Volunteer Department Team

Gerry Reilly

Responsibilities

Poomsae Referee Department, Chair

Gerry brings over 30 years of experience in Taekwondo to this role, as a student, competitor, coach, referee and tournament organiser, as well as experience as a senior executive in the IT industry where he is currently Chief Technology Officer of Health Data Research UK.

Glen Culbert

Responsibilities

Poomsae Referee Department, Referee Director

Glen has 37 years of Taekwondo experience, as a student, European level competitor, coach, tournament organiser and 15 years as an international Poomsae referee, judging at the highest levels throughout the world.

Carolina Barros

Responsibilities

Poomsae Referee Department, Education & Progression Manager

Carolina has 37 years experience in Martial Arts – 30 of those in Taekwondo – as a student and club instructor in Spain.
Carolina has also competing in Kyorugi and Poomsae.
Since 2010, she has been a Poomsae referee, judging in the UK since 2017.
Currently a 1st Class National referee.

Sian Reilly

Responsibilities

Poomsae Referee Department, Marketing Manager

Sian brings 18 years of Taekwondo experience including as a Poomsae and Kyorugi Referee.
Sian’s experience for this department role is supported by her MSc in Digital Marketing and Analytics and BA (Hons) Business Management degrees.

Gemma Biescas

Responsibilities

Poomsae Performance Department, Chair

Gemma brings to the role as Chair a wealth of knowledge and experience within all areas of Poomsae, Para-Poomsae and Freestyle gained from over 36 years within Taekwondo. Gemma has been a GB Sparring World Level athlete, and a GB European Poomsae Athlete and as the former Head Poomsae Coach for Great Britain, for more than a decade she has worked with athletes and coaches from grassroots development right through to producing World Championship winning medal success.

Della O'Horo

Responsibilities

Poomsae Performance Department, Squad Logistics Manager

Della has an extensive operational background within her professional career which she brings to the position as Operations Manager. Over the last two years Della has played an important role as an official chaperone to the national team at World and European Poomsae Championships. A 6th Dan Black Belt with over 30 years of experience of Taekwondo, she is also a qualified national referee and a current member of the National Poomsae Squad.

Chi Lai

Responsibilities

Poomsae Performance Team Manager

Chi has been involved Taekwondo for the best part of 35 years.
Balancing a hectic work/life schedule; Chi splits his time and responsibilities with family, working as an IT applications manager for a large London based organisation, running a very successfully Taekwondo club and performing duties as one of the National high performance Poomsae coach

Tom Stammer

Responsibilities

Sport Referee Department, Chair

Tom has many years’ experience at Board level in both industry and in Taekwondo, which combined with his knowledge as a World Taekwondo Class 1 International Referee makes him a good fit for the Chair role and the future activities of this new department

Rick Simpson

Responsibilities

Sport Referee Department, Operations Manager

Rick is again an International Referee with great experience of working in the International and National Taekwondo worlds. His skills, gained through many years working in a business environment, and enthusiasm in driving the operational functions of this new department will be invaluable in the coming period

Jodie Sinden

Responsibilities

Sport Referee Department - Referee Director

Jodie has been involved in taekwondo for 20 years now and a referee for 10. Since becoming an International Referee in 2017, Jodie has refereed at several Grand Prix, European and World Championships and was shortlisted in the top 50 for the 2020 Olympic Games

Neil Parsley

Responsibilities

Sport Performance Department - Chair

Neil brings 30+ years’ experience of grass roots and professional sport working as a performance consultant for premiership football and England rugby clubs as well as supporting GB Taekwondo’s Strength & Conditioning program for 5 years
Neil runs a successful high performance gym business.
His energy, curiosity and huge amounts of enthusiasm will help develop a strategic plan that will catapult British Taekwondo to another level.

Steve Jennings

Responsibilities

Sport Performance Department - Operations Manager

Steve is one of GB Taekwondo’s best known Olympic medal winning coaches with more than 12 years’ experience in elite level international sport. Steve’s roots are firmly in grass roots club development and his outstanding self-discipline, and leadership will help drive a new strategic plan for British Taekwondo’s Cadet, Under 21 and university programs.

Donna Thomas

Responsibilities

Sport Performance Department - Squads Manager

Over 25 years of experience in the Hotel Industry working for well know brands such as Holiday Inn
In Taekwondo, Donna has had voluntary roles at the Grand Prix London 2017 and World Championship Manchester 2019 and offers a vast experience in logistics and event organisation such as the Kixstar Open and gala dinners.
 Donna is also a mother of 2 taekwondo athletes as well as a Safeguarding Officer and Director at Kixstar Dragon Taekwondo

Daniel Flesher

Responsibilities

Sport Performance Department - Teams Manager

In Taekwondo for 19 years, Daniel has coached at club level for a decade.
From 2018 he got involved within the British Taekwondo Cadet Programme,  coaching at Cadet European and World Championship events as well as been part of the U21 Coaching Team at the 2019 U21 European Championships.
Dan was heavily involved in developing and delivering British

Mark Yell

Responsibilities

Martial Art Performance Department - Chair

Mark Yell has a successful career of delivering large business focused IT transformations, defining corporate IT strategy, directing international commercial software development programs, and delivering consultancy services. These achievements have demanded clear, customer focused, innovative technical leadership, reinforced with technical capabilities in business transformation, risk management, corporate governance, enterprise architecture, solution development and delivery.
Mark has broad industrial experience gained in the Water Industry (UU), Aerospace & Defense (BAE Systems), Chemical Process and Commercial Software industries (Aspen Technology). Mark is the Chief Architect for United Utilities PLC, a FTSE 100 company, responsible for defining and delivery of strategy to enable it to deliver its digital transformation ambitions.
Mark has a PhD and BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leeds and is a Fellow of the British Computing Society.
Mark holds a 4th Dan in Taekwondo and specializes in Martial Science and Pressure Points.

John Stopforth

Responsibilities

Martial Art Performance Department Education Manager

Education has been at the heart of John's career for over 15 years, since leaving the full-time world of Digital content creation (Film and Games) in 2007, he has spent his life learning and teaching in the 16-19 Further Education sector with Doncaster College and lately since merger with North Lindsey College DN Colleges Group. John is a fully qualified teacher with Cert Ed LVL5 and currently studying for a master's degree in Business at Level 7.

In his current role as Director of Curriculum, he is responsible for developing strategic pathways to give the learners the best opportunity to gain employment and reach higher skills to unlock earning potential.
Wherever possible he has tried to combine the passion for teaching with the passion for Taekwondo.
John has been training in Taekwondo since he was 10 years old and currently holds British Taekwondo and Chung Do Kwan 6th Dan.