The Board is made up of the below Directors:
Colin Graves CBE (Chair)
Colin Graves founded the Costcutter chain of convenience stores in 1986 and grew the company into a household name with more than 1,600 stores and annual sales of £640m, before selling a 49% stake to Bibby Line Group in 2007, and the remaining 51% to Bibby in November 2011.
The Club has always been special to Colin and alongside a group of three other Yorkshire businessmen, he provided financial assistance to the Club in 2002 and enabled it to purchase the freehold of Headingley Cricket Ground.
Colin went on to be executive chair of the Club from 2012 to 2015, was elected deputy chair of the England and Wales Cricket Board Limited in 2013 and was then appointed as its chair from 2015 to 2020. He was awarded a CBE in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to cricket. Colin was appointed to the Board and as chair on 8 February 2024. Colin is also chair of the Board’s nominations committee and a member of the remuneration committee, and he serves as a director of Headingley Investments Limited.
Colin was appointed to the Board and as Chair in February 2024.
Ian Townsend (Member-nominated Non-Executive Director and Deputy Chair)
Ian is the one director currently serving on the Board that is elected from the Club’s membership. He is a chartered accountant who has served on many boards, including public companies, sporting organisations and government grant committees. He worked for KPMG before developing his own accounting practice in Harrogate. Ian led two flotations on the London Stock Exchange, including the reverse takeover of Sheffield United. He served as chief executive officer at Sheffield United plc for almost two years and served as a member of the Club’s members’ committee (now the members’ representative group) for a number of years.
Ian was appointed to the Board on 27 April 2024 and sits on the Board’s nominations and audit and risk committees. He was appointed as Deputy Chair on 24 February 2026.
Sanjay Patel MBE (Group Chief Executive Officer)
Sanjay is a lifelong cricket fan and has been involved in the game since an early age. He played club cricket till he was 40 and represented Scotland at national and all age levels.
Sanjay started his career in the drinks industry working in various brand, commercial and strategy roles for companies such as Diageo and Heineken. He joined the ECB in 2015 as Chief Commercial Officer, where he ran the revenue, audience, event, digital and data side of the business. Under his leadership the ECB doubled its revenues and returned cricket back to the BBC.
In 2019, Sanjay became Managing Director of The Hundred. Sanjay led the development of The Hundred from inception and delivered the first three years of the tournament. He left the ECB in September 2023, following which he worked as an advisor and consultant in sport. In December 2025, Sanjay was awarded an MBE for services to cricket.
Sanjay was appointed to the Board as a non-executive director on 8 February 2024 and moved to an executive director position when he was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 2 September 2024.
Sanjeev Gandhi
Sanjeev is an experienced executive and non-executive director, with a background in the media, technology and philanthropy sectors. He is an independent non-executive director at 450plc, a media and technology acquisition vehicle, and a trustee of the Fidelity Foundation. He is also a former non-executive director of the Hundred board of directors at the ECB. He founded and was chief executive officer of Reach to Teach, an educational NGO based in India. Other previous roles include director of strategy and distribution as part of the European start up team at Yahoo!, head of strategic development at BBC Worldwide and a senior consultant in the global telecoms group at Coopers and Lybrand (PWC).
Sanjeev was appointed to the Board on 8 February 2024. He is chair of the Board’s audit and risk committee, sits on the nominations committee and is also a member of the remuneration committee (having served as chair of that committee from 26 February 2024 to 13 August 2024). Sanjeev is also the Board’s lead on equity, diversity and inclusion and non-executive chair of Headingley Investments Limited.
Katherine Sciver-Brunt OBE
Katherine was born in South Yorkshire and is a former professional cricketer, having represented England from 2004 to 2023. Her career is celebrated for her exceptional skill, longevity and the significant impact she has had on women’s cricket, both in England and globally. Katherine was instrumental in England’s successes in various international tournaments and accumulated impressive statistics across all formats over her career. She has received numerous individual awards and accolades, including being named England women’s international cricketer of the year multiple times.
Katherine was appointed to the Board on 23 July 2024 and also sits on the Board’s nominations committee. Katherine took a period of maternity leave in 2025 following the birth of her son.
Jane Ellison
Born in Bradford, Jane’s executive career spans the United Nations, British politics and commerce. Jane worked for the John Lewis partnership for over 20 years in various management roles, before entering parliament in 2010. As a government minister, Jane led on legislation including the introduction of plain packaging of tobacco, “sugar tax” and mitochondrial donation. Jane joined the World Health Organisation in 2017 and served on the leadership team in Geneva for 5 years as Executive Director, External Relations and Governance.
Since returning to the UK, Jane has served as a non-executive director on the Board of NHS England and the Behavioural Insights Team, as well as serving as trustee for various charities including Action on Smoking and Health, and Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.
Jane’s interest in sport and the Club was nurtured at an early age with family tales of cricketing prowess in the Bradford leagues of the 50s and 60s. An enthusiastic supporter of the growth of women’s and girls’ cricket, she is a member of Upper Wharfedale Cricket Club and a keen walker.
Jane was appointed to the Board and as chair of the remuneration committee on 8 July 2025. Jane also sits on the nominations committee (having been appointed to serve on the committee on 28 January 2026) and is the Board’s safeguarding lead.