Bonnie Calnan – Executive Director
Bonnie has lacrosse in her DNA having played at school, university, county, club, and territorial levels. She joined the Wales Senior Women’s squad in 2003 and was part of their world championship teams in 2005 and then in 2009 when they were ranked 6th in the world. She won gold with Wales in 2008 and silver in 2012 at the European Championships. Bonnie is a Partner at DLA Piper, specializing in European and cross-border corporate real estate transactions for private equity, sovereign wealth, and debt funds. A proud mother of two, Bonnie is committed to promoting British Lacrosse and its Olympic potential.
Mark Coups – Chief Operating Officer
Mark is from a lacrosse family. His grandmother, mother, father, brother, wife, daughter and all played the game – from grassroots to international level. Mark has been a player, coach and administrator in the sport for more than four decades and is currently the Chief Executive of England Lacrosse. Mark is a passionate educator and worked for many years in the secondary school sector as a coach, teacher and pastoral care specialist. He is a keen developer of sport and is the current Senior Independent Director on the Merseyside County Sport Partnership which aims to improve the sport and physical activity for everyone in the Merseyside area.
Alison Kervin OBE – Independent Non-Executive Director
Alison is the former Sports Editor of the Mail on Sunday and previously worked at The Times, The Telegraph, and the Financial Times. She has won many accolades, including Sports Journalist of the Year, Feature Writer of the Year, and Editor of the Year, and in 2017, she was awarded an OBE. She now runs Gold Medals Media Agency, designing communications strategies and crafting crisis media campaigns. She is a BAFTA judge, has written 34 books and works for several charities.
Mike Painter – Executive Director
Mike joins the Board as a representative of Lacrosse Scotland, where he is responsible for developing and implementing their strategic business plan and ensuring operational excellence across the organisation in his role as Strategy Director. He brings a wealth of experience in strategic people leadership and workforce management within the sports industry, most notably at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as several other major international sporting events. With a successful track record of delivering complex strategic agendas and a passion for promoting the world of high-performance sport, Mike is excited to join the Board and contribute to the success of British Lacrosse as we embark on the next phase of our incredible journey at such a pivotal time in our sport’s history.
Senthooran Ramachandran – Independent Non-Executive Director
Senthooran is a Chartered Accountant with over 15 years in Financial Services and Payments. He has previously led and managed finance teams at American Express, MasterCard and Glint Pay. He is currently leading Finance for UK Payments at ByteDance. Senthooran is passionate about racket sports; he is currently training to be an LTA coach. Senthooran is excited to be joining the board of British Lacrosse and contributing to the sport and the team’s continued success.
Leslie Rance – Chair
Leslie is an experienced and versatile leader with a career spanning over 25 years in two FTSE 20 companies. He has held executive and board positions in Public and Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Strategy, Information Technology, Human Resources and General Management. Currently, Leslie is a partner at MindofaFox, a strategy consultancy firm, and serves as a non-executive director on several other boards. He is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Global Leadership Network, the African Leadership Initiative, and the Material Change Institute.
In addition to his business experience, Leslie’s interest in sports has previously led him to engage part-time as a sports anchor on Africa’s first free-to-air television station.
Emma Thomas – Independent Non-Executive Director
Emma joins the British Lacrosse board to lead on marketing and brand communications. She has multiple years’ experience working at Procter & Gamble on many globally recognised and newly launched brands. She currently works at sports agency, Two Circles specialising in rightsholder commercial strategy so brings with her broader industry knowledge. Emma is also Vice Chair of Governors at a school in south London. Emma is thrilled to be part of the British Lacrosse journey as we head towards LA28 and beyond.
Tracy Whittaker-Smith MBE – Independent Non-Executive Director
Tracy Whittaker-Smith MBE is a highly experienced performance leader and consultant with over 40 years’ experience across community, talent and elite sport. She has held senior leadership roles including Performance Director and Head National Coach, leading teams to World and Olympic success across multiple Olympic cycles. Tracy now works independently, supporting organisations with performance strategy, leadership development and system planning, and is the founder of Northamptonshire Trampoline Gymnastics Academy. She was awarded an MBE for services to sport and brings extensive experience in performance leadership and governance to the British Lacrosse Board.
