Michael moved to become Chair of the BGC in April 2024, having been appointed as the BGC’s first Chief Executive back in December 2019.

He was previously CEO of UK Music, the umbrella organisation that represents the commercial music industry, and was a member of the Government’s Creative Industries Council.

Before then, Michael was Member of Parliament for Barnsley East for seven years from 2010, during which he served in the Shadow Cabinet including as the Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Michael spent most of the previous decade working in Whitehall in a variety of senior roles as a Special Advisor, including at No. 10 Downing Street as Chief Political Spokesman for the Prime Minister.

As well as chairing the BGC, Michael is a Director and Board member at Nottingham Forest Football Club in the English Premier League, having been Patron and then Board member at their charity, the Nottingham Forest Community Trust. He is also a member of the Advisory Council for the Tourism Alliance and is a Senior Advisor at Brunswick.

Born and brought up in Doncaster in South Yorkshire, Michael has had a lifelong love of sport, in particular football, cricket and horse racing. In 2020 he was named by the Racing Post as one of the ‘top ten most influential people’ in racing.

Michael holds a B.A in Politics from the University of Nottingham and was awarded a Fellowship from the Leeds Conservatoire (formerly the Leeds College of Music).

Grainne was appointed CEO of the BGC in September 2024, bringing a wealth of experience from her career in the regulated betting and gaming industry.

She has held a number of senior roles in the land-based and online sectors, joining from global betting brand Entain, where she spent nearly 10 years, including as the firm’s Group Corporate Affairs Director.

Grainne brings a passion for increasing the number of high profile women in the industry, establishing the international arm of Global Gaming Women, where she is a board member, and where she currently oversees the charity’s expansion to the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

During her career at Entain, Grainne led the company's activities and relationships with government and the public sector and successfully spearheaded the company rebrand from GVC to Entain. She was also a board member of the Entain Foundation and created and delivered Entain's multi award winning global safer gambling strategy, Changing for the Bettor.

She was previously a special advisor to the UK government and studied at King's College London and Queen Mary University in London.

As the Chief Strategy Officer, Gary leads on communications, government relations and membership.

Gary joined the Betting and Gaming Council from the Association of British Bookmakers, and has previously held senior positions in corporate affairs for the Nationwide Building Society and Santander.

He has also worked as a Special Advisor and Chief of Staff for the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

As COO, Joff oversees operations, corporate governance support and membership.

Formerly a leader of of multi-million-pound educational organisations, Joff joined the executive team from the University of Exeter Students' Guild, where he formerly served as CEO.

Joff has led fundraising programmes and the management of trustees, having also worked as the CEO of Falmouth and Exeter Students' Union and Plymouth University Students' Union.

David joined the BGC in January 2022 with an outstanding career across both government and journalism, having previously worked in journalism for The Sun for over a decade before joining the Ministry of Defence.