Carol Doran

Telephone: 01908 312511 Email: gma@thegma.org.uk

Carol represents the Voluntary Sector.

During Carol’s career she has worked in I.T, as North UK Information Technology Manager for Digital Equipment Company (now Hewlett Packard), gaining a strong understanding of technology and the benefits it brings to a large range of industry sectors. She also managed large projects for DEC and a number of customers. After a career break, to raise her children, Carol became a volunteer at a local sports club raising £1.2 million in funding for the construction of a new clubhouse and new tractor/associated items.

Carol was then offered a position as National Facilities Manager for the Rugby Football League (RFL) managing the capital budget provided by Sport England. A focus of the facilities strategy was the improvement of the games natural turf pitches. Through this she became involved in the development of the Grounds and Natural Turf Improvement Programme (GaNTIP) working with the GMA, FA, ECB and Sport England to establish a partnership to support grassroot sports clubs to improve the quality and resilience of their pitches.

Since leaving the RFL Carol has worked as a consultant and completed work for the GMA analysing the data collected through GaNTIP, helping improve data collection and reporting systems to support the GMA, NGBs and Sport England to gain a better understanding of grassroot issues and develop approaches to better support groundsmen.

Carol feels that her understanding of grassroot clubs and the role grounds staff and volunteers play in making pitch sports possible means that she can represent the Voluntary Sector on the board of the GMA.