Dr Chris Whitaker
Nominee Profile
Location: Cambridge
Chris has been a lifelong advocate for disabled people, acquiring Cerebral Palsy during a challenging childbirth that he was lucky to survive. He was the first person from his special school to successfully transfer to a mainstream school, and has been breaking barriers ever since.
Primarily motivated by making a positive difference to others, Chris has had a successful career doing disability work in the public and third sectors over a total of 15 years. He is currently Head of Disability at Sport England, managing a portfolio of funding and providing expert advice in engaging with disabled people. Earlier this year, Chris was awarded an honorary Doctorate for services to Disability Sport and in recognition of his career success to date.
Chris also has an accomplished academic background with qualifications in Law and Criminology, completing his PhD via study in 2012. He has also recently completed his Executive MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School, being awarded a Diversity Scholarship for his commitment to furthering disability equality.
At Cambridge, Chris completed important work on improving disability representation and inclusion, specialising in work to engage disabled people in employment. Chris also worked with his college, Lucy Cavendish to steer a disability inclusion task force to help improve accessibility, including delivering training sessions to staff.
Recently, Chris has also established his own business, Purple Advantage, with his wife Fran (who is also a 5-time World Champion swimmer!) to help provide training and education on disability employment. His combination of lived experience, academic knowledge and technical expertise which is delivered in an emotionally intelligent way make him the personification of a positive role model for disability.
Primarily motivated by making a positive difference to others, Chris has had a successful career doing disability work in the public and third sectors over a total of 15 years. He is currently Head of Disability at Sport England, managing a portfolio of funding and providing expert advice in engaging with disabled people. Earlier this year, Chris was awarded an honorary Doctorate for services to Disability Sport and in recognition of his career success to date.
Chris also has an accomplished academic background with qualifications in Law and Criminology, completing his PhD via study in 2012. He has also recently completed his Executive MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School, being awarded a Diversity Scholarship for his commitment to furthering disability equality.
At Cambridge, Chris completed important work on improving disability representation and inclusion, specialising in work to engage disabled people in employment. Chris also worked with his college, Lucy Cavendish to steer a disability inclusion task force to help improve accessibility, including delivering training sessions to staff.
Recently, Chris has also established his own business, Purple Advantage, with his wife Fran (who is also a 5-time World Champion swimmer!) to help provide training and education on disability employment. His combination of lived experience, academic knowledge and technical expertise which is delivered in an emotionally intelligent way make him the personification of a positive role model for disability.