Annie Holden Joins Mytime Active Board

Community health pioneer Annie Holden joins Mytime Active board to help drive new strategy.

Mytime Active has appointed physical activity and public health specialist Annie Holden to its board, to help to drive the trust’s new strategy. 

Holden’s appointment as a trustee represents a poignant full-circle moment. Years ago, after transitioning out of higher education as a senior lecturer specialising in physical activity and exercise, she joined the London Borough of Bromley’s Sports Development Unit, where she was instrumental in launching the foundational health programmes that eventually evolved into the Active Lifestyles sessions within Mytime Active itself. 

This early work laid the groundwork for a distinguished career dedicated to community wellness. Holden held several pivotal leadership positions, including Health Division Manager at Mytime Active, Head of Public Health at SLM Everyone Health, Executive Director for the National Institute for Preventative Cardiology (Ireland), and Strategic Health Lead at the Active Partnerships National Organisation working closely with Sport England and national health and care partners. 

Driven by a lifelong specialism in cardiovascular health, Holden has a particular passion for Heart Smart, Mytime Active’s 12-session, supervised exercise programme designed to help individuals recovering from or managing specific heart conditions. Holden has now returned to the gym floor as a volunteer to support the delivery of these sessions. 

She says: “Coming back to Mytime Active as a trustee is a real privilege. It feels like giving back to the place where so much of my career diversified across the health and physical activity sectors. Beside my strategic duties, it’s been great to volunteer and be back in the leisure centres, helping support the delivery of Heart Smart sessions. Reconnecting with long-standing team members on the ground has been a powerful reminder of the life-changing impact of community-focused health interventions.” 

As one of three new trustees, Holden is working closely with Mytime Active’s CEO, Steve May, and the senior leadership team to align the trust’s long-term strategy with evolving national and local health and care policies. Holden explains: “In our sector, we often think our messaging is simple, but we can easily confuse things. By positioning Mytime Active through a dedicated wellbeing lens, we can better speak the language of our healthcare partners, tackle local health inequalities, and unlock new opportunities for the charity to truly prosper.” 

Mytime Active’s CEO Steve May said: “What makes Annie such a phenomenal addition to our board is that she truly lives and breathes our mission, from shaping our future direction at board level to personally supporting our classes on the ground. As we look to deepen our integration with healthcare partners and tackle local health inequalities through our new strategy, Annie’s extensive background in public health and strategic leadership will be incredibly valuable. I am thrilled to work alongside her to shape our long-term strategy.”