New CEO, Natalie Justice-Dearn, to start in September

Rounders England today (Wednesday 26 June) announces the appointment of Natalie Justice-Dearn as their new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Natalie joins from British Triathlon where she has been Director of Development for four years. She replaces Alison Howard who has been CEO of Rounders England for ten years. 

Natalie has a twenty year career in sport development beginning with the growth of women’s football before developing the highly successful Breeze women’s cycling programme at British Cycling. Her most recent achievement has been to implement the GO-Tri programme for British Triathlon providing flexible opportunities for people to get into triathlon and their component sports.

Natalie joins at an exciting time for Rounders England who are midway through their current strategy and appointed their new Chair to the post in January.

Natalie commented:

“I am delighted to have been appointed CEO for Rounders England and am looking forward to working with the Board, staff and volunteers to develop the game at this exciting time. They have strong foundations, some great initiatives and great people thanks to Alison’s leadership and I can’t wait to get started on helping Rounders realise its ambition.”

Chair of Rounders England, Katherine Knight said:

“I’d like to thank Alison for her incredible work to create Rounders England and turn it into a well-respected NGB that punches well above its weight. We have a committed staff team and board and a passionate group of players, umpires and coaches that will support Natalie to grow the game further. We are ambitious and want rounders to be known as a modern sport with a great tradition. We are thrilled to have brought Natalie in to the lead the game and I am looking forward to starting an exciting journey, to connect even more people through rounders.”

As outgoing CEO, Alison Howard said that the sport is ready for its next step and went on to state:

“It has been incredibly rewarding to be part of Rounders England’s journey. I am confident that Natalie can work with our talented team of staff and volunteers to take Rounders to the next level.”

Sad that Natalie will be leaving her position at British Triathlon, CEO Andy Salmon expressed:

“Whilst we are very sorry to be losing Natalie, we would like to thank her for doing such a great job at British Triathlon. She certainly leaves the organisation in a better place than she found it and we wish her every success in her new role at Rounders England.”

With the appointment of the new Chair in January and the new CEO to start soon, 2019 is a year of change for Rounders England. You can learn more about the board and the organisation here.

Article by Rounders England:

Rounders England is a non-profit sport’s national governing body (NGB) in England.
Rounders England provides a structure for the sport from the Board, local deliverers and teams right the way through to individual members and volunteers.