Our Trustees

Our trustees bring specialist skill sets and an enthusiasm to develop cricket in Gloucestershire.

Andy Shield / Chair

Andy first joined the board in 2016 and was elected chair in 2020, taking a key role in the composition of the current board of trustees and the switch to charitable status.

His passion for recreational cricket – and the difference it can make to people’s lives – began with his first appearance for the Ridge School in Yate in 1971. It was not long before he joined Chipping Sodbury, beginning a long association as a player and volunteer that continues to this day as he is a past chair of the thriving South Gloucestershire club but still remains actively involved.

Despite his senior years, Andy still occasionally dons his whites when needed and likes nothing more than enjoying some quality time in the middle and the social side of the sport later in the day. Andy was also once a mobile prop forward with Frampton Cotterell RFC.

Away from cricket, Andy recently retired after a 44-year association with CEMEX UK Materials and latterly Hills Quarry Products Limited, operating in the quarrying and asphalt industry where he was a respected senior manager involved in commercial and distribution responsibilities.

Married for 22 years, this change in work/life balance will allow him to spend quality time with all the family, particularly the grandchildren, whilst further developing his command of the Spanish language for use on his regular visits to this much loved part of the world.

He firmly believes that people are any organisation’s greatest asset, a belief based on business leadership experience of highly performing teams in a competitive market place.

Andy recognises the experience, dedication and wide range of skills among the employees and trustees of the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation, and is enthused by the direction the foundation is moving in along with the influence this will have on all elements of recreational cricket throughout the county.

Andy Shield (IMG)
Peter Boorman (IMG)

Peter Boorman / Vice-Chair

Pete is the Executive Planning Director at TMW Unlimited – an integrated marketing agency based in London, Bristol and Reading.

He’s been involved in the development of marketing communication strategies for many blue-chip brands across a range of sectors, as well as playing a leading role in the growth and development of the agency.

In the cricket world, Pete recently retired from playing but has fulfilled a number of roles across recreational cricket. He’s been the Youth Manager at Dumbleton Cricket Club for 15 years – helping to build the junior section into one of the largest and most successful in the county. He’s also been involved in local league administration and was a county age group coach and team manager for 4 years. Alongside the growth in participation at Dumbleton, his biggest cricketing achievement was coaching their U13s to the national final and being named Gloucestershire Coach of the Year!

Pete’s continued motivation is to support the fantastic team at the Foundation in developing a love for game among new generations and communities.

Phil Carter / Trustee

Coming soon.

Steve Silk / Chief Executive Officer

Sybil Ruscoe / Trustee

Sybil grew up on the boundaries of Shropshire cricket fields watching her dad, an all-rounder, play club and works cricket. Even her family summer holidays to Torquay coincided with the Minor Counties v West Indies fixture!

Sybil is a journalist and broadcaster and was the first woman to present cricket on British terrestrial TV with the BAFTA and RTS award-winning C4 Cricket and C4 Cricket Roadshow. She interviewed scores of cricketers, from Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Colin Cowdrey and Sir Vivian Richards to Sir Curtly Ambrose, Steve Waugh and Sachin Tendulkar.

Sybil was a launch presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live, where she presented programmes from Lord’s and Edgbaston. She was co-presenter on the Simon Mayo Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 1 and presented the legendary Top of the Pops. More recently, she’s presented Farming Today on BBC Radio 4.

Sybil and her husband Tom Knight, the former Athletics Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, co-wrote The Official Commemorative Book of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As a media advisor, Sybil has worked with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the SAS Association on the installation of the ‘Ascension’ window at Hereford Cathedral and with Hereford Cathedral Choir on its historic visit to meet the Pope and sing at St Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

Sybil has lived in Stow-on-the-Wold since 2005 and is passionate about cricket, golf, horse racing her allotment, singing and the countryside.

Justin Hopwood / Trustee

Justin works for one of the world’s leading commercial ticketing businesses in the sports sector, and was previously Sales and Marketing Director at Lancashire Cricket Club and Emirates Old Trafford for four years until the end of 2019, as well as a director of the Lancashire Cricket Foundation, where he was responsible for achieving annual and long-term financial targets across all revenue streams, with a key role in the record £30m+ revenue achievements in 2019, as well as part of the Foundation’s restructuring and vision to grow the game of cricket throughout the North West.

Steve Silk / Chief Executive Officer
Steve Silk / Chief Executive Officer

Nigel Hill / Trustee

Nigel is a lifelong cricket fan, having grown up in earshot of the passionate West Indian fans on the terraces at the Oval as Michael Holding and his colleagues wreaked havoc on England’s batting line up.

Never much of a player, Nigel has been a watcher, umpire and now scorer, and was last at the County Ground as part of the Accreditation Team for the World Cup in 2019. He is Secretary of Wiltshire Seniors and, over the years, has been involved in the running of a number of charities.

Nigel passionately believes that recreational cricket is an important force for good in building and strengthening rural and urban communities and that cricket should be accessible to everybody.

Professionally, Nigel is a governance and trusteeship specialist, acting for a large number of pension funds and other trusts. He is an Accredited Professional Trustee, a Council Member of the Association of Professional Pension Trustees, a Director of two trustee companies and a Consultant for another trustee business. One of his ambitions in the GCF role is to help us achieve the Gold Governance Standard as soon as possible, and be recognised by the ECB as a leader in the field.

Razi Ahmed / Trustee

Razi is a change and transformation professional with vast experience in financial, professional and health services. He has led and delivered large-scale strategic, regulatory and culture change programmes across multiple businesses. His diverse background, having lived and worked in different cultures, brings richness to his thoughts and experiences. Razi has also worked as a shadow Non-Executive Director with two NHS organisations.

In addition to being a Trustee at the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation, he chairs the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee and leads the EDI regional working group and represents GCF on the ECB-led EDI activities.

Razi is passionate about cricket – plays and performs voluntary roles. Razi is one of the directors on the Executive Committee for Golden Hill Cricket Club. He is an ECB Level 2.5 coach and his proudest achievement, being the director of youth cricket for over a decade, has been the extremely successful youth setup with over 300 boys and girls playing Bristol and Gloucestershire league cricket and continuing to grow from strength to strength.

Additionally, Razi took over the role as Chair of the Gloucestershire County Seniors Cricket at the 2023 AGM, with the aspiration to drive the club vision forward into the future. He lives in Bristol with his wife and two sons.

Steve Silk / Chief Executive Officer
Steve Silk / Chief Executive Officer

Andy Parsons / Trustee

Since December 2019, Andy has been the Chief Executive of the Cotswolds National Landscape (a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – ‘AONB’), which is a statutory not-for-profit public body. He regularly liaises with central government (Defra) and the 15 local authorities whose boundaries lie within the Cotswolds.

Previous to that Andy was Chief Executive of South West Lakes Trust, a regional charity with a focus on recreation, environment and education. One of his proudest achievements was leading the charity when, in 2018, they were awarded Gold in the ‘Investors in People’ accreditation – putting the charity in the top 2% of accredited organisations.

South West Lakes Trust operates five watersports and outdoor activity centres across Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. Andy has experience of liaising with National Governing Bodies for sport, including the Royal Yachting Association and British Canoeing. Andy has also held senior roles with Severn Trent Water.

Andy’s previous non-executive roles include: Vice-Chair of the Cornwall Sports Partnership Advisory Board; Chair of Visit Exmoor; Management Board Member of the Visitor Safety Group and Appointee of the Secretary of State for the Cotswolds Conservation Board.

Locally, Andy is the Youth Co-ordinator at Chipping Campden Cricket Club, growing the junior membership to over 100 young people from the ages of 5-15 within two years. He has secured a number of grant awards for the Club and plays for the Second XI.

He is a father to four children and married for over 20 years to his wife, Lisa, a teacher at Chipping Campden School. They enjoy walking, cycling and camping with their children (although most are now too old to go camping!) and two dogs.

Mark Lambert / Trustee

Mark’s cricket experience centred on Long Ashton where he played for over 20 years (mainly 2nd XI). He became a qualified level 2 coach in 2003 and ran the youth section for many years.

Mark was honoured to be given the services to youth cricket award by the Bristol Youth Cricket League in 2012. Mark and his family moved to Cirencester in 2015 where he started running the under 7s, helped with the All Stars provision and now helps out with under 13 coaching and scoring.

Mark has 2 children, a son who played for the C&C District U11 last season and his younger sister who is keen to follow in his footsteps.

Professionally Mark is a qualified Chartered Accountant (since 1995) and moved into the Financial Services sector, comprising accounting, operational and governance roles at Nationwide, Legal & General and latterly St. James’s Place (SJP).

Mark leads a team of 14 overseeing the outsourced pricing, custody and fund manager back office activities for SJP unit trust and unit linked funds (FuM – £110bn), ensuring regulatory change and fund manager changes are successfully implemented.

Steve Silk / Chief Executive Officer
Jane Khawaja (IMG)

Jane Khawaja / Trustee

Jane and her family are passionate about cricket and are part of Frenchay Cricket Club. Her husband and two sons play for the club with her sons also involved in Zonal, MCC and are ACE (African Caribbean Engagement) scholars.

Jane also plays for Frenchay Cricket Club Women’s team and has taken on the role of co-chair for the club’s youth section. Jane enjoys sport and has played a variety of sports over the years including playing basketball competitively.

Jane has a very keen interest in equality, diversity and inclusion and is passionate about addressing the root cause of racial inequality and ensuring race equality is embedded into policies and processes. She believes in creating an inclusive culture where cricketers, regardless of background, feel they belong, have equity of opportunity, and can thrive from the recreational game through the talent pathway and have fun along the way. She also believes in inspiring the next generation and having role models all children can aspire to.

Jane is Head of Research Development (UK) at the University of Bristol. At the University, she is a member of the Board of Trustees and University Court and she co-chairs the University’s Anti-Racism Steering Group. She is also a member of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic network and Inclusion Forum. Jane is a member of the Bristol City Funds Investment Advisory Committee and a Director on the Bristol Future Talent Partnership Board. She is also a commissioner on Bristol City Council’s Commission on Race Equality. Jane was previously a Director for Olympus Academy Trust and a Governor at a local primary school including being chair of the school improvement committee and lead for maths and science.

Jane has a degree in Physics and PhD in Plasma Physics. She started her career working for Applied Materials, a global leader in the semiconductor industry. She then worked for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the UK’s main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences, before joining the University of Bristol.

Claire Nobes / Trustee

Claire is a Director at STEMworks Ltd, a not-for-profit organisation that works with schools, business and communities to help promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Working in partnership with companies (national and international) she produces educational outreach activities to support businesses with their corporative social responsibility and raises the profile of STEM careers.

Previous to this role, Claire was Head of Faculty for Design and Technology in a South Gloucestershire secondary school. She has 20 year’s teaching experience.

Claire joined Frampton on Severn Cricket Committee in 2014 and took an active role in supporting youth training sessions. It was not long before she was involved with organising youth cricket festivals and taking a lead in raising the profile of their youth section. In 2016, Claire qualified as a Level 2 cricket coach and focused on developing the girl’s section and introducing women’s softball and hardball cricket.

One of Claire’s most memorable cricket experiences was when her U11 girls walked out with the England and West Indies teams at Brightside County Cricket Ground during the Women’s World Cup 2017.
In June 2019 Claire suffered a severe ankle injury whilst playing cricket, this has hindered her playing the game; however, she has returned to the crease by taking on umpire duties.

In her spare time, Claire enjoys gardening, walking, baking, spending time with her family which includes their dog ‘Wicket’ and cat ‘Bails’.

Claire Lyes (IMG)