Pat Aiyenuro joined the Board in 2020. Pat joins the Board after 17 years of volunteering in the sport at all levels from running one of the UK’s most successful community clubs to team managing GBR teams. Awarded a BEM for services to sport in 2017, Pat has been active in community projects to make fencing more accessible and inclusive. Pat’s other roles include Weapon Manager, Chair of Sabre Selectors, and BF International Liaison Officer. Outside of fencing Pat brings her experience as a school governor and charity board trustee.

Pat is the Board Anti-Doping Lead: https://www.britishfencing.com/about-us-zone/the-board-zone/board-anti-doping-lead/

Tabatha Joined the Board in 2022. Tabatha has been fencing since 2006, and started competing in 2015 after moving from the states to the UK. Tabatha loves fencing and has found competing to be a fun and rewarding part of the sport. As such, Tabatha has been trying to get more involved in the fencing community, including becoming a team captain for Milton Keynes Fencing, and running for the board of directors.

Tabatha is the Board Equality Champion: https://www.britishfencing.com/board-equality-champion-role/

Mary joined the Board in 2021. Mary joins the board after 19 years of fencing internationally for GBR, at Cadet, Junior and Senior levels. She has been ranked 1 at each age-group, 3 times British Individual Champion, Commonwealth individual medallist and team champion, and French N1 team Champion after fencing with her Beauvais club for many years.

Mary is a Paediatric doctor in the North West (Mersey) region, and specifically works on Safeguarding children in her day job.

James Williams joined the Board in 2020. James has been involved with the sport of fencing for 37 years, representing GBR at three Olympic Games. As an athlete he served on the FIE Athletes Commission and the Board of the British Olympic Association and over the years has had extensive experience in a variety of roles including that of coach, coach developer, Performance Manager, Weapon Captain, selector. James joins the Board with a wealth of public sector experience and is currently an Executive Director in one of the largest unitary authorities in the South East of England, leading on a range of programmes that interface, health wellbeing, and sport.

Mark has extensive experience running technology businesses over the last 20 years and remains Chairman of his own IT services business. He has a passion for sport, competing in the 1996 Olympics in sailing and has a MSc in Sports Performance Analysis. He was, until recently, elected chairman of the largest youth sailing boat association in the UK, is a member of the ASA Audit, Risk and Probity committee and a panel member of Sports Resolutions. He is also an independent governor of a London primary school.

Mark is Chair of the Board: http://britishfencing.com/uploads/files/bf_chair_responsibilities_v2.0.pdf

Yashmin was appointed to the Board in 2018. In March 2019 she was appointed as the Board Safeguarding Champion.

Yashmin has had an extensive career in Banking including roles in Personal Banking, Multi-National Corporate Banking, Credit Analyst and now works in Wholesale Banking where she manages numerous Credit Policies introduced from Tokyo to be applied in UK banking. She was also Secretary for the Credit Risk committee and responsible for organising Board papers.

Yashmin revived her love for sports in 2008 when she volunteered for Muslim Women’s Sports Foundation. She organised Basketball sessions aimed at increasing BAME Female participation.

In 2014, Yashmin established Muslimah Sports Association (MSA). Through this work she has delivered sporting opportunities to BAME women including coaching courses and tournaments working in collaboration with Sporting Equals, Badminton England, Mind Charity, Bangladesh Football Association and Dagenham & Redbridge FC, London Sport, The FA, Essex FA , BACA and British Fencing.

In 2017 she was nominated for numerous awards including Sporting Equals, Women’s Sports Trust and Muslim News Awards. She won the Muslim News Award which recognised her achievements to increase BAME female participation and in 2018 won the London Sports Work Force Award. She also became a Trustee at Muslim Women’s Sports Foundation (MWSF), working to raise awareness of the barriers faced by Muslim Women in Sports. Yashmin is regularly involved in consultations including England Hockey, England Cricket and The FA. She has also worked with the charity Mind to identify the link between sports and Mental wellbeing.

Yashmin has recently been appointed Council and Inclusion Advisory Group Member of the London FA and is currently completing a Masters in Global Policy.

Yashmin is the Board Safeguarding Champion: https://www.britishfencing.com/welfare-zone/board-safeguarding-champion-role/

Jochen was appointed to the Board in 2021. Jochen is a German and Brazilian citizen and a fully trained lawyer with a Doctorate in Law. He has spent 24 years in the sports industry, including leading major sports marketing corporations in Germany, Brazil and the UK. Since 2017, he has run his own boutique sports business consultancy from London, focused on the commercialisation of media rights to sports events, and the support of investors looking for stakes in sports entities. Jochen also sits on the advisory board of HYPE Sports Innovation, the world’s leading sports-tech accelerator, training hundreds of start-ups, enabling them to pitch to investors, as well as providing them with pilots with a wide range of commercial partners.

Jochen holds a London School of Economics (LSE) certificate in Managerial Finance

Jochen is the Board Senior Independent Director: https://www.britishfencing.com/about-us-zone/the-board-zone/board-senior-independent-director-role/

Jade was re-appointed to the board in 2022 and qualified as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant in 2020 after starting a big 4 degree apprenticeship in accounting in 2015. She has worked in financial services, specialising in investment banking and insurance. Jade started her career in banking audit at KPMG and is currently the technical accountant at the UK’s largest pensions insurance specialist who manage over £60bn in assets and secure pensions for over 800,00 people. Jade is also an advanced level examiner for the ICAEW.

Jade is a foilist who occasionally picks up an epee. She started at age 10, competing internationally from age 13 and representing Great Britain on the cadet and junior circuits. Jade qualified for the cadet and junior European and World championships in Jerusalem and Plovdiv and won a team silver medal at the junior Commonwealth championships in Cape Town. She also has a couple of age group British Championship titles, represented Durham university 1st team, and won gold at the senior 5 nations with team England.

Tommy has fenced Epee internationally since the age of 14, representing Great Britain at Cadet, Junior and Senior levels, winning the Junior and Senior Commonwealth Games. He continues to compete on the Senior domestic and World Cup circuits. While at university, as well as competing in BUCS, Tommy helped to create and chair the Youth Panel and the Senior Athlete Representative panel. These two bodies provide representation for the interests of elite fencers across Great Britain. Professionally, Tommy works for Ogilvy, one of world’s largest advertising agencies. He specializes in PR, representing some of the nation’s best-known brands, helping them to develop communication strategies and creative ideas across old and new media.

Francesca was appointed to the Board in 2022. While not a fencer herself, Francesca has a deep interest and respect for the discipline and has, since 2019, been the Chair of Trustees of the British Fencing Charitable fund. Francesca is Chief of Staff (Health &Life Sciences) at King’s College London, working with colleagues across King’s College London and the partner Trusts to drive the Health strategy.

Since 2019, Francesca has also been the Director of UK Advanced Therapies, a UK-wide initiative that brings together the academic community working in the field of Cell and Gene Therapies. Previously she was Director of Grants at Barts Charity and Head of Strategic Development at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London. Her academic background includes an MRes degree in Industrial Chemistry, and a PhD in Structural Biology, in addition to being an awardee of EMBO and EU Marie Curie research fellowships.

Tom was appointed to the Board in 2021. He is a Sport and Commercial Associate at a leading London law firm where he advises athletes, boxers, players, clubs, agents and governing bodies on a wide range of issues from sponsorship and image rights arrangements to disputes and regulatory matters. Tom is also the Founder of a global interactive entertainment management business that manages the careers of professional esports players and helps brands looking to enter the video games industry. In addition to his legal practice, Tom heads up the Sports Law Academy – a free-to-access, academic, distance-learning programme designed for junior lawyers, students and non-legal professionals looking to gain a practical insight into contemporary sports law issues.

• LLB Bachelor of Laws – London School of Economics and Political Science (2014);
• Legal Practitioners Course – University of Law (2015); and
• The Law Society – Admitted as a Solicitor (2018).

Francis was appointed to the Board in 2021. Francis is a CIMA qualified accountant, with 20 years of post qualified experience. He has worked in large corporates and SME’s and has lived and worked in the UK and USA. He is currently Finance Director for a specialist Tour Operator.

Francis is also a foilist who began fencing aged 18. He fenced in the University of Surrey team and was chair of the Fencing Club in his final year. While living in the USA he regularly competed in club competitions around the state. He has recently restarted fencing after a few years’ break.