Richard Vaughan is a seasoned sports management executive with over fifteen years of experience as a CEO in both the sports and digital industries. His career achievements are not limited to the boardroom; Richard is also a distinguished former professional athlete. As a double Olympic badminton player and former World No. 6 from Caerphilly, Wales, Richard was the British No. 1 for a decade. He has won numerous medals at the European and Commonwealth Badminton Championships and claimed 21 international titles.

Richard's dedication to developing young talent led him to establish the Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy, nurturing many top European players. When Richard started the CEO role with Badminton Ireland, the Academy was transitioned to the Mid Glamorgan Region Junior Squad, and in 2022, the assets from this Regional Squad were transferred to Welsh Badminton, where they now support an annual grant program for young athletes.

As CEO of Badminton Ireland, Richard doubled the organisation's turnover and created a robust high-performance system in partnership with Trinity College. This initiative produced multiple Olympians, World Junior No. 1 players, and European medallists. Under his leadership, Ireland also partnered with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to pilot the new BWF Coach Education system and the Shuttle Time school program, both of which were highly successful.

During his six-year tenure at Squash Australia, Richard spearheaded a rebranding effort and launched an integrated digital platform that increased membership from 11,000 to 20,000 fully paid members and overall participation from 110,000 to 280,000. He also established a high-performance system that led to Australia topping the squash medal table at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and winning nine medals at the 2019 World Squash Championships. A new National Squash Centre was opened in 2018.

In 2021, Richard founded The Sports Consultancy, where he has worked with various sports organisations on strategy, branding, and high-performance. His notable roles include:

• Vice President of the Badminton World Federation
• Interim Chief Operating Officer at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, the largest harbour in the Southern Hemisphere, overseeing a 25-hectare site with a turnover of AUD 19 million
• Securing a AUD 3 million sponsorship from Hancock Prospecting for Artistic Swimming
• Establishing a new high-performance program for Artistic Swimming at the Western Australia Institute of Sport, leading to an all-time best 8th place finish at the 2023 World Championships
• Non-Executive Director at Equestrian Australia and Chair of the Finance and Risk Committee