Peter Cowgill
Executive Chairman
Peter was appointed Executive Chairman in March 2004. He was previously Finance Director of the Group until his resignation in June 2001. Peter Cowgill is the Non-Executive Chairman of United Carpets Group Plc, Quiz Plc and Roxor Group Limited. Peter is a chartered accountant and founder of North West based accountancy firm, Cowgill Holloway. In 2019, Peter was awarded an honouree doctorate (Doctor of Business Administration) from the University of Bolton for his outstanding contribution to business.
Neil Greenhalgh
Chief Financial Officer
Neil joined the Group in June 2004 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in November 2018 having been promoted from his previous role as Group Finance Director. Neil previously held a number of senior positions within the Woolworths Group and qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in 1996.
Kath Smith
Non- Executive Director, Senior Independent Director, Chair of the Nominations Committee and Member of the Remuneration and Audit Committees
Kath was appointed to the Board in May 2019. Kath was previously the GM / Vice President of The North Face EMEA, a VF Corporation company. She has over 30 years' experience of building world leading brands including Mars and Diageo and 20 years' experience within the sporting goods industry where she was Managing Director of both the adidas and Reebok brands. Kath has also served as a co-opted member of the University of Salford’s Audit Committee from 2012 to 2014.
Mahbobeh Sabetnia
Non-Executive Director
Mahbobeh is a strategic and results driven executive with significant digital transformation experience across various sectors. She has been at the forefront of e-business expansions, leading data-driven consumer insights to unlock value and framing new business propositions. Mahbobeh has an extensive track record delivering digital growth in global organisations and has held executive roles within Amazon.com Inc, McDonald’s Corporation, HSBC and, most recently, Mars Inc.
Andy Long
Non-Executive Director
Andy was appointed to the Board in May 2021. Andy is currently an Executive Director at Pentland Group and was the CEO of Pentland Brands, the Pentland Group's portfolio of sports and fashion brands, until the end of 2020, having previously held the roles of CFO and COO. Prior to joining Pentland, Andy held senior finance roles at Boots and Procter and Gamble and is a Chartered Management Accountant. Andy has been a board member at Sport England since 2016.
Bert Hoyt
Non-Executive Director, Interim Chair of the Remuneration Committee, Member of the Nominations and Audit Committees
Bert Hoyt was appointed to the Board in September 2021. Bert is recognised as one of the most eminent leaders in the sporting goods and sportswear industry over recent years and has significant experience of global markets. Having joined Nike in 1998, he was most recently VP/ GM of Nike EMEA, a position which he occupied until he retired in January of 2021. He is acknowledged for transforming Nike’s business in Western Europe and EMEA over the last 9 years, achieving substantial growth in revenues and profitability. Some of his previous Nike experiences lie in Marketing, Sales/Retail, General Management and Global Category Management.
Prior to his engagement at Nike, Bert spent 10 years at Puma and 6 of them as GM for Puma International.
Previous to his career in the sportswear market, Bert was a Top 200 ATP Tennis professional from 1977 to 1984.
Helen Ashton
Non-Executive Director, Chair of the Audit Committee, Member of the Nominations and Remuneration Committees
Helen was appointed to the Board in November 2021. She has 30 years of experience of working in public and private equity backed businesses and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant. As the former CFO of ASOS plc, Helen has a deep knowledge of high growth, digital fashion in an International arena. She has also held executive level roles in ASDA, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group and CEO positions in high growth private equity backed businesses.