Board of Directors

Dame Pauline Green - Chair Elected until AGM 2012

‘Pauline is a former Member of the European Parliament, where she was appointed leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party and chair of the Party of European Socialists (a grouping of MEPs from 15 European Union member states). I am also a former president of the Industrial Common Ownership Movement.

She served on the Co-operative Commission launched in 2000 to study and make recommendations on the future of co-operative enterprise in the UK. As chief executive of the Co-operative Union I worked to merge the work of the Union with the that of the Industrial Common Ownership Movement and other co-operative and mutual development agencies to create Co-operatives UK.

She believes that a level playing field must be created for the development of mutual ownership in professional sports; this will not be easy but is an objective we must pursue.’

Rob Bradley - Vice Chair  Elected until AGM 2011

Rob Bradley is a lifelong Lincoln City supporter. In 1998 he became part of the group that set up ‘Impetus’, and then the Lincoln City Membership Scheme, both of which were formed to seek representation by a supporter on the Board of the club.

Eventually, as Chair of Lincoln City Supporters Trust, he was elected as supporters’ representative to the Board of Directors and in October 2000 the then Chairman of the club resigned and Rob became acting Chairman. During this time, with the club effectively up for sale, he played a large part in putting together what was known as the Community Ownership Package, involving a combination of Supporters Trust ownership along with the support of sympathetic local business people, all backed by the Co-op Bank.

Once this ownership package was accepted, Rob was Chairman of the club for the next four-and-a-half years, standing down in May 2005.

Tony Taylor - Vice Chair  Elected until AGM 2011

Tony has a background in Management Consultancy and has been a member of the Darlington Supporters Trust since it was formed in 2001 – a critical period in the football Club’s history during the reign of then Chairman George Reynolds.

It was the experience of those days that convinced Tony that Supporters Trusts make a significant contribution to football and that every club should be run in the interests of their fans. “Those of us who have ever seen their club going through crisis, will appreciate the often unsung work of Supporters Direct, as well as the tremendous help from other Trusts and individual members”;, says Taylor. “That is why, more than ever, I am committed to the development of Supporters Direct and why I wanted to play my role in the future of this catalyst for supporter representation”.

Brian Burgess Elected until AGM 2010

Brian is a business advisor specialising in the development of sports stadia,multi-purpose community hubs and social enterprise models for linking sport, health, education, and social inclusion.

He is currently leading the development of a new 20,000 seat Brentford Community Stadium for Brentford Football Club. From 2003 to 2007 he chaired the supporters' trust, Bees United.

Brian is also a trustee of Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, a charity delivering participation in 15 sports in four London boroughs to 30,000 young people each year.

Until December 2007 Brian was Managing Director CAN Health and Sport Ltd, a social enterprise advisory service working with the public, private and third sectors to promote the development of community hubs delivering public services.

Prior to joining CAN in 2002, his 30-year business career spanned the public and private sectors with extensive project and general management experience, principally in the engineering and construction, energy and utility industries, including executive and non-executive directorships in the UK and overseas.

Brian is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Martyn Cheney Elected until AGM 2012

Martyn has worked in the Rail Industry since leaving school, working in various Yorkshire Locations, and ending up at East Coast Mainline Company as Payroll Manager. Previous roles have included analytical positions and various HR positions.

As well as being the Payroll Manger, Martyn is one of the Management Representatives for the company, representing the managers in the company. He is also very active in his local Constituency Labour Party.

He has been watching Bramley since 1979, and became involved with the Buffaloes following the original clubs demise in 1999. Involved from the start with the Trust, firstly as Web Designer, then Secretary and since 2005 Chairman. He has overseen the most successful period in the clubs history, winning 5 consecutive minor premierships, 2 championships and 5 consecutive grand final appearances.

Simon Cope Elected until AGM 2011

Simon has been a Scarborough fan since the age of 16, having been brought up in the heart of North Yorkshire, many miles from any footballing hotspot.  A friend with a car persuaded him to make the 40 mile trek to the coast to see his first ever game; as the old saying goes, you don't choose a football club, your football club chooses you and from that point on Scarborough FC was his team.

After the slow decline of his club both on and off the field, he became involved in the formation of Seadog Trust in 2006 and following the liquidation of Scarborough FC in 2007 he became Chair of the reformed club, Scarborough Athletic, playing in the Northern Counties East League.

He strongly believes that it is important for the SD Board to have representatives from non-league because although we all play the same game, the aims and requirements of trusts vary widely through the League, and also through the pyramid. A board of directors needs to be balanced, and he believes that his election helps to add that balance.

Elaine Dean Elected until AGM 2013

Elaine Dean is a lifelong Derby County supporter and has been a Director of RamsTrust since 2003 and was Chair for the first three and a half years of its existence. She was also an SD Director from March 2005 until October 2006.

Her background is in teaching and in the UK Co-operative movement, having been a director of Midlands Co-operative Society (and its forerunners) continuously since April 1980; and chaired the local Area Committee since 2001, having been vice-chair for a number of years previously.

Since the Society was restructured in May 2007 she has been Chair of the Northern Region and is also Chair of the Regional Member Relations Committee.

She is also a director of the Co-operative Press and a governor of the Co-operative College

Kenneth Elder Elected until AGM 2011

Biog to follow

Alan Harris Elected until AGM 2013

Biog to follow

Joe Hill Co-opted until December 2010

Joe Hill is the retired Deputy General Secretary of the Co-operative Party. He is also a former Lothian Regional Councillor, in both roles acquiring a wealth of experience in successful campaigning. He is a non-executive director of the ScotMid Co-operative Society, the second largest retail co-operative society in Scotland (covering the Edinburgh area) with a turnover of over £300 million per annum.

Joe was a founder member of the Scottish Co-operative and Mutuality Forum, now renamed Co-operation & Mutuality Scotland, the leading lobbying body for the co-operative sector North of the border, and has been a prominent figure in co-operative and mutual circles in Scotland for over thirty years.

Joe has been involved with the work of Supporters Direct since its inception. He played a major part in convincing the Scottish Executive to support and fund the setting up of our Scottish base in Glasgow.

Neil Le Milliere Elected until AGM 2012

Neil is travel organiser for Exiled Exeter City supporters in London; runs an Exeter fan’s Internet mail group; and helps with the Official Club Website. He became more involved with ECFC in 2000 when a group of fans formed an embryonic group which evolved into the Exeter City FC Supporters Trust.

Neil is currently a co-opted member of the Board of Society representing views of exiled members; the resident constitution ‘expert’; and a member of the Chair’s advisory group.

Neil is also an Exeter representative to, and Secretary of, the Association of Provincial Football Clubs Supporters’ in London. Neil is an ex-government official of some 36 years who is now ‘retired’ and occupies himself with lots of charity work as well as organising and participating in various sports.

Robert Pepper Elected until AGM 2012

Currently the Secretary of Huddersfield Town Supporters Association,being a lifelong supporter of the club.  HTSA represents an amalgamation of three independent supporter groups (principally the Supporters Trust and the Supporters Club) and is now the single independent organisation for supporters of Huddersfield Town.

HTSA has a strong and effective partnership with the Football Club and also forms part of the Development Association, overseeing the administration of the club's Academy.

There is a major commitment to the integration of Club & Community.   Co-op funding was used to set up projects involving disadvantaged children, first with a series of outdoor activities, then with a series of indoor coaching sessions, held on Saturday evenings in the Club's new facility close to two council estates.

He is also Chair of the Trustees of the Communities United Project, based in Huddersfield and helping to unite communities of all ethnicities and backgrounds, working closely with the Local Authority.  CUP has secured major funding for the next two years and is extending its areas of activity.

Steve Powell  Elected until AGM 2013

Steve Powell is Director of Policy and Campaigns at the Football Supporters Federation and a freelance journalist and commentator. He also formerly held a full-time position in the NALGO/Unison union.

He has been a director of SD since 2003 and was a founding life member and former Chair of the Arsenal Independent Supporters Association, and is a founder life member and Director of the Arsenal Trust.

Ian Todd Co-opted until June 2011

Ian is a retired senior manager from the BBC and has been involved with the supporters' movement since founding the London Branch of the Sunderland Supporters' Association - on whose committee he still serves – in 1967. He is also a season Ticket holder at Sunderland.

He was the inaugural Secretary of the Association of Provincial Football Supporters’ Clubs in London, and in 1980 was elected to the Council of the National Federation of Football Supporters' Clubs (NFFSC) as member responsible for travel and crowd control matters. As Chairman of NFFSC from 1998, he presided over its merger with the FSA to form the Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) in 2002.

Ian serves on the Supporters Direct Board as the co-opted member representing the FSF under the Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations.