WheelPower appoints new Chair
WheelPower, the national charity for wheelchair sport based at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, today announced the appointment of Rob Wilson as their new Chair of Trustees. Rob succeeds Kevan Baker OBE who retires as Chairman after more than 20 years in the role.
Former Member of Parliament for Reading, Rob Wilson has a wealth of experience and joins WheelPower at an exciting time during the 70th anniversary year of the first Stoke Mandeville Games which sparked the Paralympic Movement.
Outgoing Chairman, Kevan Baker said, “I am delighted to be handing the reigns of WheelPower over to Rob who is an experienced businessman and entrepreneur, being a former Government Minister with strong management, communication and relationship-building skills Rob brings the exceptional leadership the charity needs to deliver its objectives in the future.”
Rob said, “I am honoured to be given the opportunity to take on the role of Chair and build on the tremendous work that the charity has done to transform lives through sport. I hope to work closely with the Board, executive team and wonderful supporters to deliver more opportunities for disabled people to play sport and be physically active. I am keen to help WheelPower deliver its vision to increase participation in sport as well as develop our facilities at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the National Centre for Disability Sport, which has such an incredible heritage.”
He added, “WheelPower’s Values are closely aligned to my own and as an organisation we want to be open, innovative, forward thinking so we can inspire more disabled people to be active through our Pushing Forward strategic plan.”
Martin McElhatton, chief executive added, “With Rob joining as Chair it is the start of a new chapter for WheelPower and we are excited to benefit from his skills, experience and
knowledge of the civil society and business to work with new and existing partners to deliver more opportunities in the future.”