Management Board

Alex Harrison

Title : Member / Chair (Member of the Operations, Governance & Nominations and Audit & Risk Committees)
Interest : Finance / Diving

Alex Harrison (Dive London Aquatics Club) has been involved in diving since he was 7 years old, firstly as a diver (diving up to National Age Groups) and then as a coach, official and volunteer. Alex coaches for his Club for a number of years and began to judge, referee, announce and record at a variety of competitions, including up to National Age Groups, and for two years was placed on the FINA Diving Official’s List. As a young person involved in sport volunteering, Alex has a passion for increasing and encouraging the pathways for young people to continue their aquatic journey through volunteering and took up a place as Chair of the ASA National Youth Forum for three years. Alex has been a regional delegate to ASA Council and Regional Board member for a number of years, and spent 2 years as the Region’s Finance & Administration Chairman. Professionally, Alex works as a senior manager in the leisure industry.

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Michael Laniyan

Title : Member / President
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : April 2027

Marie Atkinson Brian

Title : Vice President
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : April 2027

Daniel Vernis

Title : Vice Chair (Finance) / Member (Member of the Operations and Audit & Risk Committees)
Interest : Artistic Swimming
Stands Down : 2027

Daniel's involvement with the London Region started in 2019, where he “has found a great team of coaches and team managers, a really good structure, with ambitious goals and ideals”. The Artistic Swimming community in the London Region managed to get together and create a good programme that allows performing swimmers to achieve their potential. In the future, this framework will be extended to more swimmers, increasing the development squads. This will have a positive impact on all clubs in the region, and it will show good results in the national competitions. Daniel thinks that the programme put in place by the London Region is quite impressive, and he would like to increase the number of coaches and swimmers involved in it. Long term goals are a strong presence on the podiums on all national competitions, with regional teams; getting more support from the local community; discuss the plan with the swimming centres and to push the Artistic Swimming - Learn To Swim Programme to more pools in order to increase visibility. Daniel became the Regional Artistic Swimming Chair in September 2023.

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Ralph Shortland

Title : Member (Member of the Audit & Risk Committee and Board Representative on the Artistic Swimming Committee)
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : 2027

Ralph Shortland (Ealing S.C.), like many others, became involved in the world of swimming when his children started swimming lessons. Some 30+ years on and he is still actively involved in swimming management, officiating and tutoring of officials. He has served in various club officer roles and is currently a Trustee for Ealing SC, a member of Middlesex County Executive, having been County President on two occasions. He is an experienced official at Club, County, Regional and National events and is a Referee. Following his retirement from the Police Service he became a Health & Safety consultant and is the London Region representative on the ASA Health & Safety Forum. Ralph was the Regional President for 2016/2017.

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Diane Gamble

Title : Member (Member of the Governance & Nominations Committee and Board Representative on the Water Polo Committee)
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : 2027

Diane started in swimming, initially as an Age Group swimmer, fleetingly as a Masters swimmer and latterly as an official for almost 50 years.
She has been an active official within Croydon, Surrey and London for the past 15 years. Diane first became an official in her home County of Derbyshire in 1977, returning to timekeeping and then on to being a Judge, when her children became swimmers with Croydon Amphibians SC. She became a Referee in 2005 and joined the London Region Officials list after Regionalisation. Diane has been involved in training officials within Surrey (London) since 2007, and is an active official for Croydon, London and Surrey Schools and also organises officials for the annual Bath Cup for Independent Senior Schools. Diane was the President of London Swimming 2017-2018.

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Jackie Bedford

Title : Vice Chair (Clubs) / Member (Member of the Operations Committee and Board Representative on the Diving Committee)
Interest : Schools Swimming
Stands Down : 2028

Jackie Bedford (Beckenham & Dulwich Dolphins) has been involved in swimming since qualifying as a swimming teacher in 1989 and her children joining Beckenham Swimming Club. Like a lot of parents who are unable to sit still for long, she soon got involved helping the club and then became an official. She is a referee and has officiated at national events.
She has been on the Beckenham committee (past president) & Kent County (past president). Currently serving on the committee of Dulwich Dolphins (President), London Schools Swimming Association, English Schools Swimming Association (Past President & Treasurer).
Jackie has also used her swimming experience to become involved in Modern Pentathlon and had the privilege to officiate at London 2012 Olympics and other international events.
She has now retired from teaching swimming at a top South London school and is still involved with schools helping with the running of their events. In between swimming competitions she travels the world with her husband.

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Michael Laniyan

Title : Member (Member of the Audit & Risk Committee and Board Representative on the Masters Swimming Committee)
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : 2028

Michael Laniyan (Newham & UEL SC) has been involved with Newham & UEL Swimming club since 2015 and was elected as the chairman of the club in 2016. He is also an active member of the Swim England Essex executive committee. In his role as the chairman of NUEL he regularly attends various meetings throughout the month an example being the LAC stakeholders meeting which comprises members of Swim England, Sports England, Swim England London, LLDC, GLL & NUEL which helps in the promotion of the Olympics legacy development in the Aquatic pool in Stratford where we mainly swim. He is also a foundation Governor of his local Catholic school where he has been the Chair of Governors for the past 7 years and a member of the curriculum, finance and admissions committee. In his professional life he is an accountant with over 30 years commercial experience in both financial and management accounting.

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John Handley

Title : Member (Member of the Governance & Nominations Committee and Board Representative on the Swimming Committee)
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : 2029

John Handley (Beckenham SC) has I have been President of Swim England London Region since the start of 2022 until the 1st of April 2023 when his term ended. Both during his term, and during the preceding year as Vice President of the Region, he attended the Region’s Board Meetings ex officio and have therefore gained a considerable insight into the challenges and workings of the Region. At County level John has worked on improving Mental Health Support for Coaches in the County and Club volunteers and would like to see how this can be extended at a Regional level. John has been a qualified solicitor since 1981, practicing as a commercial property lawyer with large Central London firms for over 25 years. He also has experience in the events industry, managing conference facilities for some 10 years.

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Angela Eguakhide

Title : Member (Member of the Operations Committee and Board Representative on the Open Water Swimming Committee)
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : 2028

Angela Eguakhide (Romford Town SC) has been associated with Romford Town Swimming Club. She has been the Swim England Essex County Secretary since December 2020 and manages their officials at the County Championships. Angela joined the London Board in September 2020 and has actively supported the region in her role as a board member and an active member of the London Swimming committee. She regularly officiates at meets of various levels. Angela is a foundation governor at my local primary school where she is currently the Vice -Chair of Governors as well as the Chair of the Finance committee. Angela is a safety professional with over 21 years’ experience in the rail industry and has proven her ability to deliver efficient solutions at strategic level. Most of her work has involved stakeholder management which means building effective relationships with key stakeholder (external governing bodies and internal department), chairing and participating in various committees, leadership and mentoring of graduate engineers.

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Rebecca Stewart

Title : Member and Board Representative on the Disability and Para Swimming Committee
Interest : Swimming
Stands Down : 2029

Rebecca Stewart (Saxon Crown SC) is a long-standing member of London Masters’ swimming clubs and has been a competitive Masters' swimmer for nearly twenty years. She continues to participate in a variety of competitive formats, including ultra distances in open water, and is a former British Record holder in women’s 50-54 years old 50m freestyle. It is therefore fair to say that she has a deep understanding of the swimming ecosystem in London. These attributes are underpinned by a wide range of professional skills honed through roles such as global brand marketing management; Head of Volunteering for a major UK charity; and more recently as a UK Government Civil Servant; Director at the Isle of Man Government; and now working in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Her career has thrived because of her ability to establish and deliver successful strategic plans and collaborate across large teams. Swimming has enriched her life in so many ways, so she relishes the opportunity to help to further shape the Swim England London Region.

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