CEO's retirement: “I will be forever proud to have played a part"
Barry Horne MBE says he will “be forever proud to be associated with the charity’s vision for fairness in sport and activity”. This comes in the week he officially announces his retirement as our Chief Executive.
Barry, at the helm since May 2010, will leave the role at the end of 2022, with the new successful person taking the position from January 2023. He has led the charity to be renowned as the leading voice for disabled people in sport and activity. Established in 1998 and now a thriving charity, Barry has secured and strengthened many partnerships that will have an everlasting impact.
Barry was recognised in the 2022 New Year’s Honours with an MBE for services to inclusivity in sport. It came following his part in transforming the small organisation into a team of 30.
With his passion to truly make a difference, he has ensured more disabled people are genuinely represented at every level.
Born in Rotherham, and living in Nottingham for four decades, Barry‘s early career in the third sector included rights advice and campaigning on low income, homelessness and housing. He moved into local government, where he worked his way up to lead the East Midlands Local Government Association as well as the Regional Assembly. For seven years, he worked for Nottingham City Council as a Corporate Director responsible for Environment and Regeneration.
He became the second person in our charity’s Chief Executive role in 2010. Now emphasising his plan to truly ‘retire’ after such a successful career, Barry said:
“It’s been a massive decision to step down from the best job I’ve ever had. But it really was only a matter of time once I’d passed 60. Some reflection during the COVID pandemic helped my wife, Jane, and I to re-think our priorities. Every job I’d ever had before lasted six or seven years so over 12 years shows how much I’ve loved being here. I really do feel like we’ve achieved a lot together in that time.
“People ask me about my ‘retirement plan’ and I answer – genuinely, the plan is to live up to the word - retire. We have a camper van, great friends, and family and lots of places to see. Once our youngest is clear of university we plan to spend a few years living in Ireland too.
“I’ve had the incredible privilege to work with such wonderful people. You can feel the energy and commitment, but what could be missed from the outside is a wicked undercurrent sense of humour that is never far from the surface! Our time together as a team is always valued. I will take with me many stories from our staff away days, unveiling new qualities in the least expected colleagues.
“I have so many fond memories and it’s hard to pick one stand-out achievement. But co-creating impactful programmes like Get Out Get Active is up at the top. Seeing once inactive people enjoy being active in their way all over the country is a real highlight.
“We were seeing such progress before the pandemic and I have no doubt, we can get it back on track in the coming months. I’ll miss connecting our powerful insight and expertise with the challenges faced by disabled people every day. I always believed that sport and activity were the answer to so many challenges. I now know it.
“I’ll always be active personally and of course, watching the team and charity thrive from afar. But it’s time to let the next generation(s) of talented professionals, and especially, talented disabled professionals, to take us to the next level. We must achieve our vision - fairness for disabled people in sport and activity – an ambition that I’ll forever be proud to be associated with.”
Sam Orde, Chair at Activity Alliance, said:
“There is no doubt that Barry’s passion for fairness across sport and activity has helped us to be the charity we are today. Not only does he make time for his team but takes people’s lived experiences and makes it his mission to change attitudes and challenge the status quo.
“Barry will be hard to replace and we will miss him. We know whoever takes on Barry’s role in the future, will bring the same drive for change as he did for more than 12 years. We wish him well in his retirement.”
The new Chief Executive position will be promoted in July 2022. Read more on our work and values.
Listen to Barry talk about his life and career on episode 77 of The Drive Phase Podcast
