Sarah Clarke

Sarah Davina Clarke (born 12 October 1965) is a British administrator. Since 13 February 2018, she has served as Black Rod, the first female Black Rod in the 650-year history of the role. The role is currently formally styled "The Lady Usher of the Black Rod"; for previous incumbents, "The Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod" was used. She is also the first woman to hold the accompanying posts of Serjeant-at-Arms for the House of Lords, Secretary to the Lord Great Chamberlain and to be appointed an Officer of the Order of the Garter. Before taking this role, she was Championships Director in charge of the administration of The Championships, Wimbledon. She was the first woman to hold this post and the first woman to be a Grand Slam Tournament Director. On 11 June 2022, she made a rare public speaking appearance in Liverpool, England to address the Annual Meeting of the Women's Institute. Early life and education Clarke was born on 12 October 1965 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. She was educated at Wolverhampton Girls' High School, a grammar school in Wolverhampton: it was also the school of the first Lord Speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness Hayman. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Science and Business Studies (1988) from the Roehampton Institute of Higher Education (now the University of Roehampton), a Certificate in Marketing (1993) from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and a Master of Science degree in Risk Crisis and Disaster Management (2005) from the University of Leicester. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Wolverhampton in 2018.