The Team
Our team have worked for both local authorities and private sector operators and therefore have a unique knowledge of all aspects of local authorities. In relation to Service Reviews, Options Appraisals and transformation projects we have experience of working with wider council departments, ensuring that communications with members, senior officers and residents is undertaken at appropriate times and that timetables take into account the Council’s decision making processes.
Mark Steward
Managing Director
Education:
1986: BA (Hons) Social Administration
1988: Diploma in Management Studies (DMS)
1995: Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Professional Institutions:
Member of the Chartered Institute of Sport & Physical Activity (CIMSPA)
Member of CLOA
Employment History:
Dec 2000 to present – Managing Director: MAX Associates
July 1998 to Dec 2000 – Head of Quality and Performance, Community Initiative Partnerships
April 1990 to June 1998 – Performance Review Manager, London Borough of Hounslow
Summary Experience
Managing Director of MAX Associates, Mark has over 19 years’ experience of public sector management and service delivery. His experience is wide ranging and includes over 11 years consultancy experience working for a variety of London, District, Borough and Unitary Authorities. Mark is at the forefront of investigating and demonstrating the social, economic and community benefits of sport, leisure and cultural provision.
He was part of the team, 12 years ago, that established Community Initiative Partnerships (CiP) in Hounslow, the first integrated Leisure and Cultural Trust in the UK.
Leisure & Culture Procurement
Mark has an exceptional background in this field having project managed the largest sport, leisure and culture competitive dialogue procurement process across the UK for The London Borough of Hounslow. Scope of services included sport and leisure facilities, libraries, open spaces, arts, heritage and children’s play. This process has led to significant revenue savings for the Council whilst levering in prudential borrowing investment to redevelop the sports, leisure and library portfolios.
Mark also recently assisted Southampton City Council in the procurement and mobilisation of both a leisure management operator and a golf course operator, both through a competitive dialogue process. Due to the success of the project, Mark was asked to advise and manage the mobilisation phase of the projects and provide interim project support for a period of 8 months.
Mark has previously assisted a number of Authorities including The London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Camden, Ealing and Hillingdon, in the procurement of a leisure management operator. This has resulted in substantially reducing the annual management fees payable to the operator and securing the long-term viability for the leisure portfolio through substantial capital investment provided by the incoming contractor. The “value added” of the contract for Camden, for example, is in the region of £1m per year.
He is currently leading on the Bath and North East Somerset procurement process for sports facilities and the potential community asset transfer for a community based facility.
He is also currently assisting LB Havering with the procurement of a leisure management partner.
Options appraisals and feasibility studies
Alongside Lisa Forsyth, Mark has recently completed options appraisals for London Borough of Newham, London Borough of Haringey, London Borough of Hounslow, Guildford Borough Council, Crawley Borough Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Waverley Borough Council and Derby City Council.
Alongside Lisa, Mark is currently working with The City of Edinburgh Council on the strategic review and options for future delivery of sport and leisure provision across the capital.
Cultural and Sports Strategies
Mark was jointly responsible for the development and production of the Cultural Strategy for Liverpool City Council that supported the city’s successful bid for European Capital of Culture for 2008.
He has led on the production and development of a number of other cultural and leisure related strategies and has previously produced a Sport and Physical Activity Strategy for the London Borough of Haringey and Play Strategy for London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Other
In addition, Mark was previously an ISPAL accredited trainer and provides continued professional development (CPD) for the sport and leisure industry in leisure procurement and alternatives models of service delivery.
He has extensive experience of working with Members and senior officers in previous local government roles and has been responsible for policy and development, client monitoring and contract performance.
He has extensive experience of working with Members and senior officers in previous local government roles and has been responsible for policy and development, client monitoring and contract performance.
Mark is also a governor at Osborne School, a community special school in Winchester. He is a keen golfer playing off a handicap of 9.
Lisa Forsyth
Director
Education:
Msc Recreation Management
BA (Hon’s) Economics
3 ‘A’ Levels and 10 ‘O’ Levels
Professional Institutions:
Member of the Chartered Institute of Sport & Physical Activity (CIMSPA)
Eastern Region Board Member
Employment History:
January 2008 to Present – Financial Director, MAX Associates
Feb 2005 to Jan 2008 – Senior Associate Consultant, PMP
Mar 2004 to Feb 2005 – Head of Business Development, Leisure Connection
Jan 2000 to Mar 2004 – Business Development Manager, Leisure Connection
July 1998 to Jan 2000 – Contract Manager, Leisure Connection
January 1997 to June 1998 – Business Manager, Leisure Connection
Summary Experience
Lisa Forsyth is a Director at Max Associates and has been working as a leisure consultant for the last 9 years. Lisa’s work as a consultant has involved a wide range of projects for London, County and District Authorities as well as a number of leisure operators.
Lisa’s role as Board Member of CIMSPA East Region, will ensure Max Associates is at the forefront of thinking and new approaches to the delivery of leisure and cultural services in the future.
Leisure Procurement and Contract Mobilisation
Lisa has significant experience of leisure procurement, having worked for both the private sector and as a consultant on all types of procurement projects from negotiated contracts through to PPP’s, PFI’s and Competitive Dialogue.
She has recently assisted the London Boroughs of Islington, Haringey, Waltham Forest, Enfield and the Corporation of London in the appointment of leisure management operators.
Lisa has provided full project management, financial and technical support for a number of Councils in complex competitive dialogue processes. She has provided instruction documents for bidders, created bespoke specifications, drafted suitable performance mechanisms, developed shadow business plans, completed full evaluation of contractor submissions and led the Council through the process including dialogue with bidders. These projects have delivered significantly improved facilities, increased service levels and delivered financial savings.
Following the award of Contract Lisa has assisted a number of local authorities in the mobilisation of their contracts; including LB of Hounslow, Enfield, City of London and Southampton City Council.
Having worked for both local authorities and the private sector, Lisa can provide a unique balance of assessing the opportunities and risks in all types of sport and leisure projects.
Lisa has also completed a number of projects where analysis of operational costs have been important in determining Council’s affordability particularly with savings made on annual management fees relating to opportunities for prudential borrowing to fund capital schemes.
Options Appraisals
Lisa has completed a number of service reviews and options appraisals and has specialised in the financial analysis and impact of alternative management models in the delivery of sport, leisure and cultural services.
Lisa has recently completed options appraisals for Cardiff Council, Guildford Borough Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Waverley Borough Council, Crawley Borough Council and London Borough of Haringey.
Alongside Mark, Lisa is currently working with The City of Edinburgh Council on the strategic review and options for future delivery of sport and leisure provision across the capital.
New Facility Provision
A number of projects have encompassed the analysis of sport and leisure provision set against demand and supply and assessing the requirements for new or refurbished provision.
Key analysis within the projects has been:
- Ascertaining the need for facility provision
- Projecting usage, income and expenditure
- Assessment of capital and lifecycle costs
- Identifying the financial impact of different management models
Commercial Experience
Prior to working as a consultant, Lisa headed up a Business Development team in one of the country’s leading local authority leisure management contractors. She was successful in winning and mobilising a number of high profile leisure contracts for the company.
Lisa has also gained significant operational experience within the local authority leisure sector as a Contract Manager for a number of London Boroughs.
Having worked for both local authorities and the private sector, Lisa can provide a unique balance of assessing the opportunities and risks in all types of leisure projects.
Other
Lisa has been a board member and treasurer of CIMSPA since 2016 and is passionate in supporting skills development and the overall professionalisation of the sector to ensure the known benefits of sport and physical activity are at the heart of local and national policy.
Lisa is a keen hockey player and is a member of Harpenden Hockey Club; she has been ladies club captain and facility officer over the years.
Kirsty Winders
Principal Consultant
Education:
BSc (Hon’s) Sport & Exercise Science
4 ‘A’ Levels and 10 GCSE’s
Employment History:
February 2014 to Present – Principal Consultant, MAX Associates
Nov 2011 to Feb 2014 – Head of Business Development, Parkwood Leisure
July 2005 to Nov 2011 – Business Development Manager, Parkwood Leisure
Experience Specific to this Contract
Kirsty has extensive commercial experience, having reviewed and provided financial and quality business plans for numerous leisure contracts across the UK. She has also led on several mobilisation processes including complex DBOM and PFI contracts involving significant investment. She has knowledge of the private sector and current industry trends in relation to bidding for local authority contracts.
Summary Experience
Recently appointed to the Max Associates team Kirsty comes with extensive experience in producing financial and written proposals for the management of leisure and cultural facilities.
Leisure Procurement and Contract Mobilisation
Kirsty has extensive experience of leisure procurement having completed significant tender proposals. She has detailed understanding of the needs of operators and best practice in leisure and cultural procurement.
Having successfully been awarded a number of contracts, Kirsty has led the contract negotiation of tenders at the preferred bidder stage prior to contract commencement. These include complex DBOM and PFI contracts such as Cherwell, Portsmouth and Bristol.
Kirsty has project managed tender proposals from expression of interest through to preferred bidder, using both restricted and competitive dialogue procedures.
Feasibility Studies & Service Reviews
Kirsty has been involved in a number of feasibility reviewing the potential development of existing and new sites including corresponding business plans. These include projects on behalf of local authorities and leisure trusts. Kirsty has also recently been involved with service reviews for Edinburgh City Council, Abbeycroft Leisure and Anglia Community Leisure, Chichester District Council and Hartlepool Borough Council.
New Facility Provision
Kirsty has been involved in the design of state of the art leisure facilities and significant refurbishment projects, optimising the design to increase operational efficiency. This included the last leisure PFI in South Bristol, a £27.4 million new leisure and health facility. Kirsty has experience of working with architects to develop designs of new build and refurbished facilities and developing the financial proposals to support such developments.
Commercial Experience
Kirsty’s experience in the private sector in both an operational and business development capacity has given her knowledge of industry trends and demand to develop commercial projections and improve the financial position for local authority clients. A number of the successful contracts Kirsty has been involved in have led to significant savings for local authorities, with a number transferring from deficit funded to income received by the Council.
Other
Kirsty has 2 children and in her spare time volunteers as Vice Chair for Cotswold Gymnastics Club.
Nicky Sadler 
Research & Business Development Assistant
Nicky supports the Max Associates team providing research for projects, demographic and competition analysis and marketing assistance.
Nicky has a background in PR and Marketing working previously for clients such as Royal Mail, Pizza Express, GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, GTECH and Skillnet.
Out of work hours Nicky is a qualified hockey coach volunteering with her local club coaching U12 girls, and is the Blueharts HC press officer. She also plays league, Summer and Vets hockey herself. In March 2018 Nicky was awarded Club Person of the year for her voluntary contribution to the hockey club.
David Hearn
Principal Associate Consultant
David is Principal Associate Consultant with Max Associates and has over twenty years experience in contract and operational management in the leisure industry. He has supported leisure operators with the preparation of quality and financial submissions for leisure management contracts and has prepared business plans for refurbishment projects at leisure centres and soft play facilities.
Leisure & Culture Procurement
David began his local government career in 1990 as a Contracts Manager at the London Borough of Bromley. He was an early pioneer of drafting service specification and contract documentation, and was involved in post tender evaluation of a number of contracts including leisure management, golf and catering.
David is currently working with a number of leisure trusts in project implementation, and process improvements that seek to balance cost and quality.
David’s other experience is in quality assessment where he has worked as a facilities management Quest Assessor since 2008. This provides an invaluable insider’s guide to the approaches taken by public and private sector operators in delivery leisure services.
Options appraisals and feasibility studies
David has worked with Max Associates at the London Borough of Hounslow and was instrumental in developing a contractor performance monitoring framework for parks, cemeteries and open spaces, libraries and leisure centres.
David’s other roles have included the successful completion of feasibility, business modelling and procurement work streams for £1.2m design and build refurbishment programme at The Spa Leisure Centre, Bromley and project management of midsized refurbishment projects (£40-60K) including effective liaison with designers and architects and building control.
Other
David has recently been engaged by leisure trusts to facilitate strategic reviews workshops involving both Board members and senior management teams.
David has an MBA from Henley Business School and is currently Chair of Trustees at Wave Leisure Limited.