We are delighted to inform you of the two inspirational speakers who will be joining us at this year’s Annual Meeting in Cardiff on 25 May.
Ebony Rainford-Brent
Ebony Rainford-Brent MBE is a World Cup Winning Cricketer, Broadcaster, Motivational Speaker and Performance Coach. Ebony is a former English cricketer and was a member of the England Team that won the 9th ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in Sydney 2009. In the three months following their World Cup win, the team went on to win: the ICC Women’s World Twenty20, the Natwest One Day series and retained the Ashes. During her playing career, she was also captain of the Surrey women’s team. Since retiring from sport, Ebony has gone on to a career in the media including becoming a broadcaster and commentator for the flagship BBC programme ‘Test Match Special’ & in 2020 she joined the Sky Sports cricket commentary team. Ebony also runs a podcast called ‘The Art of Success’ where she sits down with high performers from various fields to unpick tools and strategies for success. In 2015 Ebony returned to Surrey County Cricket Club, after being appointed their first Director of Women’s Cricket. She is also an ambassador for Beyond Sport & chair of ACE programmes newly formed charity in 2020. Ebony has recently been made an MBE for her services to cricket and charity.
PONTYCLUN, WALES – 17 FEBRUARY, 2020: Photoshoot with Laura McAllister during a senior Wales women training session at the Vale Resort, Hensol. (Pic by John Smith/FAW)
Laura McAllister
Previously a highly successful and ground-breaking international footballer, Laura is now a Professor of Public Policy and the Governance of Wales at Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre. Expert on devolution, Welsh politics and elections, public policy and leadership, gender and political representation and sports governance. Her research focuses on Welsh politics and gender in politics. She was recently appointed unopposed to the supreme executive body of European football’s governing body, UEFA, the first Welsh person to be elected. Laura is also deputy chairperson of UEFA women’s football committee and a member of UEFA women’s strategy working group. As a player, she has won 24 Caps for Wales and was among a group of players who lobbied the Football Association of Wales to take responsibility for the women’s national side in the early 1990s. Laura is a Former Chair of Sport Wales and board member of UK Sport, current Director of Football Association of Wales Trust and Chair of the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame