MCC hoping to improve diversity by reducing power of members to elect committee
The Marylebone Cricket Club are aiming to reduce the power of members to elect their powerful main committee in an attempt to increase the diversity of the club’s decision-making body.
A special general meeting will be held on Oct 15, and papers were sent to members on Friday outlining the reasons why the club want to modernise the governance structure and increase the number of committee members from BAME backgrounds.
Currently, just one out of 21 members of the MCC’s main committee is from a BAME background (not including president Kumar Sangakkara). There are also just three women on the committee. The club want to reduce the committee to 12 and scrap the system of the 18,000-strong membership voting on candidates. Instead, it would like a nominations committee to interview prospective candidates and make recommendations to the main committee, with successful candidates then put forward to the membership for ratification. The move will meet resistance from members who want to retain voting rights over who serves on the committee.
“Now is the time to modernise our committee and make it more effective, which means changing the way we appoint members, to move away from direct election to a system whereby we have a nomination group that interviews and conducts a proper process,” said Gerald Corbett, the chairman. “The big win is we will expand the pool in which we fish. There are a lot of members at the moment who do not want to stand and be beaten in a public ballot in front of 18,000 people.
“In a confidential process, we will expand that pool and increase the number of candidates.
“Inevitably, we also have some members of the committee who do not pull their weight. Under the new system, the new nomination group would not repropose them after they have served their three years.
“At the moment the system lacks rigour. It makes it impossible to balance the committee and make it diverse with the right skills on it.”
Corbett also believes the changes are necessary to comply with governance rules introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board. The MCC sit outside the system of financial handouts for the counties, but do apply to the ECB to host major matches so believe they need to comply with the regulations and have a more diverse board in time for the next round of bidding for England matches.
“We have been working on a diversity and inclusion strategy. We think diversity of governance is an important part of running the club and we want to improve that,” said Guy Lavender, the chief executive.
Corbett, as chairman, would chair the nominations committee. The members will vote for four independent roles on the nominations committee.
