Donald Kerr, 56, has been nominated by Bees United as its second supporter-elected director on the board of Brentford Football Club. He joins Bees United chair David Merritt, who became a BFC director last year.
Donald, who is Community Director on the BU board, will attend his first BFC board meeting next month, when he will replace Jon Gosling, who will be bidding farewell at his final board meeting.
Welcoming the nomination of Donald Kerr, David Merritt said he had the highest praise for the hard work Jon Gosling had put into his role on behalf of Brentford supporters over the past three years. “Jon has done a magnificent job for the football club and for its supporters," he said, "and the Bees United board would like to take this opportunity to thank him for all of his efforts."
Supporters who have yet to meet Donald Kerr – and the rest of the supporter-elected BU board – will be able to do so at a Bees United "Open House" meeting on 17 January in the Hive before and after the Notts County match. Further details will follow soon.
Highlighting that Donald Kerr would bring considerable new commercial expertise to the BFC board, David Merritt added that he would also strengthen relations between the BU and football club boards. “It is critical that BU is seen as strong, united and democratic,” he said, "so that it can pursue the strategies and actions needed to secure the long-term future of Brentford Football Club."
The latest BFC board nomination was in line with BU policy, he continued, that at least half of BU’s nominees on the BFC board were also supporter-elected members of the BU board.
Donald’s nomination, which was a unanimous choice of the BU board, would be ratified at the next Bees United AGM, he added. BFC chairman Greg Dyke and Finance Director Alan Bird are Bees United’s other two nominees on the BFC board.
Donald Kerr was elected to the BU board with David Merritt last year, shortly before he retired after 20 years as a director of JWT, one of the UK’s leading advertising agencies. “My role as a strategic planner was to help clients – all major household names – achieve their business ambitions by devising successful marketing and communication strategies for them,” he said.
Since joining the BU board, Donald has been heavily involved on a day-to-day basis with the club’s various roles in the community, work that he intends to continue alongside his new BFC director responsibilities. He has also been instrumental with others in bringing together the different organisations under the ‘One Brentford’ banner. This combines Brentford Football Club with the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, the Griffin Park Learning Zone, Bees United, the Brentford Lifeline Society, the Brentford Independent Association of Supporters (BIAS), and the new stadium company, Brentford FC (Lionel Road) Ltd – of which he is an unpaid, non-executive director.
“One Brentford is the focus for making our vision come to fruition of a genuine community hub, with a new stadium for Brentford at its heart,” he said, adding that further impetus had been given to the initiative last week when local MP, Ann Keen, kindly arranged for Brentford FC to host a reception on the terrace of the House of Commons.
“This was a unique opportunity to showcase all that we currently do – and what more we would be able to do – once we are in Lionel Road to the Sports Minister and other influential people who support us now, or who could support our cause in the future,” he said.
“We put together a DVD of One Brentford which was shown on the day, but it will also be invaluable for sending to all of our potential business contacts. The new stadium project is attractive to local businesses of all sizes, and as we make further progress, so the commercial attractiveness of partnering BFC will grow too,” Donald said.