Nancy Kelley

Nancy Kelley is Stonewall’s incoming Chief Executive. Nancy will start on 1 June and takes over from Paul Twocock, who served as interim chief executive, following Ruth Hunt’s departure in August 2019.

Nancy is currently the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of the Policy Research Centre at the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). At NatCen, she led a team of over 80 researchers specialising in social issues like health, crime and justice, education, work and income, and has been the lead on revenue growth as NatCen has returned to financial health over recent years.

Nancy is a passionate advocate for social justice and equality, and while at NatCen has worked on public attitudes to LGBT communities, as well as experiences of discrimination and social exclusion across LGBT communities and other disadvantaged groups.

Throughout her 20-year career, Nancy has built up a diverse record of policy and leadership experience working across the third sector and in Government. Prior to joining NatCen, she worked at the Department for Work and Pensions.

She has also held various policy and research roles at UK charities including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Refugee Council and Barnardos.

Nancy joins Stonewall after a transformational period for the charity which saw it become fully trans inclusive, develop ground-breaking partnerships with the likes of UK Black Pride and The Premier League, and release a series of in-depth research reports, describing the state of the nation for LGBT people in Britain.