The Trustees

Baroness Howells of St David: Foundation Patron

Baroness Howells of St David, OBE was the first black woman to sit on the GLC's Training Board; the first female member of the Court of Governors of the University of Greenwich and was the Vice Chair at the London Voluntary Services Council.

Baroness Rosalind Patricia-Anne Howells was born in 1931 and was raised to the peerage as Baroness Howells of St David, of Charlton in the London Borough of Greenwich in 1999.

She was educated at St Joseph's Convent in Grenada, South West London College and City College in Washington DC. In 1955, she married John Charles Howells and they have two daughters.

Her career background includes being the Director of the Greenwich Racial Equality Council as well as a Community and Equal Opportunities Worker. Baroness Howells is a trustee of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, and served as the unofficial advisor to the Lawrence family.

She has worked with the London Voluntary Services Council, Carnival Liaison Committee, and the Greater London Action in Race Equality and has been an active campaigner for justice in the field of race relations.

Jason Roberts MBE: Chair

Jason Roberts was born 25 January 1978 in Park Royal West London.

Jason comes from a long line of professional footballers. His Uncles Cyrille and Dave Regis as well as his other Uncle Otis Roberts were all professional footballers.

Jason started out as a trainee at Chelsea under the guidance of Graham Rix. After leaving Chelsea Jason joined Hayes where his Uncle Cyrille and Les Ferdinand had begun their professional careers.

West Bromwich Albion signed Jason for a club record fee of £2 million during the 2000 close season. His direct approach, aggressive style and goal-awareness, allied to hard work, good ball control and spirited endeavour has made him a handful for any defender. (Jason always gives 100 per cent effort and has scored some fine goals.)

Jason had his transfer request granted by the West Bromwich Albion in July 2003. Jason went out on loan to Portsmouth FC for the 2003-04 season but secured a move to Wigan Athletic in January 2004 with a contract to June 2007.

During Jason’s spell with Wigan Athletic, he scored a total of 103 goals and helped Wigan to a top 10 Premiership finish and a place in the Carling Cup final in 2005 / 06 season. Jason also had the honour of wearing the Wigan Athletics’ captain’s armband on a number of occasions.

Having achieved what he wanted at Wigan, Jason felt the time was right to move on and joined Blackburn Rovers in July 2006 on a 4 four-year contract. Jason suffered a number of injuries through the 2006/07 season, however he repaid his Manager Mark Hughes faith in him when he opened his goal scoring account with Blackburn at the semi final of the FA Cup against Chelsea. His 64th minute equaliser breathed new life into Blackburn Rovers. This was Jason’s first domestic start since October 2006.

Jason is proud to have represented Grenada in international football and is one of two full time professional players in the squad. Jason represented Grenada in the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers.

Otis Roberts : Chief Executive

Otis Roberts was born in London in 1968, to Grenadian parents and is the youngest of 6 children. Otis joined the Fulham’s Youth Team where he spent his trainee years under the stewardship of Alan Taylor.

At 19 Otis won a scholarship to Essex College in Baltimore where he undertook a sports science course. Following the successful completion of his course Otis returned to England where for a short period he played for Crystal Palace.

Otis moved to Belgium where he played for 3 seasons as a professional player. It was in Antwerp where Otis first got the bug for developing community-based programmes and where he established and delivered his first soccer school.

In 1994 Otis moved to the Far East where he played for a number of Hong Kong Clubs and for a short period in Malaysia. It was while in the Far East that Otis was first capped for Grenada. His successful international career resulted in a total of 35 caps for Grenada.

Otis returned to London, after a short spell with Norwich, Otis joined non-league club Hendon and Harrow Borough FC, where he also gained his coaching licence and pioneered a Football in the Community Scheme. He was subsequently headhunted by Fulham FC where he spent some time developing and delivering schemes in both Fulham and Lambeth.

It was while at Fulham that Otis came to the attention of Proactive the Manchester based sports agency. Otis spent 6 years as part of the Proactive Football division where he played a critical role in player representation. With his depth of knowledge he led on the development of the company’s London market.

In his new role as CEO of the Jason Roberts Foundation, Otis has undertaken a new direction while maximising and building on his experience and knowledge gained across a number of years and continents.

While in his new role Otis will continue to mentor and coach up and coming new players.

Siza Agha

Siza Agha is a practising barrister for 3 Raymond Buildings Barristers and is a criminal practitioner with particular expertise in large criminal cases. His current practice involves him in a number of organised crime cases that include: Operation Nail (leading junior in a conspiracy to defraud banks); Operation Minneola (Manufacture and supply of counterfeit passports – largest seizure in the UK); Operation Sleave (leading junior in a drugs case), Operation Themis (15 handed – selling drugs to undercover officers); R v Yilmaz (drugs – PII – Special counsel and abuse of process); R V Jacobs (Operation Trident case – supplying ammunition and firearms to undercover officers); R v D (abuse of process and policy of using CHIS’s); R v Okpala (multi handed murder case – anonymity of witnesses)

Siza is ranked as a specialist in crime and a leading junior (Chambers UK 2007).

Siza also has a postgraduate certificate in sports law and is member of the British Association of Sport and Law.

Andy Bell

Andy Bell was born in Rainford in St Helens, and is married to Tracey with four children.

Andy graduated from Nottingham University in 1987 with a first class degree in mathematics and then joined a major insurance company as an actuarial student. After a sabbatical in America coaching football and tennis, he qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1993.

Andy is now the chief executive of A J Bell, a Manchester based specialist SIPP administrator that he set up in 1995. A J Bell employs circa 300 people and has over £8bn of funds under administration.

Andy is an avid Everton fan and he is a major shareholder in St Helens Rugby League Club. Supporting both clubs is a regular pastime. Andy has been a governor at Kingswood College in Scarisbrick since early 2007, after he helped save the school from closing down by establishing a charitable trust.

Speaking about why he wants to be involved with the JRF:

"Sport provides a fantastic framework for the social development of children. By putting sport and children at the heart of everything the Jason Roberts Foundation does, it can truly make a difference to the lives of youngsters both in the UK and in Grenada."

John Devine

John graduated from the University of Sheffield and qualified as a solicitor in 2001 after training with Watson Burton.

He deals primarily with company, commercial and charity matters.
He has a wide experience in the preparation of commercial contracts, setting up joint ventures, advising on corporate issues and dealing with regulatory bodies.

He specialises particularly in the formation and regulation of both exempt and registered charities and is involved actively in sports law, acting for a number of professional clubs and individual sportsmen.

As well as being a trustee for The Jason Roberts Foundation. He is a trustee of The Great North Air Ambulance Service, Falcons Community Foundation, The McCrory Foundation.

Cyrille Regis

Cyrille Regis is well renowned as a legend in the football world. Beginning his career in 1977, Cyrille became one of the leading strikers in English football in the early 1980’s. He made his name as a powerful, quick striker with First Division West Bromwich Albion.

In 1979, Cyrille was voted PFA Young Player of the Year and the Midlands Player of the Year in 1978 and 1982. Cyrille built a successful 19 year career in English football, winning five full caps for England, three B caps and six Under 21 caps. Cyrille had many highlights in his career and was a scorer of spectacular goals. A move to Coventry City in 1984 proved him as one of England’s premier players when in 1987 Coventry won the FA Cup over Tottenham Hotspur.

As one of the few Black players in his early career, Cyrille became a pioneer and role model for many other young hopefuls from all backgrounds. His resilience, determination and drive on the pitch were admirable as he scored goal after goal.

Cyrille retired from professional football in the summer of 1996. Now a licensed FA Coach, he returned to West Bromwich as reserve team coach. In 1999, he moved to the agency world becoming a fully licensed FIFA Agent. He now works for the Stellar Group, looking after many premiership and league players, imparting his many years of wisdom and experience.

Cyrille was also recently awarded an MBE in the 2008 summer honours list.

Derek McDonald

Derek McDonald, who is married to Lynn, combines a very hectic family life with four children aged 20, 18, 12 and 10yrs with a successful business life.

Derek has been in financial services for over 25yrs and runs a practice within the St James's Place Wealth Management Group. Starting in 1983 after leaving an Engineering trade he has built a business in a highly competitive sector.

He comments that ' in the early 1980's the competition for clients was fierce and your talents were tested to the core, but those experiences built your character and I wouldn’t change them for the world'

Having an interest in football led the business to start advising profession footballers, managers and football clubs in a wide variety of financial area's and has an outstanding reputation in a niche market.

After a short period of engaging Jason Roberts as a client, Derek was invited to become a Trustee of the Foundation and brings a variety of skills to the table.

Derek has embraced the passion that Jason has for the Foundation and will continue to add value where ever he can.