Millfield School is delighted to announce the appointment of a high-ranking Army officer as its Director of Sport. Brigadier Irena Dzisiewska will leave the Army to join Millfield in December 2024 and is the first female Director of Sport at the renowned sporting powerhouse.   

 The ironman triathlete is hugely passionate about sport and will be responsible for the delivery and development of sport at Millfield. Irena has challenged herself across many sporting disciplines during her lifetime having swum relays across the English Channel and Lake Zurich, run several marathons and numerous Ski-touring expeditions. She is a keen horsewoman and previously played rugby at England Students, British Army, and Premiership level. 

Millfield is rated as the top school for sport in the country for 10 out of 11 years by School Sports Magazine and has had 76 Olympians compete at the games since 1956 with more former students making their debut at the Paris Olympics this summer.   

 Millfield offers over 30 sports to its 1,300 students and employs 16 Heads of Sport solely focused on delivering sport programmes and creating a unique development environment for budding athletes. 

A divergent thinker, Irena is a highly skilled director and operations planner. She is currently working as the Chief Engineer in the UK’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps based in Gloucester. 

 She has a track record of leading successful, diverse, multi-national teams in large organisations and acted as a Chief of Staff for five military training centres. She has led multinational and civil-military teams within UN operations, NATO HQ and in UK operational headquarters. Her strengths lie in leadership, energy and innovative thinking. 

Irena has a PGCert in Security and Strategy for Global Leaders, a BEng Hons in Chemical Engineering from Loughborough University and is a French speaker.  

She takes over the Director of Sport role from Dr Scott Drawer who returned to INEOS Grenadiers Cycling Team as Performance Director earlier this year. 

Irena said: “I am thrilled to be stepping in to the role of Director of Sport at such a remarkable institution. I look forward to contributing and helping to elevate programs that create an even better Millfield.”  

Headmaster Gavin Horgan said: “We are delighted to appoint Irena to this pivotal position at Millfield and are excited about working with her to further build on Millfield’s reputation as the school for sports development and success. Millfield is at the forefront of youth sport development, not just in the UK, but in the world and we will continue to put sport on the pedestal it deserves and champion the benefits it brings to people throughout their lifetime.”