The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) has today announced the process for appointing the next Owner Practitioner Director onto its Board.
Between 11th and 25th February, any registered owner with a greyhound registered with GBGB is invited to apply for the role. The GBGB Nominations Committee will review each application and select a shortlist to put up for election amongst all registered owners. The election will be run under the auspices of GBGB’s independent auditors. It is expected that the successful candidate will be in place by the GBGB Board meeting on 19th May 2022.
As Owner Practitioner Director, the successful candidate will be expected to represent the views of all owners and ensure their interests are represented at the highest level. They will also be expected to work collaboratively with other Board members to promote and protect the sport to ensure its future prosperity. They will be expected to be involved in all aspects of the sport including safeguarding greyhound welfare, exploring commercial opportunities and ensuring the sport is run with the utmost integrity.
Opening nominations, Jeremy Cooper, Chair of the GBGB Board, said:
“Having spent the last couple of months speaking to owners across the country and hearing how they want to be represented, I am pleased that we are now able to invite nominations for this important post. It is clear that owners want and need a strong voice within our sport and the GBGB Board is the most appropriate forum in which they can be heard. I would therefore encourage any owner who wants to make a positive difference to consider applying for the role.
“We anticipate that there will be a settling in period for any new Director which is why we are working on a new induction process so that they can get up to speed as quickly as possible. We also hope to provide additional professional training and development for all Board members to help them carry out their roles.”
To coincide with the election of the new Owner Director and to ensure the views of owners across the sport are well represented, GBGB will be launching a new feedback feature on the Owners’ Portal hosted on its website. This will enable owners to ask questions and lodge any queries with GBGB. These questions and comments will be compiled and considered by the GBGB Board, through the Owner Director, with written responses being published on a quarterly basis.
Explaining the new Owners’ Portal feedback feature, Mark Bird, GBGB Chief Executive, said:
“We have given a great deal of consideration over the past months about how to improve communication between the owners’ community and the Board. I’ve met with a number of owners and listened to their criticisms, suggestions and how to best support owners. I very much hope that the new feature on the GBGB Owners’ Portal will give every owner the space to have their say and hear back from GBGB directly.”
Full details of the election process can be found in this week’s GBGB Calendar.
