Alliance Leisure grows senior leadership team with John Leaver Board promotion
Marketing specialist John Leaver has been promoted to Alliance Leisure’s Development Board as the company strengthens its leadership to deliver in excess of £500m of leisure projects across the UK.
Promoted from Head of Marketing, Leaver’s new role as Marketing & Framework Director will see him work alongside fellow directors Sarah Watts, Paul Cluett, Tom Fairey, James Foley and Paul Woodford to position the business as the UK’s leading leisure development partner. Leaver’s new position leads to a change in title for Paul Woodford who assumes the role of Strategic Engagement Director.
Leaver joined the business in 2006 as an account manager following a successful career in both public and private leisure. As Head of Alliance Digital, Leaver spearheaded the digital transformation of the company and in 2018, he and Strategic Engagement Director Paul Woodford established TA6, Alliance Leisure’s results-driven, marketing and training brand providing sales, marketing and retention services to leisure operators. The TA6 brand has gone from strength to strength and now primarily supports Alliance Leisure projects through a range of services including feasibility, branding, customer engagement, launch campaigns, impact sales and people development.
Sarah Watts, CEO, Alliance Leisure
In his new role, Leaver will drive the marketing strategy to ensure the continued growth of Alliance, which has delivered 220 developments to date representing more than £300m of investment in local authority leisure facilities.
Maximising on the success of the UK Leisure Framework (UKLF) is core to Leaver’s new role. Working with Denbighshire Leisure Ltd (DLL), the UKLF has the potential to deliver up to £2bn of leisure projects across the UK.
John Leaver
In 2022, Leaver implemented Alliance Leisure’s new wellbeing strategy, which will further align the company’s vision and values with its wellbeing agenda to promote the health and wellbeing of the team, which has grown five-fold in the last five years. Initiatives so far have included a new employment assistance programme to support colleagues with their mental health alongside move challenges to encourage physical activity.
“Workplace wellbeing is more than just fitness trackers and health apps. We will continue to prioritise the team’s mental and physical wellbeing through shared employee values, good communication, clarity of roles and responsibilities, and an honesty and open approach to how we do business.”