At a November Board meeting, British Cycling’s Chair, Jonathan Browning, announced that he will stand down from the position on 1 December in compliance with the new Code for Sports Governance, which requires a new independent chair to be appointed. Jonathan Browning only recently became Chair in February 2017, succeeding Bob Howden OBE.
Commenting on his decision to stand down, Jonathan Browning said “When I stepped into the role of chair in February, British Cycling was in the depths of a crisis, facing severe reputational damage and there was an absence of strong, visible leadership. It was clear to me that we needed to very quickly stabilise the organisation and put in place a comprehensive plan to rapidly introduce major changes to the World Class Programme and to our leadership, operations and governance which were in need of immediate reform and repair.
“Over the past nine months, we have done exactly that. The efforts of so many across British Cycling – includeng both staff and riders – have resulted in: a comprehensive set of plans to address every recommendation within the Cycling Independent Review; approval for all the changes required for British Cycling to comply with the Code for Sports Governance; funding secured from UK Sport and Sport England for the Tokyo Olympic cycle; the implementation of a new medical services staff and structure; new grievance, whistleblowing and athlete representation processes; and the commissioning and implementation of recommendations from an external financial audit.
“On top of all this, and perhaps most critically, we have appointed strong new leaders including Julie Harrington, our Chief Executive Officer, and Stephen Park, our performance director.”
Jonathan Browning has also confirmed that he has decided to withdraw his candidacy for the role of independent chair, for which the British Cycling Nominations Committee is currently recruiting. he will return to his previous role as a Non-Executive Director (NED) on the British Cycling Board. His current term comes to an end on 31 March 2018, which can be renewed for a further two terms.
