Head coach of the swimming program, Jacky Beckford-Henriques earned quite the honour on Monday afternoon being named one of the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

The award recognizes outstanding women across Canada who advocate for workforce diversity and inspire tomorrow's leaders. Beckford-Henriques was one of five University of Waterloo employees to have received the distinguished award. The Top 100 Awards span the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, with the winners selected by WXN's Diversity Council of Canada.

"We are all incredibly proud but not surprised that Jacky has received this wonderful recognition," said Director of Athletics and Recreation. "Jacky is an outstanding role model in all facets of our department including her important role guiding our student-athletes in and out of the pool, as well as her work around creating equity and inclusion as a co-founder of The Alliance. I am proud not only to call Jacky a member of our team but a friend and very happy that she could be recognized for all of her leadership."

WXN rankings are widely seen as a measure of exceptional impact for leadership in business, research, the arts, public administration, and community advocacy. Past winners include the novelist Margaret Atwood, Canada's first woman astronaut Roberta Bondar and former governor general Michaëlle Jean, who is now chancellor of St. Paul's University College.
 
Jacky Beckford-Henriques has been the head coach of the Waterloo Warriors swim program since 2017. Before joining the Warriors, Beckford-Henriques was the head coach of the Jamaican National swim program, coaching at three different Olympic Games (2000, 2004, 2008). In 2019, Beckford-Henriques was named the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Coach of the Year for the men's team.
 
Beckford-Henriques co-founded The Alliance, an anti-racism group at the University of Waterloo working towards educating members of the Waterloo community and the larger community on equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is also a member of the OUA Black, Biracial, and Indigenous committee, working to create inclusion and eliminate racism across university sport in Ontario. 
 
In the world of swimming, Beckford-Henriques is currently working on a template for a Learn to Swim program for the BIPOC community in Waterloo that would be free to participants. The hope is for that template to be transferable to other universities and other sports where barriers for BIPOC communities exist. 

Beckford-Henriques loves to travel and believes travelling and experiencing other cultures creates new opportunities and experiences for her student-athletes. She is married to Nigel Henriques who is an Associate Director of Systems in the Department of Advancement, is a proud mom to three young men, and loves taking part in dog shows with her English Cocker Spaniel and German Shepherd.

"I am taken aback by this award and very thankful to the WXN and the University of Waterloo for giving me the support to lead our Warriors swim program while developing life-long relationships with many across campus," said Beckford-Henriques. "Congratulations to all of the other powerful women who were all very deserving of receiving this award."