Meet the Board

Gerry was appointed as the Chair of British Judo in August 2023 and brings a wealth of experience to the BJA, with a background in financial, technology and software sectors. He has worked across the globe and has significant experience in Europe, the USA and Asia Pacific markets.

Andrew Scoular has been Chief Executive of the British Judo Association since March 2013 having previously been the Chief Operating Officer since October 2011.  He started his career in sport in 2003 as an administrator with Scottish Hockey before he moved to the National Coaching Foundation (now SCUK).  He then went to work for Glasgow City Council where he managed one of the largest sports specific development teams in the UK with 60 sports development and support staff.  Andrew joined the RFU as National Development Manager in November 2000 before being made Head of Rugby Development and subsequently promoted to Director of Community Rugby in April 2006.  He is currently a Director of the British Olympic Association and sits on the Audit Committee.

Andrew is a former Scotland hockey international having over 120 caps and is an international coach.  He is a Level 1 qualified rugby coach.

Appointed to BJA Board September 2018.

Neil is a level three coach, senior examiner and 6^th Dan (5^th Dan competitive).  He has been involved in Judo for over 40 years. As Head Coach and Chairman of Pudsey Judo Club Neil is actively involved in grassroots through to senior international level Judo.  Having attended INSEP-Paris to develop his coaching he later supported the Visually Impaired GB team visiting Japan.  When living in London Neil trained regularly at the Budokwai.

Neil’s senior competitive Judo was as a member of Grimsby Judo Club winning national medals and representing Great Britain at the World Students – Strasbourg.

Neil is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant, having worked in several major international companies and now heads up a finance team in further and higher education.

Alex Slade was appointed to the British Judo Board of Directors in August 2018. His professional background is as a commercial solicitor working in media rights. His main work focus is the acquisition and exploitation of sports broadcast rights, having worked for a number of years at various television channels.

In his spare time, Alex juggles his family life with cycling, mountaineering and generally getting outdoors.

Ben spent 16 years as a World Class Performance Athlete and competed at multiple VI World and European Championships as well as two Paralympics, winning bronze in London 2012.

Ben is currently a member of the British Paralympic Association Athlete Commission and Social Impact Committee, as well as a member of the North West Area Executive Committee.

Ben has vast experience across other NGBs as a Performance Lifestyle Advisor, as well as extensive judo experience from grassroots to elite level and is currently head of the Wolverhampton University Judo programme.  Ben also runs a community judo club.

Delia Wright was appointed to the British Judo Board of Directors in October 2023. Her professional background is in digital marketing and eCommerce driving performance and revenue growth at companies including BT, Dixons Carphone, QA Ltd and Samsung Electronics.

Joining the BJA is an opportunity for Delia to revive a youthful passion having practised judo at University.

Diana Hunter has over 30 years experience in Retail as Non Executive, Board Advisor and CEO. As CEO of Conviviality Plc she led the IPO of the Company and set out the Company’s strategy to “be the drink sectors leading specialist wholesaler and distributor” and growing the market capitalisation from £66.7 million to over £460 million.

Prior to that Diana held senior executive roles in two of the UK’s major retailers namely Sainsbury’s and John Lewis Partnership where she was at the forefront of new innovations, merchandising, new formats and the successful investment and growth of the store estate.

Noteable under Diana’s tenure in addition to the growth of the store estate was the successful creation of the John Lewis Food Hall, the transformation of the John Lewis and Waitrose Food and Home store at Canary Wharf and the creation and successful growth of the award winning Little Waitrose Convenience business.

Prior to Waitrose, Diana began her career at Sainsbury’s where she held numerous senior roles over 13 years, including leading investment programmes and heading the merchandising and format development of Sainsbury’s

Marc has acted as JudoScotland’s interim Chair for the past two years before officially being elected as Chair in 2022, with a tenure period that will conclude at JudoScotland’s AGM in 2026.

His wealth of knowledge and experiences have been pivotal in shaping and delivering JudoScotland’s Strategy “JudoForAll” 2023-2027.

During his time as Chair, Marc has led the JudoScotland Board to undertake a thorough review of the Articles of Association, ensuring best practice in alignment with the UK Sport Code of Governance.

Paul has over 40yrs of Judo experience from grass roots to elite level, having been a British Champion, a member of the National Squad and is now a full time judo coach.  Paul holds an MA in Management Practice and brings extensive senior management experience and transferable skills gained in the private sector.

Rebecca is a highly experience strategic events management and communications professional with over 17 years proven track record delivering world-class events for government departments, the military, British sports, the private sector and charities.

As Managing Director of a leading UK Events Agency she is responsible for setting and delivering the company strategy and securing its commercial success.

Prior to working in corporate events Rebecca was Director of Events and Communications at British Swimming where she led on innovating NGB’s approach to events and marketing which led to growth in commercial revenue and exposure of the sport.

Russell is currently Chairman of the Northern Ireland Judo Federation and their lead/tutor for Safeguarding.  Russell has been involved in Judo for many years and is also a Level 4 Elite Performance Coach Tutor.

Russell also brings with him extensive tutoring and facilitating experience from a variety of other sports and sectors