Britain's best appointed to WheelPower's Executive Council
6 January 2010by Paul Rushton
The listing was posted by WheelPower - British Wheelchair Sport - News
Rod Jones, chairman of the Drivers Jonas Charitable Foundation (DJCF), and Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Britain's greatest Paralympic athlete, are to join the Executive Council of WheelPower.
The charity WheelPower acts as the national disability sports organisation to provide, promote and develop opportunities for more people to participate in recreational and competitive wheelchair sport. Based at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, which is recognised worldwide as the birthplace of the Paralympic movement, WheelPower will be seeking to maximise its aims for the Paralympics coming home in 2012.
Martin McElhatton, chief executive of WheelPower, said: "WheelPower is delighted to welcome Rod Jones from Drivers Jonas and Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson as new members of our Executive Council. Their wealth of knowledge and experience will be a great addition to the charity and help us to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to enjoy the tremendous benefits of participation in sport. It is vital to have a Board with a range of skills and Rod and Tanni will certainly be an asset to WheelPower in the future."
Rod Jones set up the DJCF in 2000 and has been its chairman since. Its purpose is to encourage DJ personnel to support community and charitable causes. Throughout its UK offices DJ has a number of causes it pursues including providing volunteers for literacy and numeracy support in inner city schools and continues its annual business challenges for local pupils.
DJ's preferred charity is WheelPower and has committed to providing at least 50 chairs for the Wheel Appeal which aims to raise £6m to provide 2,012 specialised sports wheelchairs by 2012.
Rod has been at DJ for more than 41 years, currently working as a part time consultant. In his time he was head of valuation, set up an office in Germany and from 1995 to 2000 was chairman of the partnership.
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson is Britain?s best-known Paralympic athlete, having performed at the very top in wheelchair racing from the 100 metres up to the marathon. Tanni's career has seen her participate in every major international competition including 5 Paralympic Games winning 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 gold. Together with six gold medals in the London Marathon and numerous British and World Records, this makes Tanni a true iconic figure in British and Paralympic sport.
Tanni developed her passion for sport at Stoke Mandeville and comments on her appointment: "I am delighted to be joining WheelPower at this exciting time. I started both my national and international career at Stoke Mandeville and it offers great opportunities for athletes at all levels and I am keen to see it go from strength to strength in the future".