Woolf to chair ICC's governance review

Lord Harry Woolf, the former Chief Justice of England and Wales, has been named chairman of the independent governance review of the ICC. Woolf will be assisted by PricewaterhouseCoopers [PwC], the international professional services firm.

Before his tenure as Chief Justice - which ended in 2005 - Woolf was Master of the Rolls between 1996 and 2000, the second-most senior judge in England and Wales. He was also the first Chief Justice to be president of the Courts in England and Wales. In addition to his work in the UK, he has been on the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong since 2003, as well as the president of the Qatar Financial Centre Civil and Commercial Court since 2007.

The review is part of the ICC's new strategic plan that is being implemented from this year. It will commence immediately and includes clarifying the role and structure of the ICC and its committees, apart from a review of the president's nomination and election process, the membership categories and criteria for membership, the code of ethics and, among other things, the Constitutional framework.

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said the whole exercise of the review illustrated the board's commitment to being well-governed. "We truly aspire to be a well-managed and leading global governing body and we are privileged to have Lord Woolf leading this most important governance review. In Lord Woolf, the ICC Board has appointed a personality with enormous experience and reputation and by adding in the capability of PwC, it shows how seriously we are taking this exercise."

Woolf said his focus would be on transparency. "I intend to conduct the independent review in a thorough and transparent manner that will draw on experiences and good practices from within and outside cricket.

"I will seek to deliver a report across the wide brief that I have been set as soon as is practicable, noting, of course, the need for effective consultation and the consideration of various viewpoints before any recommendations can be finalised."