The WNST Board is pleased to announce that at their recent meeting, Dinah Cox OBE was elected as Chair of Trustees, replacing the long-serving Lord Toby Harris, who had given notice of his intention to stand down.
Lord Harris was warmly thanked by the trustees for his long and distinguished service as chairman of the board for some twenty years. Toby’s personal association with the new Wembley Stadium goes back to the bid submitted by London in the mid-1990s to be the site of the new national stadium, to which he was a signatory as the then chair of the Association of London Government. During his tenure as chairman, Toby oversaw the development and formulation of the Trust’s grant-making, which began in earnest in 2012, since when it has funded a host of sporting activities in the neighbourhoods around the Stadium, as well as landmark initiatives in London and across England, encouraging disabled people, and more recently school-age girls, to play sport.
Dinah joined the WNST board in 2007 and brings experience of a long career in the voluntary and charity sector, having been Chief Executive of a number of local, regional and national organisations working in the communities and equalities fields, as well as time as a Senior Policy advisor to government. For several years, Dinah also served as the chair of the London & South East Regional Advisory Committee of BBC Children in Need and has also sat on other grant distribution bodies.
On taking up the role of chair, Dinah Cox said, “I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead the Wembley National Stadium Trust, taking over the reins from Lord Harris, who has led the Trust to an excellent position. We have a first class reputation within the sports funding world and I hope to be able to build on this, driving forward my commitment to ensuring a level playing field for everyone to take part in grassroots sport, however they choose to do so. I am particularly inspired by the work of so many volunteers, who are the lifeblood of the community sports sector, giving freely of their time, skills and experience for the benefit of others.
I look forward to meeting many of these individuals and seeing the projects we fund flourish in the years ahead.”
