Chris Pilling and Ismail Amla appointed as Board Members of UK Sport

Chris was recently Chairman of Yorkshire 2019, a UK Sport company that delivered the recent UCI Road World Cycling Championships; one of the biggest sporting events in the UK, with 1.3 million spectators and 329 million TV viewers. These championships were the most innovative & diverse ever held, including the world’s first mixed gender ‘Team Time Trial’ and the biggest Para Cycling event of its type in Europe.

Chris is also a Non-Executive Director of Barclays Bank UK and Musgrave Ltd, a family owned international business & Ireland’s No.1 retailer. From 2011 to 2017, Chris was a board member at the Department of Health.

Chris was born in Manchester, went to school in Buckinghamshire, and graduated from Jesus College Cambridge. He began his career with Procter & Gamble, then held senior marketing roles at British Airways before becoming ASDA’s Marketing Director. He joined HSBC in 2006 as CEO of first direct, and then led HSBC’s UK Branch Network and Direct banking businesses before being appointed CEO of the Yorkshire Building Society.

Chris lives in North Yorkshire, with his wife, 2 daughters and a large St Bernard dog, whilst cycling and playing football as much as he can.

Ismail Amla
Ismail is Chief Growth officer at Capita, having joined them from IBM where he ran the Professional Services business in North America. Prior to IBM, Ismail has held executive roles at Capco and Accenture. Ismail spent 8 years based out of the USA before moving back to the UK in 2018.

Ismail is a native of Bolton where he attended Sharples High School before being awarded a Bsc in Computer Science from Salford University and a MBA from Manchester University.

Ismail comes part of a large family who all participate in amateur sports to various levels and actively support grass root sports. Ismail has also worked extensively with not for profit organisations, who have used sports to increase aspiration levels in minority communities.

These roles are remunerated at £218.00 per day. These appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments, the process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Chris Pilling has not declared any activity, Ismail Amla has declared that he has donated to the Sadik Khan election campaign.