SGSA Board Members

Derek Wilson – Chair

Derek has been a specialist sports architect for 30 years, shaped from an early stage by his passion for sport. His career in stadium design and Olympics and Paralympics forged his special interests in safety, accessibility and major events.

Derek’s knowledge spans private and public sector roles, having owned and run successful architectural practices, and as a Board member of the FLA/SGSA.  Beyond this he has worked internationally including Australia, Malaysia, Japan, the Middle East, Europe and the USA.

He has also worked on five Olympic and Paralympic games since Sydney 2000, including helping bring the 2012 Olympics to London, going on to be the Head of Design and Overlay for London 2012. Additionally, he brings operations experience from being part of the team that delivered 9 NFL Super Bowls.

As well as his previous tenure on the SGSA Board, Derek has contributed to numerous standards and safety guidance.

Martin Esom

Martin is Chief Executive of Waltham Forest Council, a position he has held since 2010.

During his time at the Council, he has led on a national award winning gang prevention programme, a multi-agency child sexual exploitation protection strategy and between 2012 and 2018 was Chair of the London Prevent Board which drives critical work in relation to counter-terrorism and anti-radicalisation across the capital.

He has also taken forward the regeneration of the borough, focussing on returning streets to walking and cycling though the multi award winning Enjoy Waltham Forest programme. Other significant success include transforming the leisure and culture offer for residents, culminating in the Council’s successful bid to become both London’s first ever London Borough of Culture and then MJ Local Authority of the Year in 2019. He is a trustee of the William Morris Gallery, the first and only museum dedicated to the artist and writer in the UK.

Most recently, and in direct response to Covid-19, Martin took on the role of London Local Authority Strategic Co-ordination Chief Executive (London Gold) where he was responsible for coordinating activity across all London boroughs and a member of the London Strategic Coordination Group (SCG).

Martin sits on the Board of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as a Non-Executive Director and also Chairs the Board’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Martin is an environmental health officer by training. He was awarded the ‘Ronald Williams Gold Medal’, on graduating, by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, where he later served as a Board Member and Trustee for eight years. His first role after qualifying was as a Health and Safety enforcement officer.

Martin has a Masters Degree in Business Administration and holds a range of technical qualifications including Health and Safety and Acoustics & Noise Control.

Janet Johnson

Janet Johnson is a chartered town planner by background, having specialised in regeneration and economic development in the North East of England. In a local government career spanning almost 40 years, Janet has enjoyed senior management positions for a number of councils.

She is an experienced board member, having served on the boards of a number of organisations in the education and development sectors. In addition to being a specialist in regeneration Janet is experienced in modernising local government, managing change and driving service improvement.

Janet was Chief Executive of District of Easington Council from 2004 to 2009 before moving to Sunderland City Council as Deputy Chief Executive where she led the Council’s major regeneration programme.

Alex Lacey

Alex Lacey is the Operations Director at Silverstone Circuits, with over 27 years’ experience and a significant depth of knowledge and experience operating major sporting events and large-scale venue management within a sports environment.

Within an environment of continuous development and diversification at Silverstone Circuits, she has overseen the design and delivery of a range of projects including but not limited to, the 200-bedroom Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and Silverstone Escapade (luxury residences development) all whilst ensuring disruption to the day to day business and delivery of events is not impacted. Alex was awarded an Associate Member status of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, is a member of the Motorsport UK Race Committee and has played an active role in the Major Event Organisers Association for some years.

Jil Matheson

Jil Matheson served as National Statistician, Head of the Government Statistical Service and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority from 2009 until her retirement in 2014. Jil chaired the OECD’s Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy and the UN Statistical Commission. She is a Trustee of NatCen Social Research, a member of Council of the Academy of Social Sciences, a member of the Royal Society’s Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, and a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

Bradley Pritchard

Bradley is a former professional footballer, having played for Charlton Athletic, Leyton Orient and Stevenage whilst in the Football League. He has represented teams at all levels in the non-league football pyramid, most recently representing Lewes FC in the Isthmian Premier Division.

Bradley is currently a member of the Chair’s Panel for The Football Association’s Judicial Panel and Exception’s Panel, as well as an Arbitrator Specialist member for the panel of arbitrators and mediators for Sport Resolutions.

He established a non-profit organisation called Sporting Way which runs emotional wellbeing programmes in schools, colleges and youth centres in London and the South East of England.

Bradley is a board member for the Sport for Development Coalition and a Council member for Kent FA.

Jane Sawyers

Jane is a visiting Professor at Staffordshire University (2018-). Prior to this she was Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police (2014-2017) and Deputy Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police (2013-2014). Since 2015 Jane has been a Trustee of The Police Arboretum Memorial Trust and in 2017 she was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal.

Jon Sellins

Jon Sellins has been involved in running large venues and major events for over 35 years. His career began in earnest in 1987 when he was fortunate to join Wembley PLC, the former owners of the old Wembley Stadium, Arena and Conference Centre. He spent almost 10 years at the Wembley Complex working across all the venues and learning about major sporting events, large concerts, exhibitions & conferences. Since then his career has encompassed the Millennium Dome, Earls Court & Olympia, the London 2012 Olympics, Tottenham Hotspur, Wembley Stadium (again), some muddy obstacle races around the world and latterly The Roundhouse in Camden. Between June 2017 & June 2020 Jon was Group Operations director at The Football Association where he was responsible for the operation of both Wembley Stadium and The National Football Centre at St George’s Park.

His time with LOCOG and more recently The FA, has provided him with a thorough understanding of the governance structures in sport and in particular football. As both a venue operator and a fan, Jon is passionate about venue safety.