Steve Cram, MBE is one of the world's most successful middle distance athletes. Since he emerged aged 17 at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and went on to win six Gold Medals at Commonwealth, European and World Championships and an Olympic Silver Medal. In 1985 he broke World Records at 1500m, 2000m, and Mile all within 19 days. The latter record lasted almost 9 years.

Steve's energy is now channelled towards improving sport in the UK at all levels from grass roots and talent identification through to winning medals at major championships. His work with the EIS strengthens his links with a number of organisations and  governing bodies of sport across the UK. He is actively involved with a number of charities in particular COCO, which he founded back in 1998 and which works predominantly with children and young people aiming to reduce barriers to education worldwide (www.coco.org.uk)

Steve, who was born in Gateshead in 1960, began his broadcasting career in 1995 and is currently a BBC television athletics commentator and presenter.

A proud son of Sunderland Steve also holds the position of Chancellor of Sunderland University, inheriting the role from Lord Puttnam in 2008.

Helen qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1995, working as a consultant for several years specialising in sport and leisure projects including the successful funding bids for Commonwealth Games facilities at Sportcity, the redevelopment of Headingley Stadium and the National Shooting Centre at Bisley.

She also enjoyed two twelve month secondments whilst working at KPMG, one to Manchester’s 2000 Olympic bid team and one to help set up the Organising Committee for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, both as Financial Controller.

After leaving KPMG Helen spent three years in industry as Finance Controller of four of the European subsidiaries of a large US company, before joining the EIS in March 2002 to set up the finance and HR departments. 

As EIS’s Director of Business and Finance Helen was responsible for finance, HR, legal, corporate governance and risk management, as well as being a member of the board of directors.  She has also played a key role in developing EIS’s strategy, including implementing a major change in the organisation’s operating and funding model in 2008-9.

After Conor O’Shea’s left his position as EIS National Director early in 2010, Helen took on the position of Interim Chief Operating Officer, providing leadership to the organisation in the interim period until a new National Director comes into post.

David has been involved in elite sport for over 20 years and has been with the EIS since it’s inception in 2002, assuming the role of Regional Director for the Central region in January 2009.

Upon joining the newly formed EIS in 2002, David was appointed Regional Manager for the West Midlands before later additionally managing the London Region (07-08) and the East Midlands (08). Following a re-structure of the organisation in 2009, David accepted the role of Regional Director for the Central Region, incorporating the former West Midlands, East Midlands and South West regions.

David has coached able-bodied and disabled athletes, including World and Paralympic medallists. He has been a coach or manager at the Paralympic Games since Seoul 1988, and he became Technical Director of the British Paralympic Association (BPA) in 1997, one of the first Lottery funded posts.

In 1998, he became Director of the Paralympic Holding Camp on the Gold Coast prior to the Sydney Paralympic Games in 2000. He also served as Deputy Chef de Mission for the team at the Nagano Winter Paralympics in 1998 and in Sydney 2000.
Whilst working with the EIS, he was seconded to the BOA and was Deputy Director of the Olympic Holding Camp in Cyprus 2002-2004, prior to Athens Olympic Games

An all round sportsman, David played first XV rugby for Saracens and also competed to county level in Athletics and Badminton. In later life he has dabbled in Triathlons and is a keen surfer.

Dr Rod Jaques FFSEM (UK), Dipl Sports Med, FISM, DRCOG, MRCGP, is Director of Medical Services at the English Institute of Sport (EIS).

Dr Jaques did the London Hospital Diploma course in Sports Medicine, qualifying with distinction and the David Ritchie prize in 1990. He also obtained the Society of Apothecaries Diploma in Sports Medicine. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine and is their current Vice – President.

He has been involved in Sports Medicine for the last 19 years. From 1989-2007 he was Medical Advisor to the British Triathlon Association and was appointed to the British Olympic Medical Centre in London in 1998-2001, before joining the EIS in 2003. Based at the University of Bath, he also runs the Gloucestershire Sports Injury at the Winfield Hospital in Gloucester and works at the Droitwich Knee Clinic.

Rod attended the Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics with Team GB and the Kuala Lumpur and Manchester Commonwealth Games with the England Team.

Richard joined the EIS having worked for UK Sport for 5 years running the Performance Lifestyle programme and, for a short while, the sport science and medicine programmes. His experience in elite sport also includes one year as a professional rugby player with Wasps RFC which was cut short by injury, followed by many years as a semi pro player.

Outside of his sporting background, Richard has also had a career in teaching and prior to that he graduated from Loughborough University.

Having seen the EIS grow since it’s inception, Richard was keen to take the opportunity to join the organisation and help it develop even further.

‘I see my role as managing a large team of experts and doing whatever needs to be done to enable them to do their jobs effectively. In addition to providing day to day management support to the team, this generally means negotiating with governing bodies, dealing with sport politics, sorting out facilities and planning where we are going to go next.’

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant Vikki became a full time athlete and was one of the first athletics recipients of Lottery funding. She competed for Great Britain at 9 World Championships over road, track and cross country over distances ranging from 5,000m to half marathon, winning a team bronze medal at the World Cross Country Championships in 1998. Since retiring as an athlete she has sought to combine her professional qualifications with her desire to ensure that other athletes maximise the opportunities presented by Lottery funding.

Vikki initially worked within the Performance Directorate at UKS, overseeing their investment in a nominated number of sports World Class Performance Programmes and completing her MBA. Her desire to understand more of the component parts of a WCPP led her to the role of Performance Operations Manager at UK Athletics, which provided financial oversight of the programme and team manager experience to an Olympic level.

A combination of experience which ensures that in her current EIS role overseeing the finance, IT and HR functions, she can balance the need to efficiently and effectively manage day to day operations with an understanding of the requirements of both the NGBs and the athletes themselves.

Ken joined the English Institute of Sport in 2005 having previously supported international athletes and squads whilst based in the academic sector.

In his role as previous role as National Physiology Lead, Ken was responsible for the strategic management and quality assurance of the physiology service and for leading the physiological support to the Great Britain World Class Flat-water Canoe & Kayak programme.  In February 2009 he was appointed as Director of Sports Science.

He is a BASES High Performance Sport Accredited Physiologist and a BASES Accredited Research Physiologist.  His research interests include the physiological determinants of sports performance, exercise-induced muscle damage and recovery strategies, in which he has published extensively in international per-review journals.

Peter has been involved in elite sport for 28 years through competing, coaching and sports administration. As an athlete he was part of the great Coe, Ovett and Cram era winning medals at Commonwealth, World, European and Olympic level and still holds the British record for 1500m and the indoor mile.

Following a long competitive career in track and field Peter turned to coaching and helped steer the careers of several international athletes and still coaches at grass roots level. Prior to joining the EIS Peter worked at Nova international Ltd, the sports marketing company owned by Brendan Foster where he was involved in sports promotions, sales and marketing and in addition the recruitment of elite athletes to events such as the Great North Run. Peter has experienced life outside the sporting arena having served 11 years in industry working for the British Steel Corporation and two years in the private sector.

Peter joined the EIS in Yorkshire in 2004 prior to the Athens Olympics as an Athlete Services Manager. He was later appointed to Regional Manager for Yorkshire in 2007 and more recently as Regional Director for the North in January 2009.