To read about a particular member of our Senior Leadership Team team, just click on their name and title below:
Peter Bundey - Chief Executive
Philip Donnay - Deputy Chief Executive
Andy Bindon - Chief Change & Values Officer
Mark Sesnan, OBE - Strategic Advisor
Diana Edmonds, MBE - National Libraries Director
Joseph Rham - Customer Experience Director
Lorraine Patrinos - People Director
Justin Jardine - Business Strategy & Development Director
Sarahlise Evans - Accounting Director
Steve Ward - Digital & Technology Director
Chris Hebblewhite - National Standards and Compliance Director
Gareth Kirk - Senior Regional Director, North
Simon Sen - Senior Regional Director, South (Lead)
Peter Bundey - Chief Executive
Peter has worked in the sport, leisure and culture sector for over 35 years, including working with GLL for more than 25 years.
During that time, Peter has been involved with a wide range of high-profile national and international projects such as new company formation, policy review, organisational development, performance planning, international sport projects, conferences and facility management.
Peter has presented industry evidence to UK Parliamentary Select Committees at the House of Commons on two occasions, during sessions on the Olympic & Paralympic Games and Social Enterprise within the Public Sector.
He has supported the British Olympic Association with training camp preparations in Brazil and gave expert advice on Olympic & Paralympic legacy in Tokyo to the National Diet of Japan Session on Olympic Legacy, as well as presenting to the Japan National Sport Council and Tokyo City Government.
As well as being Chief Executive for GLL, Peter is Chair of the GLL Sport Foundation which is the UK’s largest independent athlete support programme.
Previously, Peter has been Chair of the Pro-Active East London Sports Board (CSP), Honorary Industrial Advisor to London Metropolitan University, National Council Member of Social Enterprise UK, a national assessor for Sport England’s National Management Awards and has contributed to Leisure Management publications.
Philip Donnay - Deputy Chief Executive
Philip is a Qualified Chartered Accountant with over 25 years' experience in the service industry (leisure and culture). He has spent over a decade as Director of Finance and Chief Finance Officer and now Deputy Chief Executive and CFRO for GLL.
In addition to his role as Chief Officer, he has served on the board of trustees for more than 20 years (including 4 years as Chair and 20 years as Company Secretary).
Philip is responsible to the board for the provision of a sound and effective framework of financial, people-based and trading policies, practices, procedures and controls. These have enabled the organisation to maximise its cash flow and revenue streams, minimise costs and deliver GLL's charitable social-objectives and meet all statutory and fiduciary obligations.
As Deputy Chief Executive, Philip contributes to the development of GLL by bringing strategic understanding and experience of the finance and leisure market as well as a good understanding of legal issues, strong analytical sills and sound business sense.
Philip is also a member of the Chartered Managers Institute and a Chartered Manager.
Andy Bindon - Chief Change and Values Officer
Andy rejoined GLL at the end of 2019 as Chief Change & Values Officer, having previously been our HR Director between 2002-2008. During the 11 years Andy was away from GLL, he was still involved with us as an independent trustee.
Prior to 2002, Andy held senior HR roles in the NHS, the printing industry and London Underground. From 2008 -19 he held HR Director roles in the rail industry for Southeastern, Southern and Thameslink. During his time in the transport sector, he was involved in big change programmes, including introducing new rolling stock and automation and making sure that people-strategies were at the heart of driving these changes.
Andy's focus now is to make GLL the best staff-owned business in the UK, with the focus on change that reflects and accentuates our values. This is what makes us different from other organisations, as we emerge from the challenges of the last two years and the impact of the pandemic.
Outside work, Andy's main interests are music and football - he is a keen Plymouth Argyle fan. He lives in north Kent with his family where they also look after foster children - with a special focus on young people with learning disabilities and autism. Andy has master's degree in Employment Strategy from the University of Greenwich and is a visiting lecturer at London South Bank University.
Mark Sesnan, OBE - Strategic Advisor
Mark was instrumental in the pioneering move back in 1993 to move the leisure service from Greenwich Council to a staff-led, not-for-profit Social Enterprise Leisure Trust – the first trust of this type.
Mark has extensive experience in leisure management, having worked for many years at senior level in local government and latterly in the ‘not-for-profit’ sector.
He is currently Honorary Secretary of Community Leisure UK, a board member of Ukactive and is Co-Chair of the London Social Enterprise Leaders Group.
Mark has been a Cabinet Office adviser on local authority mutual ‘spin outs’ and speaks regularly at conferences on social enterprise, business leadership, trusts and partnerships issues. He has co-authored papers for Sport England and other organisations.
Mark was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to the UK leisure industry, in particular during Covid-19.
Justin Jardine - Business Strategy and Development Director
A masters graduate from Loughborough University, Justin has over 27 years' leisure and business management experience, and sits on GLL’s Senior Leadership Team. Leading a multi-disciplinary team, he has extensive experience of developing partnerships across a number of local authorities, community organisations and leisure trust partners.
As Director of Business Strategy and Development, Justin’s main responsibility is for the strategic development of GLL and in particular looking at innovative solutions for our client partners, new business models and wider partnering opportunities. Justin also leads the Business Insight Team and our Legal Support Team.
Justin has served on GLL’s Management Board and has undertaken the role of Vice Chair and Company Treasurer. He also represents GLL on a range of external groups. He is also a Fellow of CIMSPA and a Chartered Manager.
Outside of work Justin enjoys all sport in particular Rugby, Squash and Cricket.
Justin can be contacted on: justin.jardine@gll.org or 07966647706
Steve Ward - Digital & Technology Director
With over 25 years’ experience in the leisure industry, Steve originally began working with GLL as a recreation assistant before working his way up through a variety of roles including centre and regional management. This operational experience, coupled with business acumen, provides Steve with a rounded understanding of many areas of the business.
Steve holds various management and marketing qualifications including a postgraduate diploma in Marketing and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing as well as a registered Chartered Marketer. Having served on the GLL Board in various positions for over 20 years, he also served as GLL Chair for 11 years until 2017. Outside of GLL, Steve is Chair of Governors for a secondary academy school and has supported the governance agenda in education for around 10 years.
Steve now has overall responsibility for the company-wide use of digital and information technology. This new and exciting role will see Steve developing a short, medium and long-term strategy that provides both customer and staff a first-class experience, thus ensuring we are leaders in the digital space.
Lorraine Patrinos - People Director
Lorraine is a sociologist, holding a post-graduate degree in Leisure and is MCIPD qualified. With over 27 years of experience within the leisure industry, she is a founder member of GLL, and its first Chair. She worked her way up through the organisation, from lifeguard to receptionist to general manager, before deciding to retrain and specialise in HR in 2000.
Lorraine and her team have responsibility for the learning and development of all 13,000 staff - including those passing through the award-winning Management Academy and Trainee Management Development schemes – and also via the GLL College.
Responsible for delivering Investors in People and a qualified coach and mentor, Lorraine is continuing her studies for a master's degree in People and Organisational Development.
In her spare time, she enjoys fitness, weight training, art and travel.
Joseph Rham - Customer Experience Director
Joseph is responsible for customer experience at GLL and works with his team across communication, marketing, sales, membership, product development and customer service to put our customers at the heart of everything we do.
Before picking up his current remit, Joseph spent 15 years in various operational roles for GLL. Working in different locations throughout the UK, from General Manager through to Regional Director, he has acquired extensive experience of our centres, services and relationships. Joseph also spent 9 years as a GLL Board Member until 2017.
Coming from a professional health background before he worked in the leisure industry, Joseph is passionate about integrating health and leisure to tackle inequality and improve local communities.
Email: joseph.rham@gll.org
Chris Hebblewhite - National Standards and Compliance Director
Chris has been with GLL since 1998. Over the course of his career, he has worked at various levels from General Manager to Head of Operations.
Prior to GLL, Chris worked in numerous leisure-focused roles with the London Borough of Waltham Forest, Huntingdonshire District Council and Lincoln City Council, clocking up nearly 35 years in this industry.
As a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, Chris plays an active part in the field of leisure and fitness. He represents CLUK on a number of BSI working groups for swimming pool and aquatics equipment, including contributions to British and European Standards. He has also worked on Automated Drowning Detection Systems.
Chris is a joint author of CIMSPA publications and contributed to the editorial panel for the rewrite of, 'Managing Safety in Swimming Pools', and also the PWTAG publication, 'Swimming Pool Water'.
In 2016 Chris assisted the British Olympic Association on pool safety assessments for the Rio 2016 training camps.
In his current role, Chris works across all divisions of GLL including leisure, libraries and children’s services and is a member of UK Active Standards and Legislation Committee.
Chris has also been active on the GLL Board, having worked as both Treasurer and Vice Chair.
Diana Edmonds, MBE - National Libraries Director
As a librarian, Diana has worked in a variety of roles; in academic libraries (London University and the London School of Economics), in public libraries in Aberdeen and in specialist libraries such as the Tate Gallery.
Prior to her employment with GLL, Diana established an information company called ‘Instant Library’, and worked in the business both as a consultant and as the Managing Director, working internationally in the oil industry and the rail industry. She sold Instant Library to the Tribal Group in 2001 and stayed with the business until 2004, going on to join Haringey Council in the role of Assistant Director, Culture, Libraries and Learning.
In Haringey, she worked initially as a consultant: the library service had failed an Audit Commission Inspection, scoring 'no stars' with 'no hope of improvement'. Following her appointment, visits to the libraries increased by over 300% in subsequent years and issues increased by 150%. By 2011, the service had become one of the most popular in the country and was used by over 60% of local residents. Diana was awarded an MBE for her work.
Originally a history graduate, a Fellow of CILIP (the Chartered Institute of Information Professionals) and of the Royal Society of the Arts, Diana is a keen gym member - and, of course, loves reading!
Sarahlise Evans - Accounting Director
Sarahlise started her career working in local government and, after qualifying as an accountant, her first role was as the leisure department accountant at Chiltern District Council.
Sarahlise was part of the team that set up the Chiltern Leisure Trust in 2000 to run the council’s leisure services and has remained in the leisure and social enterprise sector since then.
She is now responsible for managing the GLL finance department and, with her excellent team, aims to provide a strong finance function, supporting the organisation to be efficient, effective and sustainable.
Gareth Kirk - Senior Regional Director, North
Gareth is actively involved with social enterprise networks across the UK and holds the position of Society Chair for GLL, representing our worker-board and 1800 society members.
Representing SENI in Northern Ireland, he has been a judge on the annual social enterprise awards-panel and supports the sector by speaking publicly on the benefits of social enterprises in the business world. Holding observer roles on the Active Belfast Limited board and GMactive board, he has a keen interest in embracing a strong social model in key cities across the UK.
Gareth is an alumnus of the first UKactive Future leaders' cohort and works with colleagues across the health and fitness industry to consider new ways to improve the service for GLL customers and the industry as a whole. A master's graduate from the University of Ulster in Executive Leadership, Gareth has studied with the Irish Times in Dublin and Boston College in the US, developing key skills in coaching and mentoring, governance and strategic planning.
Collaborating with national and international partners on community and sporting events and sharing the benefits of the social enterprise movement, he worked with SOPAC (the Sydney Olympic Authority Company) prior to the London Games. He spent 3 months working directly on the Olympic park in Sydney and also connecting with the Melbourne sports complex and other key venues across Australia. As such, he has experience of event delivery both at home and abroad.
In Gareth’s day job, he works with our teams across Manchester, York, Newcastle, Cumbria, Preston and Belfast involving over 70 venues. The role includes close, day-to-day interaction with our local authority partners on both an officer and elected representative level. He also plays an important role in a large-scale, investment programme taking place across the region, with 5 new-build leisure centres due to be completed in the next couple of years, and over £100m of major refurbishments planned within the estate.
As he himself started as a trainee manager with GLL more than 20 years ago, Gareth fully believes in our meritocratic approach to staff development and applies daily coaching to support the learning and progression of the members of his team. He enjoys travelling and connecting with his teams across the UK on a regular basis and is enthused by the variety of products on offer and the diversity of our workforce which makes GLL such a great place to work.
Outside work, Gareth focuses on family life with his wife, daughter and dogs in his home in Northern Ireland as well as sporting activities as a good way to create that all-important balance with work. Over the years, he has taken part in long-distance running events with marathons in Istanbul, Paris and New York, triathlons across the UK and also enjoys wakeboarding and water sports at beaches near his home.