EY Offers Internships to Female Olympians
19 | 8 | 2016
Rio 2016 Official Supporter and WOA partner EY has announced that it will hire eight Olympians from six countries after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as part of its commitment to leave a positive and lasting legacy from its association with the Games. The announcement was made at the Olympians Reunion Centre by EY in Rio de Janeiro.
EY has a strong record on helping female athletes succeed in business through its Women Athletes Business Network (WABN). Supported by the World Olympians Association, the addition of the Intern Program will further strengthen EY’s offering to Olympians by directly harnessing the leadership potential of female athletes and assisting them through a progression from sport to business.
The athletes who will take part in the inaugural EY Women Athletes Business Network Intern Program are:
- Bronte Barratt – Swimming, Australia
- Kim Brennan – Rowing, Australia
- Isabel Swan – Sailing, Brazil
- Janne Müller-Wieland – Field Hockey, Germany
- Olivia Carnegie-Brown – Rowing, Great Britain
- Wianka van Dorp – Rowing, the Netherlands
- Grace Luczak – Rowing, United States
- Nzingha Prescod – Fencing, United States
The athletes – all of whom have been competing in Rio – have been carefully chosen through a comprehensive recruitment process in collaboration with Athlete Career Transition (ACT). Each was selected from a highly competitive pool of candidates for a six-month internship with EY.
Nancy Altobello, EY Global Vice-Chair – Talent, said:
“Olympians, while the best in the world at their chosen discipline, often need support in making a successful transition into business. Their extreme focus, discipline, perseverance and teamwork are all incredibly transferable skills that we want at EY. We have every confidence that the female athletes selected will thrive in our culture of high-performance teaming, using the skills and experiences they have gained from playing elite sport to help us in our purpose of building a better working world. We wish them every success in their new placements at EY.”
WOA President, Joël Bouzou, said:
“We are proud to support EY in its first Olympian Intern Program and welcome the efforts they are making to ease the process of athlete career transition. The WOA is committed to helping Olympians at all stages of their lives and developing pathways for athletes to succeed once they have retired from professional sport is an important part of that. That is why EY’s groundbreaking approach to helping female athletes should be supported as they champion the advancement of women and recognise the strong connection between women, sport and leadership.”
Triple Olympian Kim Brennan, Rio 2016 single scull rowing champion from Australia, said:
"What I truly value about EY is that it has taken a real initiative with the WABN Intern Program with ACT and is doing something that no other company is doing. A lot of businesses talk about valuing gender equity and say they focus on striving for excellence but they don't change or do anything different. However, EY is actually doing something positive about it and that's what I love – its ability to think outside the box and create something unique."
Isabel Swan, three-time Olympic sailor who was involved in the bid to bring the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to Brazil, said:
"Having studied hard all my life, plus working hard at my sailing career, I have worried about getting the opportunity to use these skills from sport and from school in a new environment when I’m not competing anymore. I'm delighted to have this opportunity to explore working with EY and hopefully finding a new passion in business similar to the love I have for the sport of sailing."
