Much has happened this year regarding the Paddle Scotland Board of Directors with illness and resignations making it difficult at times to achieve a quorum for Board meetings. This has complicated and prolonged the work to review and refresh our ‘Paddlesport For All’ strategy in line with the next sportscotland investment cycle, which is due to commence early next year.

In order to move forward and establish a functional and representative Board that is better able to support all our members, sportscotland has stepped in to guide and assist this process. On Friday 6th September the Paddle Scotland Appointments Committee, independently chaired by Martin Cooke, recently retired Chair of Scottish Cycling, and with input from Nigel Holl, CEO of British Curling, met and made several recommendations to the Paddle Scotland Board, which were agreed to in principle at its meeting this past Tuesday. These recommendations are consistent with the principles within the sportscotland governance framework, making the provisions regarding the Board less restrictive moving forward.

In order to make achieving a quorum realistic, and to ensure the Board has the full benefit of his expertise and experience of Paddle Scotland, the first step has been to make our CEO, Stuart Smith, an “ex officio” director until the end of 2024.

Allan McKay has also agreed to act as the Interim Chair until the end of the year in order to provide continuity of leadership of the Board, while our Elected Chair, Scott Simon, is not able to fulfil his role due to illness.

The Appointments Committee and the Board are proposing making changes to the Paddle Scotland Articles of Association related to Board composition to better reflect current good governance practices. We are now in the process of outlining a plan for engaging with and getting input from our members about these proposed changes over the coming weeks.

The proposed amendment to the Articles would result in a more diverse, representative and functional Board, thereby impacting positively all members. If the changes are approved, we foresee being able to open applications to stand for election to the Board in November.

Please look out for further updates coming soon.