Julie Walker
Founder | Participation Systems | Sport & Community Design
Helping organisations understand how participation systems work – and where opportunity already exists.
35+ years in international transformation, innovation, systems design, and strategic change. Current work focuses on sport, participation, history, and community design.
What I do
I work at the intersection of participation, systems, and organisational change.
For more than 35 years, I have worked in complex environments where formal structures do not fully reflect lived reality—where progress depends on coordination, trust, behaviour, and participation.
Today, that same lens informs my work in sport, community design, and historical systems analysis.
I am particularly interested in moments where:
- participation exists before formal recognition
- communities sustain systems through contribution and continuity
- institutions overlook structures already operating in plain sight
- change emerges through lived practice rather than top-down instruction
Core insight: Participation often precedes governance.
Current Work
Current work spans participation, sport, community design, and strategic systems thinking.
Women’s Golf History Project
Evidence-based research exploring women’s golf as a long-run participation system.
Women’s Golf: Participation & Belonging
Book in development exploring participation, belonging, governance, and women’s golf history.
160 Years of Women’s Golf
Global participation initiative recognising and celebrating 160 years of organised women’s golf participation (1867–2027).
EXPERIENCE SNAPSHOT
International transformation and innovation leadership across:
Ford | HSBC | Sky | Lloyds Banking Group | Ogilvy Worldwide | LexisNexis | Ericsson
Experience spanning systems design, customer experience, organisational transformation, international programme leadership, behavioural adoption, and complex stakeholder environments.
Lived Experience
I came to golf later in life and became fascinated not only by the game itself, but by the invisible systems that shape participation, belonging, and opportunity.
Alongside research and strategy work, I have participated across club, county, national, senior, volunteer-led, and independent formats in the UK and internationally.
Outside work, I have always been an explorer – from sailing two legs of a round-the-world yacht race to climbing Kilimanjaro, cycling Vietnam, trekking to Machu Picchu, and volunteering with Animals Asia in China.
That lived perspective shapes how I see systems in practice.
Current areas of interest include:
- participation systems
- sport & community design
- belonging
- membership futures
- women in sport
- strategic advisory work
- speaking and collaboration
Based in the UK · Working internationally
📧 Email Julie
🔗 LinkedIn