Rachel Williams

Currently Head of Inclusion and Diversity at Football Foundation, the UK's leading football charity, I am responsible for leading the development and delivery of the Foundation's EDI strategy and initiatives. With over 10 years of experience in EDI across various sectors, I have the expertise and passion to make a difference for our team, our grant applicants, and those who use our funded sites.

I am a CMI certified leader and a lifelong learner, always eager to collaborate, learn, and share ideas with others who share my vision and values. I have successfully delivered training, consultancy, and programs on EDI topics, working with diverse stakeholders and partners . My goal is to create a culture of belonging and empowerment for everyone in football and beyond.

I am an experienced inclusion and diversity leader with over a decade of driving EDI strategy, governance, and culture change across sport, Parliament, professional services, and the private sector. As Head of Inclusion and Diversity at the Football Foundation, I lead the strategic implementation of “Together for Football”, embedding EDI into our culture, workforce development, funding decisions, and community engagement, while advising executives and the Board and overseeing our Tier 3 Code for Sports Governance compliance.

Alongside this, I serve as Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Cornwall FA, shaping inclusive grassroots football across the county and founding Stragazy FC, Cornwall’s first LGBT+ inclusive club, where I also chair the Inclusion Advisory Group. Previously, I was Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Program Manager at Degreed and the first Head of Inclusion and Diversity at the UK House of Lords, where I built D&I from the ground up, authored strategies such as “Focus on Inclusion” and “Action on Inclusion”, and helped the organisation achieve recognition including Inclusive Employer Gold Standard, Stonewall Top 100, Top 50 Inclusive Employers, and Disability Confident Leader status.

Earlier in my career, I held EDI-focused roles at EY as a Diversity and Inclusiveness Senior Associate and at Inclusive Employers as Member Engagement Manager, delivering data-led reporting, training, consultancy, communications, and national campaigns such as National Inclusion Week. Across all these roles, I have consistently combined strategic influence with practical delivery, using data, policy, and strong stakeholder relationships to dismantle structural barriers and create cultures of belonging.

CMI Level 6 - Culture and Inclusive Leadership

Masters Degree in Holocaust, Modernism and Post Modernism

Undergraduate Degree in English Literature