My name is Richard Vaughan, I have been playing badminton for 32 years and I love the sport.

I have been involved in badminton at every level of the game, I was a former world number seven singles player, double Olympian, coach and CEO.

For the last five years I have been a Non-Executive Director at Badminton Europe, where as Chair of High Performance I have taken the concept of the European Centre of Excellence to one of reality, with 26 member associations having players/coaches who have benefited from the centre including over twenty players outside Europe and two players from other Continents on a permanent basis.

Previously I was the CEO for Badminton Ireland, where during my time we:

• Significantly increased funding for the federation through commercial sponsorship and increased government grants;
• Dramatically increased participation;
• Launched a successful high performance centre, which included several top players included Nhat Nguyen;
• And worked with the BWF to pilot and develop both the BWF Shuttletime programme and the BWF Coach Education system;
• Supported a number of development projects in Africa e.g. Uganda and Lesotho for example.

In this period I also managed the BWF Road to London and Rio Projects for Badminton Africa helping the African talent with Olympic qualification strategy, ensuring they could access funding and find good training locations across a eight year period.

For the past four years I have worked in multiple sports and I would love the opportunity to give back to my own sport that has given me so much. I would like to make sure badminton is played around the world in every corner, for generations to come.

So how am I going to do that?

• Focus on the future, ensuring the sport is interactive, embracing technology to link the sport to the fan base.  Making the game more relevant and exciting for future generations.
• Consolidate the sports Olympic position and ensure it thrives in the future;
• Maintain high standards around governance and integrity
• With LA 28 around the corner there is a wonderful opportunity to expand our audience in the US, a relatively untapped market for the sport.Ivy league universities are key to the US market. I really see great potential.

I love sport, I love badminton and I come to the sport with a multi layered understanding, with every angle covered and I thank you for your support.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions  (phone) +447940548620 (Linkedin) RichardLVaughan (Skype) VaughanRichard (Twitter) RichardLVaughan.

Yours Sincerely

Richard Vaughan