Elizabeth Mary Nicholl (''née'' Daley; born August 1952) is a British sports administrator and former

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player. She served as chief executive of

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

from 2010–19, and is the current president of

World Netball World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, m ...

Early life and education

Nicholl was born in

Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...

, Wales, the sixth of seven children. Her father was a junior schoolteacher and coached his school's football and cricket teams. She played various sports growing up and tried to compete with the boys on her father's teams. She began playing

competitively and played at university. One of her coaches at university was Sue Campbell, now Baroness Campbell, who also served as Chair of UK Sport. Nicholl represented Wales in international netball competition including two world championships , with 22

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

between 1975 and 1979. She played as a centre and wing attack. Nicholl earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from Leicester University and a Master's of Science in Recreation Management at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

Career

Nicholl served as chief executive of the

All England Netball Association England Netball, formerly the "All England Netball Association", is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in England. Overview England Netball is responsible for the management of the England national netball team, nic ...

from 1980 to 1982 and 1986 to 1999, and was director of the

1995 World Netball Championships The 1995 World Netball Championships was the ninth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Birmingham, England and featured a record 27 teams. South Africa returned to competiti ...

held in Birmingham. Nicholl joined UK Sport in 1999 as the Director of Elite Sport overseeing the Performance Directorate. After 10 years in this role, she was appointed chief operating officer (COO) in 2009. In 2010, she was named chief executive officer. During her time at UK Sport, the United Kingdom has improved significantly in international sporting events. The UK finished just 36th in the medal table at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, but improved its performance at each successive Olympic Games. In 2016, the UK finished second in the Olympic and Paralympics medal tables and made history as the first country to increase its medal count at both the Olympics and the Paralympics immediately after hosting the Games. Nicholl has been called the architect of the organisation's strict "all or nothing" funding system, which has faced criticism due to its focus on medal count and budget cuts in sports that perform poorly. In 2014 she was called "the most powerful woman" in British sport. Nicholl left her role as CEO at UK Sport in July 2019.

Voluntary Roles

Nicholl is currently the President of

. She was elected at the INF Congress 2019 in Liverpool ahead of the

2019 Netball World Cup The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with matche ...

. Since 2017 she has been a member of H M Government Sports Honours Committee. In 2019 she was appointed to the FAs Barclays Womens Super League Board. In 2021 she was appointed to the Loughborough University London Advisory Board. Previous voluntary roles include being Vice Chair of Commonwealth Games England and Board member of Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games 1998-2003; Board member of the Central Council of Physical Recreation (now rebranded Sport and Recreation Alliance) and its Vice Chair 1997-99. Nicholl stepped down from these two roles at the appropriate points to avoid any potential conflict of interest with her UK Sport role.https://netball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019_inf_congress_items_17-21.pdf

Honours

Nicholl was made a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

, for services to netball. She was appointed an Officer of the same order (OBE) in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and appointed a Commander (CBE) in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, both for services to sport. Nicholl received honorary Doctorates from the University of Hertfordshire 2015; the University of Nottingham in 2015 and the University of Loughborough in In 1996 she received the Sunday Times Sports Administrator of the Year Award. In 2016, Nicholl was awarded the

Sports Journalists' Association The Sports Journalists' Association (SJA) is an association for British sports journalists. It represents the British sports media on the British Olympic Association's press advisory committee and acts as a consultant to organizers of major events ...

(SJA) Gold Medal for services to elite sport. In 2019 she received the British Sport Industry Lifetime Achievement Award.

Personal life

She married Andrew Nicholl in 1980. They have two adult children and a granddaughter. She and her husband, a retired sports management consultant, live in

Hitchin, Hertfordshire Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding 300 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholl, Liz 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Welsh netball players Alumni of the University of Nottingham Alumni of Loughborough University British sports executives and administrators Netball administrators Commanders of the Order of the British Empire