Sally Munday
Chief Executive
Sally has spent her entire career working in sport and joined UK Sport as CEO in September 2019, having held the same position at England and GB Hockey for the previous 10 years. In her first 12 months in the role Sally has helped to guide Olympic and Paralympic sport through an unprecedented period of change. Under her leadership, UK Sport secured financial support from Government to cover the extended Tokyo cycle, launched the Continuity Fund to help NGBs deal with the financial challenges created by Covid-19, while she also played a central role in developing the guidance for sports and athletes to return to training and competition. During her time in hockey, Sally oversaw a golden era for the sport, with highlights including the Team GB women securing their first ever Olympic title at the Rio 2016 Games, the men’s team finishing in fourth place at London 2012, their best Olympic Games finish in a quarter of a century, the successful hosting of the Women’s Hockey World Cup in London in 2018 and a huge increase in participation in the sport since London 2012. Domestically while at hockey, Sally was also an active member of the NGB CEO Forum and internationally represented her worldwide peers (CEOs in hockey) on the FIH Pro League Management panel. She has also held various other Board positions including as a Trustee for the charity the Youth Sport Trust, Non-Executive Director of the English Institute of Sport and a member of the Government’s Sports Business Council.
Naomi Hicks
Director of Communications & Partnerships
Naomi joined UK Sport as the Director of Communications and Partnerships in September 2019. Naomi joined us from international charity WWF, where she was Director of Partnerships, having previously led their strategy, communications and campaign teams. Naomi has also held a number of senior consultancy and leadership roles working for charities and government departments alike, to affect social and environmental change at scale. At UK Sport Naomi oversees our communications, public affairs, stakeholder engagement and research teams, alongside our commercial strategy and partnerships. She has a particular interest in harnessing the power of sport to catalyse social impact.
Simon Morton
Chief Operating Officer
Simon Morton joined UK Sport in 2005, and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2015 to support the Chief Executive and lead UK Sport’s Major Events, Governance and International Relations responsibilities. UK Sport is the government agency responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the hosting of major international sporting events across the UK, and works with its partners to provide strategic, financial and technical support so that events are delivered to a world-leading standard. Simon has sat on the Organising Committees of many World and European Championships, and is currently a Board Member of London 2017 Ltd. Through its Governance Team, UK Sport drives and supports world-leading standards of professional, organisational and ethical conduct in the National Governing Bodies of Sport. Simon co-chairs the project board that is responsible for developing and implementing a new Governance Code for Sport in the UK. Simon also leads UK Sport’s International Relations Team, which ensures that the UK has a strong, respected and supportive voice in international sport, and supports National Governing Bodies to develop their International Relations strategies. Prior to joining UK Sport, Simon worked for the International Badminton Federation (IBF) for six years, fulfilling a number of roles including Head of Marketing, where he was responsible for overseeing the sport’s event bidding processes, and its global television and sponsorship operations and rights distribution.
Sophie de Sautoy
Director of Finance, Investment & Business Services
Sophie is the strategic financial lead for UK Sport, responsible for the financial review and control of funding. Working closely with the Performance directorate, the Investment function of her team direct the funding, and carry out the financial monitoring, of the grants to the World Class Programme and some 1400 elite athletes. She also leads the teams in charge of key areas of the business including Information Technology, Facilities, Legal, Risk and Operational Planning. Sophie is a qualified chartered accountant (FCA). Prior to joining UK Sport in 2011 she spent ten years working with a wide variety of bodies in public sector audit.