Our Ambassador for the Women's Game

We are delighted to announce that Vivienne McLaren has agreed to be the SFU's Ambassador for the women's game in Scotland. Her passion for women’s and girls’ football and her keen focus on expanding the opportunities available to women and girls to take part in or return to sport has been evident for many years now and there is no doubt that she has played a crucial part in the development of women's football in our country.

In 2016, Vivienne was appointed Chairperson of Scottish Women’s Football, the independent body that manages the domestic game in Scotland, after joining the main Board in 2014 as media and communications director. She then led the transformation of the domestic game as a brand, a commercial entity and as an environment in which girls and women can thrive in Scotland.  

She led the huge growth of the Scottish Women’s Premier League and signed the first broadcast deal for women’s football in Scotland in 2018, shortly after securing the first ever league sponsor. In 2023 the largest sponsorship deal in the Scottish women’s and girls’ game was secured with ScottishPower, covering both Scottish Women’s Football and the SWPL. This was also led by Vivienne and SWF.

Vivienne is a strategy-driven professional who is regarded as one of the leading marketers in the UK. She regularly speaks at events including MarTech, Women in Business, University of Strathclyde MBA programme as well as media interviews on behalf of Scottish Women’s Football (SKY, BBC News, STV and various podcasts and radio).  

Vivienne was VP of Global Marketing at high growth, global technology SaaS company, Ideagen for over 6 years and is now a portfolio marketing director with The Marketing Centre.

She was also President of Giffnock Tennis, Squash and Hockey Club, 2020 and 2021 (LTA and Tennis Scotland Club of the Year 2021) and was appointed Chairperson of mental health and wellbeing charity, YAMS in July 2024.  Vivienne has represented Scottish Women’s Football on Scottish FA Congress since 2017 and was a member of the Women and Girls in Sport Advisory Board for 3 years, providing independent advice to the Scottish Government.

In 2021 Vivienne was the recipient of the Chair’s Award at the Institute of Directors Scotland (IoD) Awards.

In addition, as a long-standing supporter of Walking Football Scotland, Vivienne has championed that organisation’s work and, in 2025, formally joined their Board of Trustees. As we said, we're delighted to have her as our Ambassador for the women's game.

Stuart Murphy, CEO, Scottish Football Union