This is Great British Bosses from Anything but Footy, the podcast where we profile the men and women responsible for running sport in this country, from grassroots participation to those medal moments at Olympic, Paralympic and elite level.

In this episode we speak to the man responsible for delivering one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. And, in 2022 it returns to England for the first time in 20 years when Birmingham will stage The Commonwealth Games.

Ian Reid is the CEO of Birmingham 2022 and describes the challenges his team has been faced with since agreeing to take over the staging of the event from Durban who were named as the original host city.

Despite the limited preparation time, Ian is confident the new Alexander Stadium and Sandwell Aquatics Centre will be ready in time, but expresses his disappointment at how the proposed athletes village in Perry Barr had to be scrapped. He confirmed the regeneration of the area will still go ahead but will not be ready for July 2022.

Ian also faces up to the lack of diversity on the Birmingham 2022 board, and whilst this inequality is being tackled, he commits to a diversity drive across all levels of the organisation and with the volunteer programme too.

This is Great British Bosses from Anything but Footy. If you like what you hear, and there’s 20 more episodes to catch up with, please subscribe and download and maybe even leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks!

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