New Year sparks change at Chance to Shine

15th January 2015 | Mallory Gray

• Cricket charity appoints new chief executive

Chance to Shine has started 2015 with a bang, making three announcements today (Tuesday 13 January).

The leading youth cricket charity named its new chief executive, outlined its new mission for 2020 and unveiled a new brand.

Chance to Shine has appointed Luke Swanson as chief executive, replacing Wasim Khan who joined Leicestershire County Cricket Club at the start of the year.

Luke joins Chance to Shine from Pearson, the world’s leading education company, where he held a range of senior roles including corporate affairs director, chief transformation officer and chief product officer. He is a non-executive director of The Economist Group and previously worked in communications and campaigning at Diageo, Business in the Community and The Prince’s Trust. He has been involved in cricket for many years as a player, coach and Chance to Shine supporter.

In a second announcement today, Chance to Shine outlined its new mission to supporters: to spread the power of cricket in schools and communities, inspiring one million more young people by 2020.The grassroots cricket charity's ambitious target is part of a five-year strategy, starting in October, which includes a new £25million fundraising appeal.

Chance to Shine was launched in 2005 as an initiative aimed at reversing the decline of cricket in state schools. Less than 10 per cent of them were playing any form of meaningful, competitive cricket and the country's traditional summer sport was at risk of dying out.

Now in its tenth year, Chance to Shine has successfully brought cricket to 2.5million children in 11,000 state schools across England and Wales. However, millions of young people in the state sector and particularly in inner-city areas still do not have the same opportunity to play cricket as their peers in private schools.