Director Seeking Re-election Theo Huckle QC Theo was first a member of Club in 1986 and sculls regularly in his Carl Douglas original, which he is keen to concede “is a better boat than he is a sculler”. Theo has four daughters, three of whom rowed at Llandaff.

Originally from Blaenavon, and state educated at West Mon. School, Pontypool, Theo studied Law at Jesus, Cambridge, where he played university rugby before switching to rowing, initially as a member of a “rugby VIII” but ultimately as a JCBC 1st VIII colour and Member of the Stewards at Henley. After Bar School in London and completing his Masters’ degree, he came home to practise as a barrister in , and since 1993 his family home has been in , near Bassaleg. Theo took silk in 2011, and served as Counsel General for Wales as a member of the 2011-16 . He was made a Master of the Bench (“Bencher”) of Lincoln’s Inn in 2012. After his time in government, Theo returned to full-time practice at the Bar and became Head of Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury at Doughty Street Chambers in London, as well as remaining a member of Apex Chambers in Cardiff. Theo’s daughters particularly like the fact that Amal Clooney is now a colleague. Recent cases have included acting for the viola player Chris Goldscheider who suffered severe and disabling noise injury as a member of the Royal Opera House orchestra, and for Royal Marine Phil Eaglesham, who contracted Q Fever serving in Afghanistan and suffers a permanent debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome.

Theo also serves as a non-executive director and trustee of Justice.org and Advocate (Bar Pro Bono).

Theo took up the chairmanship of the Board at the AGM in November 2019 and became Home Nations Director at . Despite the restrictions presented by Covid19, he works hard to deploy the impressive skill-sets of his fellow board members and WR's coaches and admin staff cohesively, to make rowing in all its forms and at all levels available to as many people in Wales as possible, regardless of background, because he sees rowing as simply the best sport for personal development and wellbeing, for young and old alike. He also wants to improve Wales’s rowing performance levels by focussed support for our athletes, and by “increasing the size of the base of the pyramid” - more rowers learning the sport making for more and better athletes at the top levels.

Theo is particularly delighted to have helped to secure for Wales the 2022 World Coastal Rowing and Beach Sprints Championships to be held at Saundersfoot, in particular by securing British Rowing's support (backed by UK Sport) to underwrite any additional costs over revenue.

Individuals seeking election to the Board

There are 4 vacancies (in addition to those open for Directors seeking re-election) on the Welsh Rowing Board from November 2020.

Sonia Klein

Sonia is an east London girl transplanted into the Gower and is a member of City of Swansea Rowing Club alongside her children Jasmine and Adam. Her rowing experience includes coxing at University and .

Sonia works as a Strategy Advisor with CMS Global and CEO of Hemp Block Technology, leading large teams and has a 30-year transatlantic corporate career alongside 35 years of campaigning and political consultancy experience. Sonia has 15 years of Board level experience across various sectors, including George Washington University, Business School East Potential Housing Association, E3 - Association for the Empowerment of Asian Women, and is a mentor and advisor to women entrepreneurs. She brings a wealth of skills to contribute to Welsh Rowing including marketing, business development, community engagement and strategic partnership development. Her vision for rowing in Wales includes promoting social and economic diversity in rowing, strengthening the rowing community and raising global exposure for Welsh athletes.

Chris Jones

Chris is an experienced Board Director having held similar positions in the not for profit and charitable sector. Chris has been the Chief Executive of England Athletics since 2012 having joined them in 2006 heading up their East Region team before directing their national Marketing & Strategy work. He has led the organisation through the Commonwealth Games cycles in Glasgow (2014) and Gold Coast (2018) and has put in place the team leadership structures ahead of Birmingham 2022.

Prior to working for England Athletics Chris’ professional life has included working for Sport England as a Senior Development Manager focused on increasing access to participation through lottery investment programmes and in leading their equality and diversity work, in local government as a Sports Development Manager developing local structures and systems and also in Education specialising on Primary Schools Sport Coordination and Physical Education. Chris has played county cricket, is a playing member of the MCC and has played rugby to national league level. Chris is an avid follower of all sports and has held many voluntary roles in grassroots sport. He is currently coaching rugby union at his local club. Chris`s family hail from Ystrad Rhondda and Flint North Wales respectively and despite being raised in the East Midlands, Chris is extremely proud of his heritage with a son who is currently involved with the WRU exiles development programme and is often in South Wales through his family and rugby connections. He is passionate about the role that sport plays in tackling both sporting and wider outcomes such as health, education and community cohesion and is very proud to have been asked to join the Board of Welsh Rowing.

Louise Dodds Louise Dodds has worked in Sports and Entertainment Marketing for the last 20 years, helping companies such as Red Bull, Bacardi, Ray-Ban, Puma and the Cotswolds Distillery to create amazing brand experiences, world-class events and sponsorship programmes which deliver commercial growth and consumer engagement. She has worked on a UK and international level, both client and agency side, as a sponsor and as a rightsholder.

Originally from Bridgend, Louise studied History at UCL, where she enjoyed playing squash and hockey for the university 1’s and hosted a student radio show. After UCL Louise joined Red Bull and was part of the senior team which built the brand into the number 1 energy drink in the UK. As Marketing Manager and Head of Events Louise was responsible for organising and promoting the Red Bull events programme, bringing events such as the Red Bull Air Race to London and organising the first UK Flugtag and Soapbox Races. She gave 'wiiings' to the UK Action sports programme, building the sponsored athlete team and helping to shape their pioneering content marketing approach.

After a successful career at Red Bull, Louise moved agency side to a leading Sponsorship, PR and Experiential agency. As Client Services Director she was responsible for creating, overseeing and evaluating the implementation of client strategy and driving growth. Louise is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has a CIM Diploma in Professional Digital Marketing. Louise lives in Cheltenham with her husband who is an Orthopaedic Surgeon and their 3 young children. She works as a Marketing Consultant. Louise is passionate about sport and fitness and is currently training for her first Adventure Race.

Louise is excited to join the board and use her professional experience, digital and event skills to help deliver the Welsh Rowing Strategy. During her time on the board Louise hopes to help the team grow the rowing community in Wales, enhance the member experience on and offline and make the World Rowing Coastal Championships event amazing for participants, spectators and the media alike.

Sarah Davies

Sarah’s involvement with Welsh Rowing began in 2010, when she joining Rowing Club as a novice coxswain. She progressed to steer the Men’s 1st VIII and in later years coxed Cardiff City Rowing Club at Henley Royal Regatta.

Sarah has a strong understanding of rowing high-performance pathways, having represented Wales at Home International Regatta on two occasions and having regularly trained and raced with ‘GB Start’ athletes whilst studying for her Master’s degree in Business Management at the University of Bath.

Whilst she hung up her life-jacket in 2016 in order to further her career in Project Management, Sarah firmly believes that the attributes and skills that underpin her professional successes were shaped through time spent in a rowing boat.

It is these professional skills and experiences that Sarah offers to Welsh Rowing. As a qualified Project Management Professional at an international defence & aerospace company, she has experience in project delivery, business development, risk management and procurement and has managed relationships with strategic industry partners and international government representatives.

Having coxed successful women’s crews at HIR and Henley Women’s Regatta, Sarah is passionate about encouraging more women into our sport. It is this passion for rowing and her Welsh family heritage that motivates Sarah to support the continued growth and success of Welsh Rowing.