Sally Munday appointed as UK Sport's new CEO
Published 7 May 2019
Sally Munday MBE has today (Tuesday 7 May 2019) been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UK Sport, the nation’s high-performance sports agency. Sally joins from England and GB Hockey where she has been CEO for the past 10 years.
Sally has overseen a golden era for the sport of hockey, 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.
With 29 years of working in the sports sector in a variety of roles, Sally brings a wealth of relevant experience to UK Sport. She joins at a fantastic time to lead UK Sport and the high-performance system into an Olympic and Paralympic Games year, as well as to implement an exciting new strategy for elite sport in the UK beyond Tokyo, as outlined earlier this year.
Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport, said: “Sally Munday is a wonderful successor to Liz Nicholl as CEO of UK Sport, as we embark on our ambitious new strategy for high performance sport in the UK.
“Sally has led a sport that’s not only excelled on and off the field of play at elite and grassroots level, but also delivered an impact both domestically and internationally. Her expertise and strong leadership will be invaluable as well as her passion and vision.
“The Board and our UK Sport team are all looking forward to working with Sally to ensure we continue to inspire the nation through Olympic and Paralympic success.”
Sally Munday MBE, said: “The past decade has been such a successful period for Olympic and Paralympic sport in this country and I am absolutely delighted to be given the opportunity to lead UK Sport and follow in the footsteps of Liz Nicholl.
“I know from personal experience that the UK Sport team have played such a key role in supporting the National Governing Bodies and their athletes in what has been an unprecedented period of success both in terms of medals and bringing major sporting events to this country.
“I am extremely excited to join UK Sport at this particular time, not only in the lead in to Tokyo 2020 but also the opportunity to implement the new UK Sport strategy leading to Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024. I love the ambition of the new strategy; both in continuing to support our athletes to light up the stage to make our nation proud, but also realising the social and community impact that is possible through our Olympic and Paralympic role models and the work that they and our National Governing Bodies can do.”
Liz Nicholl CBE, the current CEO of UK Sport, said: “I am really delighted with Sally’s appointment. She is highly respected in the industry, has experience across all areas of our business and will be able to build on the success of UK Sport and the high-performance system to date and drive the delivery of the new strategy. I look forward to working with her over the coming months to enable a smooth transition.”
Sally will take up the role in the autumn. Liz Nicholl will depart in July, so there will be a member of the UK Sport team appointed on an interim basis as the accountable officer until Sally starts.