Andrew Scoular announced as British Judo Association Chief Executive Officer

The British Judo Association is delighted to announce the appointment of Andrew Scoular as Chief Executive Officer following a comprehensive and rigorous recruitment process involving key stakeholders and funding partners.

Scoular has over 25 years’ experience in the sporting sector and spent five years as Community Rugby Director with the Rugby Football Union. He joined British Judo in October 2011 as Chief Operating Officer and assumed the position of Acting Chief Executive Officer to guide the association through a key period following London 2012 and the departure of Scott McCarthy in October 2012.

Taking the post with immediate effect, Scoular will lead the association into the next funding cycle with partners Sport England and UK Sport.

As CEO, Scoular will be responsible for the management of the association, working closely with key stakeholders to strategically develop, promote and govern the sport of judo in the UK. Responsible for all executive staff, he will ensure that the association provides an exceptional service to the membership and will also be working to market and promote British Judo, maximising the commercial opportunities available for the association.

British Judo Chairman, Kerrith Brown, commented: “CEO is a key position and I’m confident that we’ve made the right appointment, which has been echoed by my colleagues on the board.

“With the recent history of the association, it was vital for us to appoint somebody who could not only offer stability but also have the vision to lead British Judo forward.

“In the period as acting CEO, Andrew has displayed good leadership, has worked excellently with staff and stakeholders and has considered the members of the association in every decision, changing the mind set of the organisation and building for a very positive future.”

British Judo President and 10^th Dan, George Kerr said: “I’m pleased with Andrew’s appointment and I think he will provide a positive change to British Judo.

“I’m sure he’ll do a fantastic job and I wish him every success in the role.”

Ronnie Saez, Vice-Chairman of the association added: “I’m delighted that we have secured the services of Andrew Scoular, who has a very impressive track record in management with other National Governing Bodies.

“I look forward to working with him and further improving relations with Judo Scotland.”

Following the appointment, Andrew Scoular said: “I’m thrilled to be offered the opportunity to take on the role of CEO on a permanent basis.

“I feel we’ve managed to achieve a lot in the past 18 months and we’ve come a long way as an association. Having been heavily involved in the association’s strategic plan, alongside our UK Sport and Sport England submissions, I’m really excited that I now have the opportunity to implement them and see British Judo develop further.

“What is really important is that we now work as a unified association to deliver, both in terms of medals from our high performance programme and also our growth targets for participation within the sport.”

Scoular has a background as a performance athlete having played and coached hockey for Scotland at an international level with 120 caps.

He began his professional career in sport as Technical Development Officer with the Scottish Hockey Union, where he developed the first Coaching education structure for the union and was also integral to the merger of the Men’s and Women’s associations.

He then moved on to the National Coaching Foundation with responsibility for the design and utilisation of coach development and education programmes for national governing bodies, before spending five years as Sports Development Manager with Glasgow City Council where he was responsible for the largest sports development team in the UK.

In 2000, Scoular took the post of Head of Rugby Development at the Rugby Football Union and in 2006 was promoted to Community Rugby Director, a post he held for five years. He was responsible for the strategic development, direction and management of all services for the community game including clubs, schools, officiating and volunteer support, as well as working with government at ministerial level and major corporate organisations including Nike and O2.

Scoular joined the British Judo Association in October 2011 as Chief Operating Office and oversaw the UK Sport and Sport England plan delivery and the creation of the new 2013-17 plans.  He took the position of acting CEO in October 2012.