Vital SignsVital SignsCheck your MP →
BCNClaire Rowney — no licensed photograph is available, so the sector leader plate is shown instead.

Sector leader

Claire Rowney

Chief Executive, Breast Cancer Now

Breast Cancer Now is based in Bethnal Green and Stepney (London) — the organisation’s base, not a personal address.

Press citations

2

Topics

2

Cancer

Last quoted

Sept 2026

first cited Aug 2026

Claire Rowney: key facts

Kind of voice
Sector leader
Role
Chief Executive
Organisation
Breast Cancer Now
Organisation based in
Bethnal Green and Stepney
Quoted on
Cancer, Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
Tracked press citations
2
Most recently quoted
10 Sept 2026
First quoted
27 Aug 2026

Who Claire Rowney is

Claire Rowney is Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now, the UK's leading breast cancer research and support charity, headquartered in London. She joined the charity in September 2024, having previously served as Executive Director of Fundraising, Marketing, Strategy and Innovation at Macmillan Cancer Support, and spent 13 years at Cancer Research UK. In her first year as CEO she developed and launched the charity's five-year strategy, 'Change Happens Now', which sets a target of raising £100 million annually by 2030. She is a vocal advocate for improving NHS breast cancer screening uptake, earlier diagnosis, and equitable access to treatment, and has publicly called out waiting-time failures and postcode-lottery inequalities in breast cancer care. She previously served as Chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising from 2020.

“Despite breast screening being the most effective way to find breast cancer early, when survival is highest, thousands of women in the UK continue to miss out on this vital health check and those who miss their first appointment are much less likely to go in future.”

References for this biography

  1. 1.Claire Rowney to be new chief executive of Breast Cancer Now | Breast Cancer Now — Confirms appointment as CEO from September 2024, prior roles at Macmillan and Cancer Research UK, and Campaign Magazine Power 100 recognition
  2. 2.Claire Rowney | Breast Cancer Now (staff page) — Confirms current role title (Chief Executive) and responsibility for operational and strategic delivery
  3. 3.Breast Cancer Now sets £100m annual fundraising target in new strategy | Civil Society — Establishes the Change Happens Now strategy goals: earlier diagnosis, tackling inequalities, new treatments, and £100m income target by 2030
  4. 4.NHS launches first-ever breast screening campaign | NHS England — Documents Rowney's public advocacy on breast screening uptake and health inequalities in diagnosis
  5. 5.We respond to Audit Wales Cancer Services Report | Breast Cancer Now — Evidences Rowney's public commentary on NHS waiting times and postcode-lottery inequalities in breast cancer care
  6. 6.Claire Rowney appointed next Chair of Chartered Institute of Fundraising | UK Fundraising — Confirms her role as Chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising from July 2020, and prior career history at Macmillan, Save the Children, and Cancer Research UK
  7. 7.BREAST CANCER NOW overview – Companies House — Confirms registered office address: 6th Floor, The White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 8QS

Notable achievements

  • Developed and launched Breast Cancer Now's five-year 'Change Happens Now' strategy in her first year as CEO, setting a goal to raise £100m annually by 2030 Source ↗
  • Named in Campaign Magazine's 'Power 100' in 2023 Source ↗
  • Served as Chair of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising from 2020 Source ↗
  • Cited by NHS England as a key partner voice in the launch of the first-ever national breast screening awareness campaign (February 2025) Source ↗

What Claire Rowney has said

Recent social activity

  • What a lovely Monday and a glorious welcome I have had - I can’t wait to get to know everyone @BreastCancerNow better, our partners and supporters and of course those people who need our research and are using our support 💕

    x.com ↗

  • Sending love to everyone ⁦⁦@CoppaFeelPeople⁩ I met Kris many years ago when I led ⁦@SU2CUK⁩ - she was an amazing advocate for young women with breast cancer and for all of us working in the field of cancer - a joyful warrior 💕 https://t.co/xQ9vK6EmYN

    x.com ↗

Where Claire Rowney has been quoted

  1. Women missing first mammogram have 40% higher risk of breast cancer deathpulsetoday.co.uk · 10 Sept 2026
  2. Three in four English hospitals failing to hit two cancer targets in league tablestheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Chief executives, directors and spokespeople of trade bodies, representative associations and charities speaking for the sector. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.