Minutes Board October 5th 2023

  16. Minutes Board October 19th 2023

    2 Nov 2023 / 126kb

    Minutes Board October 19th 2023