Since joining Women in Sport in 2019 Steph has renewed the charity’s strategy based on its proud 40 year history and has developed the charity around its existing strengths in insights and research. As CEO she has been making sure the charity is tackling major policy issues, growing its influence in government and its partnerships in sport, whilst diversifying its people and its funding base.

Before Women in Sport, Steph was CEO of a major environment movement and campaigned on climate change and nature’s recovery. She is experienced in achieving legislative change and is a strong advocate for the outdoors, active living and teamsport. She is passionate about freeing up the lives of women and girls in all their diversity to experience the joy of sport.  She believes it is wrong that so many women and girls are missing out on the wellbeing, resilience and leadership skills sport can instil.

Alex has spent most of her career working in sports, specifically working with team sports at the ECB, GB Hockey and now at England Rugby.
All these roles have involved working across major events to look at how high visibility can have great lasting impact – from Olympics to World Cups.
Alex has been responsible across a number of roles, on growing the consumer base in new and innovative ways.

In her current role as Executive Director of the Women’s Game at England Rugby, Alex oversees the development of strategies to grow the number of players, fans and followers of women and girls’ rugby, in order to create future commercial sustainability.

She is also on the Board of Premiership Women’s Rugby, the top of the domestic league for women’s rugby in England, and Rugby World Cup 2025.

Kelly Gordon is a leading voice in advancing female participation and tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity. As founder of KGSport consultancy, she designs purpose-led strategies that put inclusion and wellbeing at the heart of sport. With over 25 years’ experience, she works with organisations such as Active Cheshire, Women in Sport, Youth Sport Trust, England Netball, Sport England, the FA, British Canoeing, England Athletics, British Triathlon, and PwC to break down barriers and create more opportunities for women and girls.

At England Netball, Kelly leads the ground-breaking NETBALLHer initiative, including the recently launched I Wish I Knew campaign, which is redefining how the sport supports women and girls across every life stage. She also played a central role in developing England Netball’s 10-year Adventure Strategy, setting a bold vision for the future of the game.

Her leadership in female health advocacy has been recognised nationally, including being named National Winner of the Female Health Advocate Award at the Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards.

Dr Claire-Marie Roberts is the Performance Director at Coventry City FC. She has spent a lifetime in elite sport, from being an international athlete, to working for the British Olympic Association and the Premier League. She also maintained an academic career with much of her research focusing on the progression of women and girls in sport and the participation in exercise and activity across the lifespan. She has produced three books aimed at redressing the balance in sport and exercise science research to ensure we have sufficient data to understand issues specific to women and girls. Over ten years ago, Claire-Marie co-founded the Women in Sport & Exercise Academic Network (WISEAN), aimed at connecting researchers, globally, with a specific focus on women and girls – to expedite efforts to ensure accurate representation in scientific literature. Claire-Marie is a special advisor to Nike on women athletes and a Scientific Board Advisor of the Active Pregnancy Foundation.

Adi’s career in sport started as a British Rowing Sport Development Officer. She then successfully made the move into coaching, starting at junior level and then moving into the role of Talent Development Coach for British Rowing based in Manchester. In Sydney, AUS she worked  for Rowing Australia as the New South Wales High-Performance Development Co-ordinator.

Adi returned to the UK as Talent Manager for Volleyball England. She was also Chief Operating Officer at Cerebral Palsy Sport, and contributed to special Olympics GB, as Head of Sport.

Adi volunteered as the Secretary of the World Ability Sport International Frame Running Committee. For the last 2 years Adi has volunteered as an NED on the UK Coaching Board. In 2023, Adi was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the University of Hull in recognition of her contribution to sport and commitment to widening diversity in sport.

Marina Logacheva is a tetraplegic wheelchair user, 2025 World Cup bronze medallist in handcycling, and disability advocate committed to creating equal opportunities in sport. As Disability Sports Lead at the creative agency MATTA, she works with major brands and sports bodies to improve representation, accessibility, and inclusive leadership across the industry. As a 2025 Churchill Fellow, Marina is researching inclusive fitness and governance practices across Australia, Canada, and the USA to help shape policy and drive long-term change in the UK. Through her lived experience and professional expertise, she champions the importance of authentic representation, intersectionality, and accountability in advancing opportunities for women and disabled people in sport.

Following her love for sport, Gemma has undertaken a number of roles in the industry, starting out at British Gymnastics before moving to the ECB in 2023. Gemma is currently Head of Enabling and Inspiring Women’s and Girls’ Participation at the ECB, responsible for growing the game across the country, and enabling more women and girls to pick up a bat and ball.  With the excitement and anticipation of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2026, Gemma is leading the tournament participation strategy, which will deliver long-term impact across the recreational game. With over 22 years’ experience across the sports sector, she has driven cultural change, championed inclusion, and led national and international programmes. Her passion for participation, education, and equity is shaping the future of cricket for women and girls in England and Wales.

Mhairi is an elite marathon runner and safe sport advocate. She is the Co-Founder and CEO at Kyniska Advocacy, campaigning in sports policy and athlete welfare, for a sporting world that protects, respects and celebrates women and girls in sport. Mhairi’s passion is to help evolve sport so that it is a safe and equitable place for women to participate. Her vision is a sporting community which fosters a safe environment and has the protection of women at its heart.

Lauren cares about the experience people have in sport. As an accomplished football player, winning multiple trophies, playing Internationally and competing in the UEFA Champions League, she is passionate about using her unique experiences to promote good practice and improve the support provided to all involved in the sports sector at any level. She holds a Masters in Sports Coaching and a UEFA C License, with the aim of completing her B Licence and Player Care qualifications in 2026. Lauren is ambitious and strives to bring her experiences, both on and off the pitch, to help others in their own journeys in and through sport. As Education and Development Manager at Kyniska Advocacy, she leads on Safe Sport Education Delivery. A large part of her work has been delivering workshops on Creating Healthy Football Environments for all WSL 1 & WSL 2.

Professor Stacey Pope is based in the Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University, UK. She is a world leader in the area of women, football and inequalities. She is a leading figure in research on women football fans. She has also developed a new programme of work examining men’s responses to the increasing visibility of women in sport and issues of sexism and misogyny. She is also leading research on media coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and fans of the England women’s team.

Professor Pope’s research has led to her being an invited expert for the DCMS Committee and the Women and Equalities Committee to discuss how football could be made more safe, welcoming and inclusive for women. Many of these recommendations have been taken forward in the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Safety at Major Sporting Events Report. Professor Pope is committed to the public engagement of her work, with her research regularly featuring in the national and international media.

Jonathan is CEO of ethical data science company, Signify Group. Since 2019, Jonathan has led the development and roll out of Signify’s specialist AI-driven proactive threat detection and protection service – Threat Matrix – an innovative initiative to protect players, athletes and high profile individuals from the poison of online abuse. Working with international federations, national leagues, player unions, clubs, law enforcement and directly with athletes, Threat Matrix has delivered a step-change in the way online abuse is tackled, creating real world action, effective deterrents and taking the onus away from the victim to take action.

Professor Jo Maher is the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Sport at Loughborough University. She serves on FA Council and Chairs the Football Development Committee, as well as being an independent expert for DCMS on the Government response to the Carney Review. Jo recently led the strategy for the Women in Sport Research and Innovation Hub opened by Minister Peacock in March. With a background in sports psychology, she has supported athletes from grassroots to Olympic levels. Jo has previously held leadership roles in further education, including CEO and Principal positions, and has been instrumental in developing elite sports facilities and partnerships.

Kelly Gordon is a leading voice in advancing female participation and tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity. As founder of KGSport consultancy, she designs purpose-led strategies that put inclusion and wellbeing at the heart of sport. With over 25 years’ experience, she works with organisations such as Active Cheshire, Women in Sport, Youth Sport Trust, England Netball, Sport England, the FA, British Canoeing, England Athletics, British Triathlon, and PwC to break down barriers and create more opportunities for women and girls.

At England Netball, Kelly leads the ground-breaking NETBALLHer initiative, including the recently launched I Wish I Knew campaign, which is redefining how the sport supports women and girls across every life stage. She also played a central role in developing England Netball’s 10-year Adventure Strategy, setting a bold vision for the future of the game.

Her leadership in female health advocacy has been recognised nationally, including being named National Winner of the Female Health Advocate Award at the Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards.

Wendy is the national lead for women and girls at the children’s charity, Youth Sport Trust.

With over 25 years’ experience dedicated to improving outcomes for young people through the power of play, physical activity and sport, Wendy has worked extensively with practitioners in schools, partners and stakeholders to drive positive change, tackle inequalities and create inclusive opportunities for young people.

This includes Youth Sport Trust’s flagship, award winning programme, Girls Active, which has supported over 1,000 schools enabling in-excess of 10,000 girls to be empowered to drive positive change for girls in their school, overcoming many of the barriers’ girls experience to participation.

Wendy has also supported the development of girls’ participation programmes and resources with partners including The FA, The FA Wales, Nike and The LEGO Group and working closely with stakeholders including Sport England, Women in Sport, Muslim Sports Foundation and StreetGames.

Priorities for her work at present include tackling barriers for girls facing inequalities, gender stereotyping, puberty and inclusive PE kit.

Since joining Women in Sport in 2019 Steph has renewed the charity’s strategy based on its proud 40 year history and has developed the charity around its existing strengths in insights and research. As CEO she has been making sure the charity is tackling major policy issues, growing its influence in government and its partnerships in sport, whilst diversifying its people and its funding base.

Before Women in Sport, Steph was CEO of a major environment movement and campaigned on climate change and nature’s recovery. She is experienced in achieving legislative change and is a strong advocate for the outdoors, active living and teamsport. She is passionate about freeing up the lives of women and girls in all their diversity to experience the joy of sport.  She believes it is wrong that so many women and girls are missing out on the wellbeing, resilience and leadership skills sport can instil.