Our Co-Design Group is made up of sector leaders who are actively engaged in making a difference, creating change and opening-up opportunities for everyone to live active lives.
They’re instrumental in shaping the programme’s ongoing development. They do this by:
- Bringing their knowledge, experience and expertise to ensure the voice and needs of a diverse range of sector leaders remain at the heart of the programme.
- Collaborating and co-designing with Sport England and the Leading the Movement team through curious questioning, constructive check and challenge, sharing good practice, exploring ideas and creating solutions that support leaders to tackle inequalities through long-term systemic change.
- Influencing decision making about the programme’s service delivery by drawing on their own experience, insight and the programme’s evaluation findings.
Our Co-Design Group members are also proud to act as advocates of Leading the Movement, working to promote the programme’s benefits, and encourage other leaders and stakeholders to engage with it.
Our Co-Design Group will continue to evolve over time. The initial term for group members is 12 months.
Our next recruitment window is now open! Self-nominations close on 1st December 2025 at 12pm. The supporting documents below provide further information on the group and guidance on how to self-nominate, including the group criteria and timescales.
Our Co-Design Group
We're delighted to have a Co-Design Group who work hard to support Leading the Movement. Find out more about our current group members below.
Tahir Akram
Tahir is the Yorkshire Sport Foundation’s Development Manager for Bradford. His role includes supporting collaborative whole systems working across the city, linked to managing the Place Partnership, Active Bradford. He also leads the design and implementation of ‘Lead the Change’, an initiative designed to increase the number of leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds within the sector. Tahir passionately believes that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to get involved in sport and physical activity. He’s dedicated his career so far to advancing the mission to tackle inequalities and achieve lasting change. He brings his leadership, programme development and partnership building skills alongside his lived experience and determination to help ensure that Leading the Movement is robust and impactful for existing and aspiring sector leaders.
Gavin James (Gav)
Gav is an enthusiastic leader with experience in the education, sport, leisure and community sectors. His skill set includes sports development, project management, leadership, networking and relationship building, facilitation, mentoring, systems thinking, systems leadership and co-design. As United Action Manager at the Youth Sport Trust, Gav convenes the School Sport and Activity Sector Partnership, an alliance of 100+ organisations united in using the power of their collective voice to shape the future of PE and school sport. His passion for tackling inequalities is fuelled by his love of sport, his understanding of social inequalities and first-hand experience of the inequalities many young people, underserved communities and marginalised groups face. Gav brings his skills, leadership and lived experience to ensure Leading the Movement advocates for diverse leadership and supports leaders to ensure everyone can access the benefits sport and physical activity.
Shamime Jan
Shamime is the Founder and Director of Bollyfit Active CIC and leads The Circle, a grassroots initiative focused on connection, wellbeing, and empowerment. With over 30 years of community leadership, she is deeply committed to tackling health inequalities and systemic inactivity, particularly for minoritised women. Her work is shaped by lived experience, having faced barriers to culturally appropriate wellbeing spaces during a critical time in her life. She transformed that challenge into a mission to create inclusive, safe, and empowering environments for women. Shamime has held advisory roles with CHEM, We Lead for Legacy, and Sport England’s TRARIIS group. She brings to the Co-Design Group a unique blend of strategic insight, grassroots activism, and personal resilience, ensuring Leading the Movement centres community-led, inclusive change that amplifies diverse voices.
Nick Pink
Nick is the Chair of the National Governing Body (NGB) CEO Forum and Chair of Safe Sport. His career spans over two decades and includes Chief Executive roles at England Hockey and England Golf, and leadership roles for the International Cricket Council, UK Sport and Youth Sport Trust. Nick’s work has had a significant focus on equality, diversity and inclusion. He’s driven by a commitment to tackle inequalities and inactivity and a desire to ensure everyone can benefit from the power of sport and physical activity. Nick understands the pressures and challenges facing sector leaders. He’s keen to ensure Leading the Movement supports existing and future leaders to prioritise tackling inequalities by thinking and doing things differently.
Claire Tomkinson
Claire is the Strategic Lead for People and Leadership at GM Moving. Her career and leadership experience spans working extensively with the voluntary and community sector, with a responsibility for relationship building, collaboration, culture change, leadership development, systems leadership, health and wellbeing. At GM Moving, Claire’s role is to support the paid workforce, volunteers and communities to contribute towards a shared vision of ‘more people being able to move more, everyday’. This involves exploring and developing their leadership skills, knowledge, values, mindsets and behaviours to ensure everyone can play a part in tackling inactivity and inequalities. At the national level, Claire helps facilitate place-based leadership courses and is on the People Working Group for Place Expansion. Claire will bring her experience and commitment to Leading the Movement and will help to connect local and national conversations and learning.
Jules Twells
Jules is the National Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager for leisure operator Everyone Active - SLM Community Leisure Charitable Trust. Her leadership experience spans multiple roles across the leisure industry and the third sector including working for the Activity Alliance, and at Mind and Samaritans. Jules leads on Everyone Active’s priorities and ambitions on diversity and inclusion alongside their Aquatics, Activity and Health and Wellbeing Strategy to increase participation amongst under-served and inactive communities. She also sits on equality, diversity and inclusion panels for the Samaritans and Wales Golf. Jules is passionate about creating environments where everyone feels welcome, can access sport and physical activity and move more. She will bring her sector insight, ideas, commitment, leadership and lived experience to benefit Leading the Movement and the leaders it looks to support.
Andrew Whittaker
Andrew is the Strategic Lead for Partnerships at Activity Alliance where he guides organisation to embed disability inclusion at their core. His career spans two decades of working within national disability charities, National Governing Bodies, the NHS, adult social care and Local Authority sports development. Andrew's passionate about ensuring everyone has the opportunity to experience sport and physical activity and believes that leaders have a central role to play in this. His commitment to tackling inequality and inactivity stems from his lived experience as a wheelchair user and a neurodivergent individual. Andrew will use his unique personal and professional experience to support the ongoing development of Leading the Movement.
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