Meet the Team
HITESH PATEL
Executive Director
Hitesh joined the Coalition as Executive Director in April 2022 after almost two decades working in UK Civil Service where a large part of his career focused on sport at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). As Head of International Sport, Major Sports Events and Sports Integrity, he oversaw the UK’s engagement in international sport policy across areas including anti-corruption, anti-doping, match-fixing, governance, soft power and sport for development, representing the UK in various intergovernmental and multilateral settings including the Commonwealth, Council of Europe, EU, G20, OECD, UNESCO, UNODC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He played a leading role in the development of the ‘International Partnership against Corruption in Sport’ (IPACS) in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other international sports organisations, and helped develop the first UK Code for Sports Governance working with Sport England and UK Sport.Hitesh, who is originally from West Bromwich, led on the UK Government’s support for the programme of major sports events following the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, 2014 Tour de France Grand Depart, 2015 Rugby World Cup, 2017 IAAF and IPC World Championships, 2019 UCI Road World Championships and last year’s UEFA Euro 2020. He also worked as Head of Music, Publishing and Copyright at DCMS where he oversaw a key workstream on the economics of music streaming. Hitesh also holds a number of voluntary roles relating to sport for development, including Chair of Sport 4 Life UK, and trustee of the Tennis Foundation and the Albion Foundation, the charitable arm of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. He is Rapporteur to UNESCO’s International Convention against Doping in Sport, a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Governance Task Force, and also chaired WADA’s Independent Observer team at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
ERIN KIRBY
Administration & Logistics
Erin joined the Coalition team in 2020 and provides administration and logistics support across all work streams. Prior to joining, Erin spent 18 years at the Rugby Football Union working in rugby development where she supported 250+ staff working at the grass roots level within clubs, schools and universities.