Amla, chief growth officer at Capita, and Pilling, most recently chair of Yorkshire 2019, the body responsible for delivering the Road World Cycling Championships in Yorkshire, will join UK Sport’s Board in June.

As a former partner for professional services company Accenture, Amla was a member of the organisation's UK and Ireland leadership team. 

He has held the role of UK and North America chief executive for business and technology consultancy Capco and was an IBM Global Business Services managing partner between 2016 and 2018.

"Sport has been such an important part of my life and is something which I believe has huge value to local communities and so I’ve always taken huge pleasure in supporting grassroots sport in various ways over the years," Amla said.

"I’m excited to now be joining UK Sport and have the opportunity to play a part in helping to make sure that the success of our brilliant Olympic and Paralympic athletes inspires communities up and down the country."

Pilling began his career in marketing for Procter and Gamble, British Airways and Asda.  

He became chief executive of HSBC owned First Direct in 2006 and subsequently led them through the financial crisis, then becoming chief executive of Yorkshire Building Society Group.

Pilling served as non-executive director for the Yorkshire Tourist Board and the Department of Health, and is currently non-executive director for Musgrave Group plc and Barclays Bank UK.

"I’ve worked closely with a number of colleagues at UK Sport in recent years as part of my role at Yorkshire 2019," said Pilling. 

"In partnership we achieved some wonderful things which we can be very proud of and I’m now excited to be able to build on that work in this new role at UK Sport."

Amla and Pilling will both serve three-year terms on the UK Sport Board. 

"I’m delighted to welcome Ismail and Chris to the UK Sport Board," said UK Sport chair Dame Katherine Grainger.

"Both bring an incredible range of knowledge and experience from hugely successful careers in financial and professional services.

"We find ourselves in unprecedented times, and therefore the ability to draw on their insights at a time of such change will be invaluable as we build for the future. I’d like to welcome them both to the team."