Having joined World Sailing last year as Head of Sustainability, double Paralympic medallist Alexandra Rickham has been working in sustainability in the sport sector as a consultant since retiring from full time competition in 2017. She combines her academic knowledge and insight with her practical experience in competitive sport and environmental operations to focus both on changing the sports industry and its practices, and on utilising sport’s platform to inspire change. Alexandra is very passionate about diversity and inclusion and ensuring the athlete’s voice is heard on sustainability and regularly participates on panels, podcasts and other speaking opportunities on these subjects.
2024
Dr. Sheila Nguyen
Dr Sheila Nguyen is a leading regenerative built environment design professional who has consulted with several sport organisations and professional clubs, globally, on strategic and operational environmental sustainability issues with the most recent work with the Australian Olympic Committee’s Climate Action Plan.
Sheila was given the Honorary Lifetime Member award from the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) and recognised as an Australian Financial Review Top 100 Women of Influence (2019) for her leadership in galvanising the sport industry to protect and respect the natural environment.
She has contributed to over 50 internationally peer-reviewed research outputs and media outlets, has been an invited speaker for TEDx and as a presenter at a number of natural environment and sport industry forums, most notably, at COP21 in Paris (2015), the first-time sport has been invited to the climate agreement discussions. Sheila was the invited Chairperson & MC for the Sustainable Innovations in Sport Forum in Amsterdam (2018) (Ajax Stadium) among other changemaking forums over the years.
Sheila is on a number of boards and advisory committees including as an Independent Director on the World Lacrosse Sustainability Committee.
Sheila is the Co-Founder and an NED of the Sports Environment Alliance, the coalition of sport & planet leaders in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand working to protect the places where we play so we can continue to do what we love- watch an
Melissa Wilson
After retiring as a professional athlete in 2021, Melissa founded non-profit Athletes of the World with Double Olympic Champion Hannah Mills. Athletes of the World builds athlete-led campaigns for climate action, and works with elite sports teams and federations to deliver climate education and climate-focussed media training for athletes.
Qasa Alom
Qasa Alom is a presenter, investigative journalist & director with credits on documentaries, current affairs and radio. He has been with the BBC since 2010. In November 2020 Qasa was awarded with Best Radio Presenter at the Asian Media Awards.
Qasa freelance presents for BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio London and presents a weekend show for BBC WM. Qasa further presents shows for Radio 4 that include Costing The Earth and From Our Own Correspondent.
Qasa hosted an event for the UN at COP26 and is passionate about preventing climate change because of how he has seen it affect his family and ancestral home in Bangladesh.
This year Qasa has reported for BBC Sport at Wimbledon and The Commonwealth Games on sustainability in sport. Qasa has reported on the whole of the Commonwealth Games 2022 that included the athletes parade on the opening day.
Qasa loves sport, particularly cricket and tennis. 2021 Qasa launched @realtennispod with @dominglot. 2021 also saw Qasa host @thehundred @Edgbaston . He also presented the 2019 ATP World Tour Finals for BBC 5 Live Sports Xtra, the season ending tennis tournament between the top 8 men’s players in the world, from London’s 02 Arena.
Bob Ramsak
Bob Ramsak is the Head of Sustainability at World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field and long distance running, a journalist who has covered the sport globally for more than two decades and a long-time advocate for environmental, economic, and social justice.
David Garrido
David Garrido is a Sky Sports presenter with almost 25 years’ experience in the industry, and he is widely considered one of the leading communicators and content-makers for sport and sustainability in the UK and Europe. His documentary, ‘Football’s Toughest Opponent’, explores the relationship between the biggest sport in the world and the climate crisis, and his ongoing episodic series, ‘Playing For The Planet’, profiles elite athletes and their journeys in climate action. Recent guests include British men’s tennis number 1 Cam Norrie, Premier League footballer Ben Mee, double Olympic sailing champion Hannah Mills and marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge.
Katie Cross
Katie is CEO of Pledgeball, a research-backed charity that supports sports bodies to engage fans on environmental sustainability and climate change. Working with stakeholders across the sports community, from UEFA, the Lawn Tennis Association and the International Biathlon Union, to clubs, County FAs and leagues, Pledgeball effectively mobilises fans and players to make pro-environmental choices resulting in a reduction in emissions on game day and beyond.
Matthew Campelli
Matt is strategist, communicator and content creator specialising in sustainability and sport, he is the founder of The Sustainability Report and Sustainability Huddle and the managing director of Touchline Earth, a boutique sustainability agency for the sports industry.
Aileen McManamon
Travel Places
For over 45 years, Travel Places has managed group travel plans for sporting governing bodies, world class athletes and media and production crews attending events such as Formula One, the Olympics & Paralympics, FIFA World Cup and Sail GP. As a certified B Corp, we are committed to meeting the needs of our clients, whilst understanding and increasing the positive impact we have on people and planet. Combining this passion to be a force for good with specialist industry knowledge and a global network of suppliers, we our proud to deliver sustainable and personalised seamless group travel for our clients no matter how complex the itinerary.
