5 Fun Facts about Everton’s new Chief Executive Officer

You may have heard that Dr. Denise Barrett-Baxendale MBE was recently promoted to Chief Executive Officer at Everton. You probably already know that she started working with Everton in 2010 as Chief Executive of Everton in the Community and became Chief Operating Officer in 2011.

But did you know the following about the new CEO?

She’s in with the Pope (the Cool Pope, of course)

In 2016, Professor Denise Barrett-Baxendale was invited to a world conference about sports and faith by Pope Francis.

Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images

She’s also in with the Queen, her Royal Majesty and main character of “The Crown”

In 2014, Dr. Barrett-Baxendale received a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Meghan Markle’s future grandmother-in-law for her great work with Everton in the Community.

Photo by John Stillwell - Pool/Getty Images

She is Liverpool “born, bred and educated”

Dr. Barrett-Baxendale stated in her latest Everton general meeting presentation that she likes to take a stroll around Liverpool and feels connected to her neighborhood.

She also told the Echo that she grew up making Everton rosettes and that:

“Being born, bred and educated here it is very special. Both my parents were youth workers and worked in Liverpool 8 for 35 years. I was probably five when I did my first community volunteering work alongside them.”

She is regarded as one of the most prominent and highly-respected women in the world of football

In 2016, women made up about 10% of Premier League directors. More than half of the teams had zero women on their board. Everton is taking a step in the right direction.

Up the Toffees!

Her first order of duty was very well-received

She announced that Big Sam left the club:

“On behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors and Mr Moshiri, I’d like to thank Sam for the job he has done at Everton over the last seven months. Sam was brought in at a challenging time last season to provide us with some stability and we are grateful to him for doing that.

“However, we have made the decision that, as part of our longer-term plan, we will be appointing a new manager this summer and will be commencing this process immediately. Again, we’d like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sam for his work with us over the last few months and wish him well for the future.”

Kudos, Dr!