Jonathan Mark England OBE (born 29 April 1959) is a British sports administrator. He was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 2017 for services to Sport.

Early life

England was born in

Ystalyfera Ystalyfera is a former industrial village and community in the upper Swansea Valley, on the River Tawe, about northeast of Swansea. It is an electoral ward and a community in the unitary authority of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, comprising a re ...

in South Wales ( Neath Port Talbot). He moved to Hong Kong when he was seven, attending Glenealy Junior School, and the Island School. On his return to the UK, he attended Kenilworth Grammar School (became Kenilworth School), and South Warwickshire College of Further Education (since 1993

Stratford-upon-Avon College Stratford-upon-Avon College is an English further education college in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. History Funded by public money, the College began in Stratford-upon-Avon with the establishment of a School of Art in the summer of 187 ...

) in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

. He studied economic history at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, graduating in 1981. He then undertook a Diploma in Management Studies (DMS) in recreation at the University of North London, followed by a master's degree in leisure and tourism from the same university.

Career

He has worked with the Sports Council (now called

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

) and

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

Team GB

He was chef de mission of Team GB at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, being appointed on 29 April 2014. He was also chef de Mission for Team GB for the

2015 European Games The 2015 European Games, also known as Baku 2015 or Baku 2015 European Games ( az, Bakı 2015 Avropa Oyunları), were the inaugural edition of the European Games, an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic ...

(the inaugural European Games), and a deputy chef de Mission at six previous Olympic games. He was awarded the OBE for services to Sport in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

having led the Great Britain Olympic Team to its most successful Olympic Games in modern history. In April 2018, the British Olympic Association announced that he would be chef de Mission for the 2020 Olympics in Japan. In March 2022, it was confirmed that he had been appointed to serve as British chef de mission for a third consecutive Olympic Games at Paris 2024.

Team England

On 19 September 2019,

Commonwealth Games England Commonwealth Games England (CGE) is the national Commonwealth Games Association for England. The council is responsible for supporting and managing the participation of England at the Commonwealth Games, Team England at the Commonwealth Games'. ...

announced that he had been appointed Chef de Mission for the England team at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Personal life

In 1989 he married Stephanie Culham in Farnham, Surrey, with whom he has three sons. The marriage ended in divorce after 15 years in 2004. In 2008 England started a relationship with his partner Helen Other with whom he has three further sons.

References

External links

Team GB
{{DEFAULTSORT:England, Mark 1959 births Alumni of the University of Leeds British sports executives and administrators Living people People from Kenilworth People from Neath Port Talbot