Denise Barrett Baxendale

One of the most prominent and respected women in sport, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale is Chief Executive Officer of Everton Football Club. She is the first female Director ever to be appointed to Everton’s Board, and a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) having been recognised for her ‘Services to the Community of Merseyside’. Previously Everton’s Chief Operating Officer and Deputy CEO, Denise immediately prioritised restructuring the Club’s top-level operations on becoming Chief Executive in June 2018, a process that led to the appointments of Marcel Brands and Marco Silva as Director of Football and Manager respectively, the creation of the Club’s first Executive Leadership Team and a move to new headquarters at the iconic Royal Liver Buildings on Liverpool waterfront. Having obtained a doctorate in education from Liverpool John Moores University and worked in the industry for 16 years, Denise initially arrived at the Football Club in January 2010 to develop and lead a transformation strategy for Everton in the Community. Her early successes in that venture, which included the organisation receiving a ‘Big Society Award’ from then-Prime Minister David Cameron and Everton becoming the first Premier League football club to receive government approval for and then open a Free School, led to Denise taking on a greater role within the Football Club itself and she still serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Everton in the Community. She oversaw projects that led to an increase in attendances at Goodison Park and an enhancement in the Club’s reputation both nationally and abroad, while Everton’s Safety and Stewarding Operation was voted the best in the Premier League for an eighth successive year. It was within this time, in October 2014, that she attended Buckingham Palace to receive her MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, having been named on that year’s Birthday Honours List.