Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross has joined the British Paralympic Association Board ©BPA

David Ross, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the British Paralympic Association (BPA), it has been announced.

The 54-year-old, estimated to be worth £1 billion ($1.3 billion/€1.2 billion), is already a Board member of the British Olympic Association.

He was previously a Board member of Commonwealth Games England.

Ross had also been a member of the London 2012 Board as a representative of then-London Mayor Boris Johnson, but was forced to resign in 2008 after failing to disclose within the necessary timeframe that he had pledged a large proportion of his stake in the company against personal loans.

The scandal also forced him to resign as deputy chairman of Carphone Warehouse.

Ross, though, has been a big investor in grass-roots sport, including funding a new £40 million ($53 million/€48 million) sports centre at his alma mater University of Nottingham which was named after him. 

"I'm delighted to join the British Paralympic Association Board at an exciting and challenging time for British sport, with a Paralympic Games coming up in Tokyo next year and the ambitions of the Paralympic movement ever-evolving," Ross said.

"I am looking forward to working with BPA colleagues to shape the direction of travel for the BPA."

Beijing 2008 rowing gold medallist Helene Raynsford is a member of the British Paralympic Association Board ©Getty Images
Beijing 2008 rowing gold medallist Helene Raynsford is a member of the British Paralympic Association Board ©Getty Images

Ross joins a Board led by chair Nick Webborn and which also includes Geoff Newton, executive director of the Tennis Foundation, and Emma Boggis, who led the London 2012 the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Unit.

The Board also includes former athletes Dave Clarke, captain of Britain's blind football team at London 2012, and Helene Raynsford, chair of the BPA Athletes' Commission and who was crowned the first Paralympic champion in rowing when she won gold at Beijing 2008 in the women's single sculls.

"We are delighted to welcome David to the BPA Board," Webborn said. 

"As we look forwards to Tokyo 2020 and beyond, there are substantial areas of potential growth and opportunity for the BPA and we look forward to having David with us on that journey."

The BPA has also appointed Adrian Stockman as its new finance and corporate services director. 

He joins from the Sport and Recreation Alliance and is due to start his new role next month.

Jenny Seymour, meanwhile, has been appointed commercial director. 

She has been commercial manager at the BPA since 2015.