Mark Lyttle Appointed Chair of British Fencing

The Board of British Fencing is delighted to announce that it will be appointing Mark Lyttle as Chair of British Fencing from 1^st November 2016. Mark will be replacing David Teasdale when David’s second term expires at the end of October 2016.

The appointment of Mark follows an extensive recruitment process supported by Sport England. 

Mark, an Olympian, comes to British Fencing with significant Chair/Non-Exec experience in the private sector, sports organisations and the voluntary sector.  Mark chaired, until recently, one of the largest youth sailing boat associations, is a member of the Amateur Swimming Association Audit, Risk and Probity Committee, a panel member of Sports Resolutions and governor of a London primary school. He also competed for Ireland in sailing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Janet Campbell, an independent director at British Fencing, said, ‘We were impressed with Mark’s CV which combines a passion for sport, an excellent background in good governance and financial control alongside running a successful technology business.’

Georgina Usher, CEO of British Fencing, commented, ‘In an environment in which National Governing Bodies are being asked to become financially sustainable and decrease their reliance on public funding, I am looking forward to working with Mark to create a still more resilient organisation which delivers even better services to our members, sponsors and funding partners.’

John Troiano, an elected director and chair of British Fencing’s Audit Governance and Risk Committee said, ‘Under David Teasdale’s chairmanship, British Fencing has made huge progress in terms of its governance, its elite programme, and its development programme.  It has been a pleasure working with David over the years and we are grateful for the passion and energy he has brought to the Board.’

David Teasdale said, ‘It has been a great privilege to chair British Fencing through an important period of change. I wish the Board, management team and members all the success the sport richly deserves.’

Mark Lyttle commented, ‘I am delighted to be joining British Fencing at such an exciting time after the Rio Olympics. We have a great opportunity to further build on our international results while also driving engagement and participation and attracting new people to fencing, working with our partners UK Sport and Sport England.’

For more information please see Mark’s bio here.