The Board & Subcommittees

John Steele OBE

Chair

• Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee Chair

John has a blend of experiences in creating and leading high performing teams and boards, developed as an army officer, professional athlete, sports coach, Chief Executive and NED in the private, public, and not for profit sectors. After playing international Rugby Union, John turned to coaching and successfully led Northampton Saints to become European Champions. He also served on the England Rugby Board during the successful World Cup campaign of 2003 and as CEO of the Rugby Football Union.

The London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics saw John take up post as CEO of UK Sport. He has had leadership roles in ten different Olympic and Paralympic games. In 2015 he took up the post of Group Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, before he was recruited to join the team at Loughborough University, as the Executive Director of Sport which he held until September 2023.

John has sat as a NED or Chair on eleven Boards and chaired UKSI for eight years before
joining CGE. He is now a Visiting Professor in Sports Leadership and Performance at
Loughborough University and Executive Chair and founder of Unforgiving Minute, a leadership
consultancy that supports Senior Leaders to navigate the new and demanding challenges of
modern-day leadership.

John was awarded an OBE for Services to high performance sport in The Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2021. 

Dame Caroline Spelman DBE

Senior Independent Director

• Sustainability Committee Chair
• Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee member

Dame Caroline Spelman comes to Commonwealth Games England with an impressive history as a politician and public servant. She spent her early career with the National Farmers Union and was first elected as the Member of Parliament for the Meriden Constituency in 1997. She served the West Midlands constituency for over 20 years.

Dame Caroline has held varied and prominent Ministerial positions, including serving as Secretary of State for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Dame Caroline is passionate about sports. She is a former junior athlete in the discus throw and county hockey player and continues to play hockey with the Lords and Common’s team. Her eldest son is a professional rugby player for Bedford and her youngest son has been living in Australia. Her husband, Mark, is a former non-executive director of Sport England and currently sits on the board of Harlequins Rugby Football Club.

David Ellis

Non-Executive Director

• Commercial and Communications Committee Chair
• Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee member
• Sustainability Committee member

David Ellis is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Commercial and Communications Committee.

After an early career in technology, David served as Group Business Development and Marketing Director Catalyst Housing Group, a social housing trust spanning London and the Southeast. He then joined Premiership Rugby Club, Harlequins, in 2011 as Chief Executive where he served for almost 9 years. 

Currently he is Chief Executive and founder of Maikai Group, an impact agency focussed on enabling business and sports brands to deliver meaningful change/results against the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Donna Fraser OBE OLY

Non-Executive Director

• ED&I and Social Impact Committee Chair
• Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee member
• Safety and Welfare Lead

Donna Fraser joined the Commonwealth Games England Board as Chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, with over 10 years of corporate experience within business, sport, leadership and well-being. 

Awarded an OBE in 2021 for her services to equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Donna served as a Board member in organisations such as the Women’s Sport Trust, the London Marathon Charitable Trust and the British Athletes’ Commission. During the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Donna worked for the Organising Committee as Head of Inclusion and Engagement and has since continued a similar role at the Professional Cricketers’ Association. 

Alongside her corporate experience, Donna also brings an elite sporting background, having competed for Team England as a 200m and 400m runner, winning bronze at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games.  

Delia Bushell

Non-Executive Director

• Commercial and Communications Committee member
• Chair of Fulham Reach Boat Club

Delia Bushell is a media executive with over 20 years’ experience in media, sport, telecoms and strategy consulting. For the past three years she was Managing Director of BT Sport & BT TV, leading BT’s Sport channels, its PayTV platform and the acquisition of premium sports, entertainment & movie rights.

Prior to this, Delia spent 14 years at Sky in a variety of different role, including as Chief Commercial Officer of Sky Italia, Director of Broadband & Telephony for Sky UK, as Managing Director for Sky Ireland, and as Commercial Director for Sky Networks. Before joining Sky, she spent four years as a strategy consultant and at Pearson plc, and she holds an MA in Modern History and an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University. She has three daughters and is passionate about encouraging female participation in sport.

Diane Edwards MBE

Non-Executive Director

• Sports Committee Chair 
• Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee member

Diane Edwards MBE is co-founder of a successful registered charity that uses sport as a catalyst to develop life skills. 

Diane is currently Head of Inclusion England Talent Pathway at Sport England, working in partnership to ensure athletes development pathways are more accessible, inclusive and genuinely representative of the nation and all its diversity.

In June 2020 the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, announced his appointment of Diane Edwards as Chair of the new Youth Task Force, which will help to develop a Young Person’s Guarantee in Greater Manchester.

As a decorated athlete, Diane is one of Britain’s most successful 800m runners, taking a clean sweep of gold, silver and bronze at three Commonwealth Games (1986, 1990 and 1998) and competed at four Olympic Games. She was unbeaten by any other British athlete over six consecutive seasons and held the English, British and Commonwealth records for both 800m and 600m.

Jonathon Riall

Non-Executive Director

• ED&I and Social Impact Committee member
• Sports Committee member

Jonathon Riall joined Commonwealth Games England as an expert in parasport, and is a member of the Sport and ED&I Committees.

Bringing 20 years of experience working in performance sport, Jonny is currently the Head of Performance Services at the British Paralympic Association having previously served as Head Coach for the Paratriathlon Programme at British Triathlon.

Founder of the Paratriathlon Performance programme in 2009 and Head Coach since 2013, Jonny was Team England’s team leader for paratriathlon at Birmingham 2022 and also led the British team through their debut Paralympic Games at Rio 2016.  

Kristian Thomas

Sports Committee member

Commonwealth Champion Kristian Thomas enjoyed a glittering gymnastics career that saw him win a full set of Commonwealth medals including men’s team gold at Glasgow 2014. 

Since retiring, Thomas has undertaken roles with the British Elite Athlete Association, the Premier League and Team England at Birmingham 2022. 

Thomas joins the Board as Athlete Non-Executive Director, an important role in bringing an athlete perspective

Liz Mulkerrin

Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee member

Seasoned HR professional Liz Mulkerrin, is Commonwealth Games England’s Non-Executive Director - People.

Mulkerrin has over 25 years’ experience in the media, broadcasting, sports and travel sectors.

She is joining us from a post as Chief People & Culture Officer for Palatinate group and previously worked as People Director at Harlequins Rugby.

Orlan Jackman

Sports Committee member and ED&I Committee member

Commonwealth champion Orlan Jackman Jackman joins the Board in a newly-formed Board Apprentice role.

Jackman played a starring role in one of Team England’s biggest moments at Birmingham 2022 as the men’s 3x3 basketball team won gold in dramatic fashion.

Jackman is Commonwealth Games Legacy Project Officer at Basketball England and is passionate about ensuring athletes are represented at every level of sport.

Sharjeel Suleman

Non-Executive Director

• Audit and Finance Committee Chair
• Nominations, Remuneration and Corporate Governance Committee member
• ED&I and Social Impact Committee member

Sharjeel joins the Board as chair of Commonwealth Games England’s Audit and Finance Committee. Sharjeel brings expertise in financial & cash management, as well as a strong understanding of working in the creative and media sector.

A keen cricketer, he is never happier than when playing cricket for his local village club, or increasingly now watching his son play. During his 19 year stint at ITV Sharjeel has been the Director of Group Finance, as well as CFO for ITV Studios, covering globally recognised production and distribution. Sharjeel is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Future plc which connects audiences to their passions through the content across it 200+ brands including TechRadar, Tom's Guide, PC Gamer, The Week, Wallpaper*, Country Life, Homes & Garden and Go.Compare.

Mark Osikoya

Chief Executive

Mark Osikoya took up his role as CEO at Commonwealth Games England in March 2023. 

He joined the team after eight years at the National Basketball Association where he headed up the global partnership team in the EME region. Prior to working at the NBA, he headed up sponsorship at Barclays, Coca-Cola and The Football Association in addition to prior experience at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and adidas. 

Mark is currently a trustee at StreetGames UK.