Sustainability Commission
The commission is made up of eleven individuals, volunteering their expertise from a range of environmental sustainability and triathlon backgrounds. They will be supported by two British Triathlon members of staff, Ben Cummings (Director of Partnerships, Commercial and External Affairs) and Will Evans (Head of Clubs and Regions). You can find out more about the commission members below.
If you have any questions about the work of the Sustainability Commission, please email [email protected]
Steve Varley
Chair of the British Triathlon Sustainability Commission
Steve is the EY Global Vice Chair - Sustainability, leading EY’s climate change and sustainability agenda globally in a newly created role that is the first amongst the Big Four. He helps EY clients create business value from sustainability and accelerate their transition to a lower carbon future. He also leads EY’s overall environmental sustainability strategy across the US$36bn professional services organisation and its 300,000 people. Steve is leading the organization’s efforts towards decarbonization and has overseen its achievement of carbon neutrality in 2020, carbon negative in 2021, and net zero commitment for 2025.
Steve is founding co-chair of the S30, a group of 30 Chief Sustainability Officers from some of the world’s leading businesses, launched in 2020 in collaboration with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ ‘Sustainable Markets Initiative’.
Steve was part of the business delegation on the Prime Minister’s Trade Missions, including visits to Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil and China. He is also a founding member of the Social Business Trust, a member of the International Chamber of Commerce governing body, on the Chairman’s Advisory Group for the British Museum and a member of the Productivity Leadership Group.
A very keen sportsman, he has represented Great Britain multiple times for his age group at the triathlon world championships and competes in several road races and triathlons each year.
Jenny Ekelund
Vice-Chair of the British Triathlon Sustainability Commission
Jenny is a sustainability practitioner with 18 years’ experience in collaborative working across the private, non-profit and education sectors. She has been involved in amateur sport throughout her life, has been a member of a running club in every city she has lived in and is a proud Age-Group triathlete with Oxford Tri.
Jenny is Director of Engagement and Green Transition at The Partnering Initiative (TPI), an independent NGO supporting effective cross-sector partnerships for sustainable development. She is currently leading TPI’s work to accelerate and strengthen partnerships for climate action and has a particular interest in the relationship between human health and the environment.
Former Head of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oxford, Jenny led the adoption of the organisation’s first Carbon Management Strategy. She began her career in the private sector as a Corporate Responsibility Advisor and went on to spend many rewarding years managing biodiversity programmes and partnerships at Earthwatch, the international research and education institute.
Jenny is a board member for Soha, a UK social housing mutual, and a former trustee and Chair of Student Hubs, a charity engaging students in social and environmental action during their time at University, including through sports volunteering.
Andy Jordan
Andy regards the Sustainability Commission as a fantastic opportunity to connect his enduring interest in sustainability with his passion for triathlon and other sports. Andy is British Triathlon member and a keen club level triathlete in East Anglia.
Andy is Professor of Environmental Policy in the Tyndall Centre for climate change research, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia and has more than 30 years’ experience in researching, teaching and advising on environment and sustainable development policies and practices.
He has also provided expert advice to UK Parliament (both Houses), central government (including the Cabinet Office), several local governments, charities such as Friends of the Earth, RSPB and WWF, and many different institutions of the EU. Andy is also currently co-directing CAST (the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations) which has 15 years of research funding from UK Government to explore and facilitate the radical behaviour changes needed to entirely decarbonise society by 2050.
Helen MacVicker
Helen MacVicker is an ecologist with a PhD in ecotoxicology and 20 years working experience with Defra (Department for Environment) and public body Natural England where sustainability practices were adopted within standard ways of working more than a decade ago. Her role as a senior manager and major project manager has provided Helen with valuable exposure to sustainability innovations and experience of driving change in organisations to adopt better sustainability practices.
Helen has been a member of British Triathlon since 1994. She enjoyed 25 years racing as an Age-Grouper and briefly with a WTC pro licence. She’s a level 3 coach and was previously head coach of the youth section at Leeds and Bradford Tri Club and was also a standby coach for Leeds High Performance Centre as well as working with regional academies and GO TRI groups.
Helen’s now living in Lanzarote where she teaches and coaches. She is excited to bring together her skills and experience as an ecologist and as a triathlete and coach to influence the sustainability agenda at British Triathlon.
Andy Tourell
Sport has always been a fundamental part of Andy’s life and has shaped the person he is today. He has been competing in triathlon for around 4-5 years, completing his first full iron distance triathlon (the iconic Challenge Roth) in 2019. Andy’s performance at Roth allowed him to qualify for The Great Britain Age-Group Team in middle distance aquabike.
Both professionally and personally, Andy thrives on supporting others and providing a platform to realise their ambitions and break through their (real or perceived) limitations. Within triathlon, he is taking his British Triathlon Level 2 coaching course so that he can give back to the triathlon community by coaching at Chapel Tri Club, where his son is just starting his triathlon journey.
As a certified sustainability consultant (IEMA Certificate in Environmental Management), an athlete, a Home Nation member and with over 12 years of global event management, Andy looks forward to working within the British Triathlon Sustainability Commission, fusing his values, experiences and passions, to support British Triathlon in inspiring and empowering positive change.
Laura Siddall
As a professional triathlete, Laura is passionate about leaving the sport in a better place, and one of those areas is in sustainability. She is an ambassador for Maikai, an organisation working specifically with athletes, brands and organisations to work on projects and areas that fall under the UN’s 17 SDGs to take action and make change.
Laura led the partnership between Soles4Souls (S4S) and Challenge Family, and S4S and Neuff-Red, as well as expanding to other sports teams to collect new and gently used shoes. S4S gives the collected kit a second life, fighting poverty, supporting women entrepreneurs and keeping kit out of landfill.
Her passion and energy for the sport go broader than this too through promoting women in sport, mentoring younger athletes, coaching, speaking, developing anti-doping strategies and more.
In her triathlon career, Laura has won numerous medals over the longer distances. In 2021, she has won silver at IRONMAN Lanzarote in July and at Challenge Roth in September. Ahead of the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Laura was also named as a reserve female guide for ParalympicsGB’s PTVI athletes.
Dan Reading
Dan is currently Head of Sustainability at Right Formula having recently moved from the international federation, World Sailing, where he was also Head of Sustainability. At World Sailing he managed the award-winning sustainability programme, working with several UN agencies including the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) where he is still o-Chair of the Sports for Climate Action Framework.
Prior to this, he spent nine years at the national governing body, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and British Marine (the leisure marine trade association) on a collaborative environmental programme. During his time at the RYA he was seconded to London 2012 where he was the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competition Sustainability Manager and was responsible for the first venue in the world being certified to ISO 20121.
He is a Chartered Environmentalist, a full member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and a Certified Marina Professional. Dan won the 2020 inaugural Global Association for International Sport Federation’s Sustainability Award and was recently crowned ‘2021 Environmental Professional of the Year’ by the Society for the Environment.
Louisa Holbrook
Louisa Holbrook is Head of Sustainability at Brompton Bicycle, the UK’s largest bicycle manufacturer. She is responsible for the strategic development and companywide adoption of Brompton Bicycles first sustainability strategy.
Since joining Brompton in 2020, Louisa has worked closely with Brompton’s CEO and executive team to develop Brompton’s five-year strategic goal to be a restorative and circular business.
Louisa works cross functionally to empower employees to incorporate sustainability into their everyday roles and by building a Chief-led governance structure. Louisa aims to build accountability and ownership into multiple levels of the company.
With a background in carbon accounting and product sustainability, Louisa has mapped Brompton’s carbon footprint at both company and product level, learnings from which have been incorporated into Design and Engineering research and development projects.
Louisa is also a member of the of the Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI) and Cycling Industries Europe (CIE) Sustainability Expert Group and has 11+ years cross-industry experience working in Corporate Sustainability.
Sport has always played a significant role in Louisa’s life and, after completing her first triathlon four years ago, her free time is now dominated by swim, bike, run.
Nigel Kendrick
Nigel is the proud co-founder and co-owner of Always Aim High Events, a passionate Welsh company delivering world class sporting events in stunning locations.
Between 1992 and 2010, Nigel worked in a variety of roles in the public sector across the UK including environmental protection and regulation and developing and implementing national procedures and policies. This allowed him to build on and apply his BSc and MSc in Environmental and Ecological Sciences.
Nigel has been involved in all levels of sport and particularly enjoys outdoor activities, which include trail running, biking, swimming and skiing. Working in a voluntary capacity for over 10 years with disabled skiing and as a qualified disabled ski instructor, he was extremely proud to be the Performance Manager of the British Disabled Ski Team at the 2006 Winter Paralympics.
Following this passion for sport and in partnership with Tim Lloyd, Nigel have grown a multi-award-winning and world class sporting events company that showcases events across Wales and England. Events hosted include the iconic Slateman Triathlon, Sandman Triathlon, Snowman Triathlon, Cardiff Triathlon, Ynys Mon Half Marathon, Snowdonia Trail Marathon, Ynys Mon Trail Half Marathon and the Tour De Mon. In all attracting over 60,000 participants and spectators each year across the portfolio.
At Always Aim High, they have striven to be at the forefront of sustainable and positive environmental improvement and were the first to introduce the T’s for trees initiative, aiming to remove single use cups and plastic from events, and provide only locally sourced finisher mementos. The natural environment is at the heart of all they do.
Riikka Rakic
Riikka Rakic currently serves as the Head of Sustainability at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) where she is also managing the implementation of the IBU’s strategic plan ‘Target 26’.
Riikka has been working in sports management for more than 15 years, including leading the communications function at the International Ski Federation (FIS) from 2005-2013. She also developed and implemented an ISO 20121 certified sustainability programme at the Åre 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, the first of its kind. Additionally, she has advised candidatures for the Olympic Summer and Winter Games on topics related to sustainability, legacy, and the environment, and is a trained Climate Reality Leader.
Riikka holds a masters degree in Sports Administration from the AISTS in Lausanne, a masters degree from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC, and a bachelors degree from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. She is also a graduate of an Executive Education programme on Sustainable Leadership and Corporate Responsibility at the London Business School.
Saul Moorhouse
Saul is a nature lover and GB age-group triathlete. Since embarking on his first tri in 2017, he has embraced the sport’s connection with the natural environment and packs a wetsuit wherever he travels. Sustainability is an important aspect of his everyday life, and his two-year old daughter has fully adopted the concept of toy and clothes sharing.
Saul has a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry. He has worked for bp for eight years, most recently in a role focussed at business transformation across digital, agility, and sustainability. As co-founder of Saile – the offshore delivery service – he is currently building a marine logistics business with sustainability at its core.
Saul is excited to combine his two passions through participation in the British Triathlon Sustainability Commission.
