Speakers

Ali is the Chief Executive at the Youth Sport Trust, an independent charity devoted to building a brighter future for young people through the power of sport. 

Ali joined the Youth Sport Trust in 2004 as a member of the senior leadership team and became the CEO in 2015. Prior to this Ali was the Deputy Director of Sport at the University of Bath having joined as the course leader for the Physical Education Initial Teacher Training programme. Before this Ali was Head of PE at Millfield School, having started her career as teacher in Essex.  

In 2019 Ali received an honorary doctorate of the University of Bath, she was recognized as the Best Leader (not for profit category) in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies in 2020, and in the same year was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.  

Lisa Wainwright trained as a Physical Education teacher at the University of Warwick, where she was also elected Sabbatical Sports Officer and FISU student representative. She then went on to gain an MA in Learning and Teaching and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science for her services to the sports sector by the University of Bedfordshire.  

Lisa has held a number of senior roles at Sport England - initiating the work on the safeguarding standards, club-mark and volunteering - before moving to become CEO at Volleyball England in 2008 and then British Basketball in 2016, before taking on her current role as CEO at the Sport and Recreation Alliance in 2019.  

Internationally, Lisa has held roles on the European Volleyball (CEV) Credentials Panel and at the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) as their Technical Director and on their World Ethics Panel. She was also a member of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Governance Commission, as well as being a Director of the British Olympic Association.  

Lisa has held a number of Non-Executive roles, including at Swim England [Vice Chair and Interim Group Chair of the Group Board 2013-2017] and the Institute of Swimming [Chair 2014 - 2017]. She was a trustee of the Samworth Brothers Sports Opportunity Fund [2012 – 2023] and has been a Director of the Wallace Group of Universities, working to support the development of sport in Zambia for the last 10 years.  

Lisa graduated from the UK Sport CEO Executive Leadership Programme, and in 2018 became an Ambassador for Women on Boards UK. In 2019 she was ranked number 8 in the Top 100 Executive LGBT+ Allies by FT OUTStanding. Lisa is Vice Chair of Governors at Northampton School for Girls, is a member of the Sports Broadcast Committee and a judge for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Unsung Hero Award. Lisa was shortlisted for The Times Sports Women of the Year – Gamechanger Award (2023) for her work in securing the UK’s Secretariat for and host of the International Working Group on Women in Sport. She has two young daughters aged 11 and 12, and in 2022 was awarded an MBE for Services to Sport. 

Anyika is a former British sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres events, and also the 4 x 100 metre relay and 4 x 400 metre relay. In the 4 x 400 metres relay, she won a World Championship bronze medal in 2015, while in 2016 an individual bronze in the 400 metres and relay gold in the 4 x 400 metres at the European Championships were followed by an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay in Rio.

Anyika is an ambassador for Malaria No More UK, having contracted the disease 10 months before competing at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Anyika also graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2008 with a degree in Economics.

Retiring from athletics in 2019, Anyika now works for EY as a Senior People Consultant. Her book "My Hidden Race" was released in 2022 and lifts the lid on what it is like competing at the highest level of athletics as a Black British woman, as well as examining the harsh realities of the sporting system.

Ed Clancy OBE is the most successful Team Pursuit cyclist in history, having won gold with Team GB at three successive Olympics. 2021 marked his sixteenth year as a Team GB team pursuit cyclist as he competed in his fourth Olympic games in Tokyo.

Ed was born in Barnsley in 1985, and grew up in Yorkshire. He would spend hours on his bike and loved cycling, but he wouldn't compete seriously until he was scouted by British Cycling at the age of 16. He won his first gold medal with the Great Britain Team Pursuit squad at the 2005 World Championship, aged 20.

Since then, Ed has competed as an endurance cyclist on both track and road, notably riding for JLT-Condor road team from 2011 to 2018. He won gold in Team Pursuit at both the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the London Olympics in 2012, and was World Champion in Omnium in 2010, winning a bronze medal in the discipline at the London Olympics. 

He fought to return from a back injury and surgery in September 2015 to win an historic third gold medal in Team Pursuit at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

​Ed retired from Team GB in August 2021. His last professional race was in December 2021 as part of the inaugural Track Champions League competition in London. 

​Ed currently works part time for British Cycling's Research and Innovation Team and consults for British Triathlon. In January 2022, he launched performance consultancy business Pursuit Line with his long-term mentor and business partner, Phil Kelly. 

In 2020, along with former road teammate Graham Briggs, he launched the Clancy Briggs Cycling Academy, aiming to get children learning and enjoying riding a bike.