Judge profiles
Sebastian Coe - Chair of LOCOG
Sebastian Coe is Chair of LOCOG, having previously been Chairman of the London 2012 bid company.
Seb is a double Olympic Champion and 12-time world record holder in Athletics. He won gold in the 1500m and silver in the 800m at both the Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 Games. He retired from competitive athletics in 1990 and became a Conservative MP and Private Secretary to William Hague. In 2002 he was made a Peer – Lord Coe of Ranmore. He received a knighthood in the 2006 New Year's Honours List.
Seb is also a Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and a director and controlling shareholder of The Complete Leisure Group plc. He is a non-executive member of the board of directors of England 2018 Ltd., the England World Cup bid committee, and for the duration has taken a leave of absence from his role as Chair of the FIFA Ethics Committee.
John Connolly - Deloitte Global Chairman and UK Chief Executive
John Connolly is the Global Chairman of Deloitte and the Senior Partner and CEO of Deloitte UK. John also chairs the Deloitte Global Corporate Responsibility Council.
John has been with Deloitte throughout his career and has held a wide range of senior leadership positions in the UK and internationally. By background, John is a Corporate Finance Partner and he is now the Advisory Partner for a number of the firm’s most prominent clients.
John is a member of the International Business Advisory Council London, the Board of Trustees of the International Business Leaders Forum, the CBI Advisory Board, the Governing Body of the London Business School and the British American Business International Advisory Board. He is a member of one of the NSPCC’s Charity Boards.
James Cracknell - Olympic Gold medalist
James won his first Olympic Gold and the hearts of the nation in the legendary coxless four in Sydney 2000, together with Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and Tim Foster. After four years of intense training and determination, James repeated this incredible performance in Athens, winning his second Olympic Gold medal in a nail biting final with Matthew Pinsent, Steve Williams and Ed Coode.
James has now retired from rowing and is better known for pursuing extreme challenges such as his Sport Relief challenge – travelling from the UK under his own steam by rowing, cycling and swimming in only 10 days - and racing to the South Pole in December 2009 to commemorate the centenary of Scott's & Amunden's historic race.
Heather Hancock - Lead Partner for London 2012
Heather Hancock is the Managing Partner for Innovation and Brand in Deloitte, and a Consulting Partner. She is the firm’s Lead Client Service Partner for the London 2012 Olympic Games, and leads Deloitte’s global Olympic Services. Heather is a member of the UK Executive and the firm’s diversity champion for disability. Alongside her leadership of our services on the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, Heather’s consulting work focuses on: public sector strategy; start-ups of new public bodies; and complex public:private development programmes.
Heather has a first class degree in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge. She is a Trustee of The Prince’s Trust, Governor of Giggleswick School, and chairs the BBC’s independent Rural Affairs Committee.
John Kerr - Managing Partner, Talent at Deloitte
John Kerr is Managing Partner, Talent at Deloitte. In that role, he is responsible for Deloitte’s 11,000 people in the UK, including over 1,000 new graduates the firm recruits every year. John is a Consulting partner in the firm, where he leads our relationships with major clients in Aerospace and Defence. He has significant experience in a number of overseas markets, including China, India, Brazil, Russia, the Middle East and all of the major Western European economies.
John is married with five children and his wife says he is obsessed with sport of all kinds, but especially football, rugby and golf.
Other judges will be announced when confirmed, with their profiles appearing here.