Paul Varley

Paul Varley has been the Chief Executive of Newcastle Falcons since January 2013 and is the chair of the board of trustees. Since arriving at the club Paul has made clear his vision for the future, involving staff, fans, players and businesses in his plans to promote the club both within the North East and nationally. Bringing a wealth of experience to the board, Paul aims to drive the community visions and values which have become central to the day to day working of the club.

Paul is heavily involved in local rugby, particularly with coaching Northern RFC.

Mike Stephenson

Mike joined the Board of Trustees in October 2008, following a long standing association with the Club. Chairman of Rugby Charity Wooden Spoon Durham and father of former Falcons favourite Michael Stephenson, Mike is a keen supporter of North East Rugby at every level.

John Oates

John Oates has worked as a consultant in professional sport for the last fifteen years in a variety of roles including Commercial Manager at the Falcons, Community Programme Manager for Premier Rugby, Commercial Manager for NTL's interests in Premiership Football and now MD of Pro Stream LTD.

Pro Stream Ltd works alongside

• Governing Bodies such as RFL, FAW, IRFU, The Football Association RFU, the Norwegian FA
• Professional sports Clubs such as Munster Rugby, Harlequins Rugby League, Hearts FC and Durham Cricket assisting them in the development of their "team off the field".

John Devine

John Devine, Partner at Newcastle-based law firm Muckle LLP where he is Head of the Charities Team and the Sports Team.

John has advised over 100 professional clubs in football, rugby union, rugby league, cricket, basketball and ice hockey and four leading national sports governing bodies on a wide range of matters.

He is a specialist in charity law, having advised registered, exempt and excepted charities on all aspects of their business, from incorporation to merger, fundraising to trading

He also deals with commercial and regulatory issues within the sports sector, including sponsorship, image rights, employee benefits and agency, advising professional footballers, rugby players, boxers, authorised agents and clubs.

John combines his legal knowledge of the third sector with practical experience as a charity trustee, serving on the boards of several charities affiliated to professional sports clubs. John was heavily involved in the establishment of the Falcons Community Foundation as a registered charity and has been on the Board of Trustees since its inception.

Iain Ramage

Iain Ramage joined the board of Trustees in November 2008.
Iain is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor at Durham-based company Lambert Property Solutions. Specializing in project management in the commercial, leisure and education sectors, he has recently completed the new East Durham College project and Durham University's Calman Learning Centre. Ian was one of two Scottish match officials at the 1999 World Cup and the only Scottish representative of the 26 officials at the 2003 World Cup. Retiring from refereeing pro rugby in 2005, Ian still acts as TMO at pro games in Scotland and referee local rugby mainly in the Borders and the occasional overseas jaunt to Bermuda for the Classics. Ian is father of pro footballer son Peter who is at Crystal Palace and used to play for NUFC, and also has a daughter who trains dogs for the charity Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and a long suffering wife Anne.

Duncan Edward

Matthew Carter

Richard Metcalfe

Richard Metcalfe is a former Scottish Rugby Union footballer. He was the world's tallest ever international rugby player winning 11 Scotland caps between 2000 and 2002. Coach at Northern Rugby Club and Newcastle School for Boys, Richard now enjoys passing on his knowledge to help strenghten the community game.

Richard is the Founder of Orion Teamwear who specialise in team and leisure wear. Based in a start of the art facility in Newcastle, Orion are kit suppliers to the Falcons squad this season.

James Ponton

James joined the Falcons in February 2012, and was employed to assist Mark Laycock with the running of the Academy.

Although James' first professional rugby was at West Hartlepool where he spent three years under the guidance of Mike Brewer he had a history of playing senior rugby in Northumberland at Percy Park and then Tynedale. After West Hartlepool James moved to Leeds where he spent a further 6 years developing skills and moving into coaching the Academy. James came to us from his final position at Sedgley Park in Manchester where his full coaching potential was realised alongside playing for five years.

Of his experience at the falcons, James says "I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year here, the Academy has been a great place to work and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the young lads grow and make it through to the 1st XV."

James joined the board of trustees as he saw a great opportunity to get involved in the charity and the community. He states "As in the Academy, the importance of establishing good relationships within the community is very important if we are wanting to grow and produce all these very talented youngsters. It will allow us to help shape the game within the community producing better players for the clubs."