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.

Stephanie Peacock was appointed the Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth on 9 July 2024.

She was elected to serve as the Member of Parliament for Barnsley East in 2017 and has represented Barnsley South since 2024.

A qualified teacher, she taught History in a secondary school before working in adult education across Yorkshire.

Stephanie also studied History at Queen Mary University of London, and received a Master’s degree from University College London.

A keen runner, she completed the London Marathon in 2019.

My varied experiences across sport, from years of playing football and korfball, to volunteering at the Olympic Games, to working for a national governing body, have kept me on my toes, feeling both energised and challenged. I am in a unique position which allows me to drive forward my passions; equality for women and girls, and using the power of sport to improve lives. In my current role of National Development Manager at The FA, I focus on female player experience in grassroots football, setting the strategies and interventions to further grow and develop participation across all ages and lifestages. Whilst so much has been achieved across the game recently, there is still so much to be done, and I really value opportunities to learn and collaborate with others, including fellow industry professionals but also the participants at the heart of it all.

Lauren is the Development Director at Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby and an expert in disability sports participation with over 20 years’ experience. Alongside her passion for disability sport Lauren is a champion for growing women’s participation in wheelchair rugby which is a mixed sport at Paralympic level. She is driving the growth of the women’s game in the UK doubling the number of women playing wheelchair rugby since 2021. Lauren set up the first GB women’s wheelchair rugby team who competed at the Paris Women’s Cup in 2023 and 2024 and competed in the first women’s international match against Canada.

With less than 10% of women represented on international wheelchair rugby teams Lauren is a member of World Wheelchair Rugby’s (WWR) Global Taskforce for Women’s Participation tasked with addressing this.  The group has already achieved international rules changes to grow women on national teams and supported the growth of 6 national women’s teams around the world since 2023.

Donna Fraser is a 4x Olympian and former 400m sprinter for Great Britain, with a successful athletics career which spanned over 20 years and has a host of European, Commonwealth and World medals. Donna, unfortunately, retired in 2009 due to being diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She was recognised with the Freedom of the Borough of Croydon in 2018 for services to sport and continues to be enthused to help inspire a generation through education by ‘giving back’ and sharing her knowledge and experience with young people aspiring to achieve their goals.

Donna has become a leader in equality diversity and inclusion with over 10 years of corporate experience within business, sport, leadership, well-being and PMA for both start-ups and established companies. In 2021 she was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and has served as a Trustee, advisor and Board member for multiple organisations, such as the London Marathon Charitable Trust, Women’s Sports Trust, British Athletes Commission, International Women’s Group and Her Spirit to name a few.

I am a Performance Coach with Boccia UK and have been in this role since 2013. During the Paris Paralympic Games I was proud to coach Stephen McGuire to the BC4 Gold medal after a 10 year coaching journey with him. Prior to moving into a full time coaching role, I worked in Sports Development for 11 years with Scottish Disability Sport (SDS). In recent years I have been involved as a master coach on the UK Sport Women in Leadership Programme, recently graduated from the UK Sport Leading to Perform Programme and was awarded the Coach of the Year award for 2024 at the Scottish Disability Sport, Scottish Women in Sport and sportscotland Scottish Sports Awards. I continue to volunteer with SDS through their boccia programme and as a Management Board Director. I am incredibly passionate about the development of Para Sport and Women’s Sport.

I am finishing my 4^th season at Bath Rugby. Most recently as Women’s Performance Lead which includes Head Coach across three teams: University of Bath, Bath RFC, and Bath 7s. I am one of eight high potential performance coaches on and England Rugby Elve8 course and on track to complete my Level 4 this year.

I want to provide players with an experience that is developmental and positive. I want to see more female coaches and younger coaches in rugby and across sport, so players get the care and development they need. I am a part time coach educator and developer and hold that close to my heart when co-coaching. I have worked in rugby as a coach for 10 years, across professional, community and university teams and clubs, including senior men, university women and mens and premiership clubs.

A former England and Super League netball player, Charlotte previously held key positions at British Swimming, the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games and Rugby World Cup, before joining Manchester City Football Club in 2015.

As Director of Operations and Development, Charlotte oversaw the strategic direction and delivery of operations and people development programmes at Manchester City’s Boys’ Academy. Charlotte then took on the role of Interim Academy Director of the boys’ academy before moving to become Managing Director of Manchester City Women in December 2023.

In her first year at the helm, she oversaw several major signings, announced the development of a £10 million bespoke training facility for the women’s first team, and saw the team return to UEFA Women’s Champions League football.

Tess Howard is a current Team GB Olympian and Great Britain hockey player with over 100 caps for her country, and a Commonwealth Gold Medal. Over the past three years, she successfully campaigned to change national and international hockey uniform policies to allow players choice to wear shorts and skorts in the same team, a ground-breaking move evolving hockey tradition on the biggest Olympic stage. Her published University research on the impact of gendered sport uniforms on girls’ participation in sport gained national and international media coverage in 2023, leading her to win The Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year Changemaker Award. To tackle the systemic issue of discriminatory and underserving sports kit practices, she launched Inclusive Sportswear CIC, an education, advocacy and standard-certifying organisation leading the movement for policy based on choice and inclusion.

Dr Kate Hutchings is a Sport and Exercise Medical Consultant and has worked in elite sport for over 20 years, including at several Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Dr Hutchings is the clinical lead for the UK Sports Institute’s Female Athlete Health and Performance service, where she runs a weekly clinic for female Paralympic and Olympic athletes to address female athlete health issues such as menstrual, pelvic or breast health, or symptoms related to female hormones that are affecting training and performance. Dr Hutchings also sees athletes around pregnancy and following pregnancy, on their return to training. Additionally, Dr Hutchings is a medical advisor to the Royal Ballet School in London.

Dr Victoria Downie is an Exercise Physiologist, working for the UK Sports Institute Performance Innovation team.  During the Paris Olympic and Paralympic cycle, Victoria focused on spending time with sports to understand the gendered environment experienced by female athletes and the wider support team.  A gendered environmental approach looks to identify modifiable features of the sporting environment that may be contributing to increased injury risk in women and impaired performance.

Kirsty works at the Institute of Sport at Manchester Metropolitan University as a Professor of Female Endocrinology and Exercise Physiology. In addition to her research on female athletes, which includes the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptives, and menstrual dysfunction, her work in recent years has examined pregnancy and postpartum considerations in a variety of populations including servicewomen (i.e., military personnel), athletes, and women with obesity. She is also passionate about raising the quality of research and practice in women’s sport and has presented and written about methodological standards on numerous occasions. She has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, expert and consensus statements, and editorials on/for sportswomen. In addition, she works with many organisations such as the United Kingdom Sports Institute, the European Club Association, UEFA, FIFPRO, Manchester Thunder Netball Team, and Arsenal Women’s Football Team and is part of several special interest groups and advisory boards related to female athletes.

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.