Women In Football

About

Following a competitive tender process Women In Football appointed The Executives In Sport Group to lead the search for their new Chief Executive Officer.

Women in Football are a network of professionals working in and around the football industry who support and champion their peers. Celebrating women’s achievements, challenging discrimination, and sharing professional expertise.

Solution

Executives In Sport ran a comprehensive, global, executive search which explored a wide range of high-calibre individuals both inside and outside of football.

Central to the requirement was finding someone who would be a culture ‘add’, not just ‘fit’, and who could lead WiF in the next stage of their journey campaigning, celebrating and upskilling women in the game.

With a large board, it was critical to quickly understand the various stakeholder perspectives. We ran McQuaig job and Candidate Analysis sessions with the board to understand exactly what skills, experience and traits WiF were hoping for, and to build a consensus job brief.

We then developed an interactive candidate briefing pack and microsite, targeted under-represented communities with the job description, and made full use of our well-established influencer network to gain insight and recommendations on who the next Chief Executive might be. Ensuring all content we created was free from bias and run through tools such as gender / bias decoders.

Result

Women In Football shortlisted 12 individuals, from a global talent pool, following over 350 applications and nearly 120 targeted approaches to high potential individuals.

Yvonne Harrision was appointed as Jane Purdon’s successor on November 2021, having previously been Managing Director of Project 92 and Chief Executive at GreaterSport, both initiatives that helped to change lives in the Greater Manchester area through participation in sport and healthier living.