Nick Wake

After attending the Piggott School at Wargrave in Berkshire, Nick galloped off to the University of East Anglia in Norwich where he gained a 2:1 BA Joint Honours in Economics and Social Studies, with German.

He began working life with Haymarket Publishing as Advertising Manager on Promotions and Incentives magazine, then went into the world of marketing services with CPM, a sales promotion agency in Thame near Oxford, working with clients such as Mercury telecommunications, the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Comet incentive services and Pedigree Petfoods. In 1993 Nick moved to the client side with Whitbread PLC, spending seven years in various retail-marketing roles across the Thresher, Marriott and David Lloyd Leisure brands.

His time with David Lloyd Leisure clubs had some connection with sport, but Nick wanted more and at the start of 2001 joined Sport England, the government agency responsible for funding sport in this country, as Head of Marketing. During his three years in this public sector role, Nick helped relaunch the Sport England website as major source of sports information, created a new positioning for the agency as “the nation’s biggest supporter” and developed the social marketing campaign “Everyday Sport” to encourage greater levels of exercise and activity among England’s population. Some of his experience was captured in a chapter for a book The Marketing of Sport, published in November 06, by Financial Times Prentice Hall.

When commuting began to pall, Nick found the opportunity to join Grass Roots, a business improvement company, based in his home town of Tring, irresistible. He works here as head of Marketing Communications.

Nick is a Chartered Marketer, a keen local cricketer and occasional golfer, and has two young children to help keep him fit. He is the Course Director for the College’s Certificate & Diploma in Sports Marketing.