Zena Wooldridge OBE has spent her career in University Sport alongside many volunteer roles in multi-sport and particularly squash. Zena played squash and squash57 for over 35 years, including 25 caps for England at masters’ level. She has in the past also been a tournament level referee and level 3 coach.

Zena’s previous non-executive director experience includes the Board of British University Sport, Chair of England Squash (2006-12), President of European Squash (2013-19), and Chair of the Squash Technical Committee for FISU (International University Sport Federation). She was also a member of the successful bid committee for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Until October 2020 Zena’s paid job was as Director of Sport at the University of Birmingham, where she led a team of 110 permanent staff and over 100 coaches. She led the business planning and design of over £60m investment in new indoor and outdoor sports facilities, including a multi-sport club with 15,000 members and over one million annual visits, 70% of whom are under 21. It is also the venue for a range of national and international events, including the British Junior Open (since 2018), World University Squash Championships 2018, Commonwealth Games 2022 (squash & hockey) and the 2023 World Blind Sport Games.

Zena has an economics degree from the University of Warwick and a Masters in Sport Management from Loughborough University. She is also a graduate of UK Sport’s International Leadership programme.

Zena received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2009 for Services to Sport.

Other than her love for sport and sport events, Zena’s other interests include contemporary art, hot air ballooning, cycling and walking with friends.