Mayo woman honoured for role in the world of sports business

A Mayo woman has been named as one of the Game Changers Class of 2026 which recognises women for their leadership, innovation and accomplishments in the world of sports business.

Castlebar woman Jacqueline Bourke has been selected for the prestigious honour by Sports Business Journal, alongside 59 other honourees.

Originally from Newtown, Castlebar, but now residing in Ballyvary, Jacqueline is Senior Director of Creative EMEA at Getty Images.

Jacqueline is changing how women and girls in sports are portrayed, using research-driven campaigns to shift perceptions, expand visibility and create commercial value across the industry.

When rugby player Shaunagh Brown turned up for the Premiership Women’s Rugby “Powered Differently” photoshoot in 2024, she told Jacqueline she was tired of the same old poses.

“I can reel off now, very quickly, the four poses I’ve been asked to do all over these years when I come in to do a headshot,” Brown said. “And I want to do something different.” Jacqueline invited Brown and the other players into the creative process. It was “a first for Shaunagh and the other nine players in this campaign,” Jacqueline said. The behind-the-scenes video drew more than 1.7 million views across Premiership Women’s Rugby’s Instagram and TikTok channels.

Jacqueline, who has more than two decades of experience spanning media, advertising and academia, leads Getty’s proprietary research and insights platform, VisualGPS. It works with brands to identify credible, relevant and representative images for particular audiences.

“Sports,” Jacqueline said, must recognise women’s sports “as a true cultural shift with its own fandom dynamics, rather than as a category expansion, often limited to match-day visibility.” British Gymnastics has paid tribute to Jacqueline following her selection and her work with work the organsisation.

“As part of our She Leaps programme, we’re working with Getty Images to understand how women and girls want to be represented in gymnastics imagery and wider content. Through our partnership, we’re bringing together research, creative expertise and most importantly, the experiences of people within the gymnastics community, to explore what authentic, diverse and representative visual content looks like. Our project is about looking at what else we can do so that more women and girls feel included and represented in our brilliant sport.

As Jacqueline puts it, the project aims to “maximise the positive impact gymnastics has for women and girls and remove worry about conforming to out-of-date ideals of who can be a gymnast.” Claire Murray, Head of Strategic Content and Campaigns at British Gymnastics said: "It's fantastic to see Jacqueline recognised as a Game Changer in this space. Through our partnership with Getty Images we’ve been listening to the views of athletes and gymnasts at all levels as well as parents, coaches and judges to explore positive changes we can make to the visual language of our sport. But this is about much more than imagery — it’s about identity, wellbeing and helping women and girls stay connected to gymnastics, and to sport, with confidence at every level.”