PRINCETON, N.J. -- Five Ivies dot the front office staffs of the six-team National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) that was founded in 2015 with the mission of providing strong female role models for the community while fueling the continued growth of the sport and the brand of women’s hockey. 

Michelle Picard—a Harvard women’s ice hockey alum, an Olympic silver medalist and a five-time World Championships medalist (four gold, one silver)—is the Deputy Commissioner and Director of Player Development for the NWHL. 
 
Fellow Crimson alumna and two-year team captain Johanna Neilson Boynton heads up the ownership group of the Toronto Six expansion club, while also serving as the 30th President of the Harvard Varsity Club. Boynton works closely with Cornell alum and two-year team captain Digit Murphy, who is the President of the Toronto Six. Murphy previously spent 18 seasons as the head coach of the Brown Bears women’s ice hockey team, amassing 318 career victories. 
 
Hayley Moore, a two-year team captain under Murphy at Brown, is the President of the Boston Pride. 
 
Yale alumna Bray Ketchum will be stepping away from her position as General Manager of the Connecticut Whale to focus on a new full-time teaching position. Ketchum was a two-time All-Ivy honoree at Yale and an Isobel Cup champion as a player of the NWHL’s Metropolitan Riveters in 2018 before joining the Whale front office. 
 
Ivies have also excelled on the ice in the NWHL, headlined by 2019-20 Most Valuable Player, 2017-18 and 2018-19 Denna Laing Award winner and all-time leading goal scorer Jillian Dempsey. The Harvard alumna has amassed 46 career goals in five seasons in the NWHL. 
 
The Denna Laing Award is named for Princeton alum Denna Laing—the award’s inaugural recipient in 2015-16—who suffered a career-ending injury while competing in the NWHL. The award annually honors the player how most exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to her sport.