John Crate

John has considerable administrative and management experience in rugby matters at both club and CB levels. This is also true in his business career which includes time spent in senior positions in marketing and general management.

He was a Club Secretary for fourteen years and for a large part of that time he doubled up as first XV Team Manager. He experienced rugby at levels five down to eight, so he has a good understanding of the game at a variety of clubs and standards. During this time he took a break from the Hon. Sec. role for three years when he was his club’s President. Prior to becoming Secretary he held a number of minor committee positions at his club.

Since 2001 he has sat on the Surrey Competitions committee and is currently Vice Chair and Treasurer. As a member of this committee he has learnt a lot about the workings of clubs and understand the day-today issues we all face.

During this time he had several seasons as a league secretary and is particularly proud of the part he played in the development and introduction of electronic match cards, culminating in the writing and delivering of regional training seminars for the roll out to level seven and eight clubs in both the London & Southeast and Southwest divisions. He is currently the county discipline secretary, a position he has held for six years having sat as a panellist for two years before that.

Paula Carter

Paula’s executive career has covered private sector and public companies and large, complex and regulated organisations with multiple stakeholders. She has worked at the most senior level in all the major British Television Companies during a time of transition from a linear terrestrial to an online digital ecology.

Her non-executive roles include the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Parliamentary Ombudsman. Paula is currently a non-executive director of the Port of London Authority, be the business, a business driven productivity movement, and Chairman of the Ofcom Advisory Committee for England. Paula now sits on the RFU Board of Directors, is Chair of the Governance Standing Committee and Chair of the Head Injury Prevention and Management Sub Committee.

Paula’s consultancy career included roles in the Cabinet Office and advising a Parliamentary Committee as well as working for the Communications Regulator, Ofcom and the Royal Opera House. She was a rugby referee for 10 years, reaching level 7 and refereeing on the London Premier List. She also joined the Surrey Disciplinary Committee in 2013 and sat on panels for the RFU and European Premier Club Rugby.