Swanson takes charge at Chance to Shine

Chance to Shine has appointed Luke Swanson as its chief executive, replacing Wasim Khan who took over at Leicestershire at the start of the year.

Swanson joins Chance to Shine from Pearson, an education company, where he held a range of senior roles including corporate affairs director, chief transformation officer and chief product officer. He is a non-executive director of the Economist Group and previously worked in communications and campaigning at Diageo, Business in the Community and the Prince's Trust. He has been involved in cricket for many years as a player, coach and Chance to Shine supporter.

Swanson's first job will be to find new sponsors for the charity's Schools and Street programmes, following the end of Chance to Shine's contracts with Brit and Barclays respectively.

The two Chance to Shine programmes cost around £5million to run each year. Sport England continues its funding of the charity's work in secondary schools; while the ECB has committed an annual £1.25m investment for Chance to Shine until 2017.

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King co-founded Chance to Shine with broadcaster Mark Nicholas and bat manufacturer Duncan Fearnley in 2005 with the aim of re-introducing cricket to children at state schools. To date, it has given 2 million young people a chance to play.