Danny Kerry has been named Head Coach of the England and Great Britain Women's hockey teams on a permanent basis through to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.
Widely recognised as one of the best coaches in the world, Kerry has decided to become coach on a permanent basis, having been England Hockey Performance Director since 2012, a role he combined with that of Interim Coach since 2014.
In the last 18 months he has coached the England women to become Unibet European EuroHockey Champions for the first time in more than 20 years, and he was also named High Performance Coach of the Year at the scUK Awards in 2015.
Kerry said: "My passion is coaching and that is the fundamental basis for me making this decision.Â
"My coaching is still developing, I'm only 45 and, while I have the energy and keep getting better at what I do, I want to keep pursuing that passion for as long as I can.
"I've thoroughly enjoyed the dual role as Performance Director and Interim Women's Head Coach for the past 18 months, and we've set in place important, much-needed and profound changes at both elite and development level.
"We've centralised the men's programme, improved our talent pathway, developed our coaches and I am very satisfied that we are moving in the right direction.
"So, with that work well underway, I'm really excited about leading the programme into the next cycle.
"We have a fantastic, well-funded programme from UK Sport, a great sponsor in Investec, excellent players in the programme and more talent coming in.
"We were successful in the Euros last year, we have the Champions Trophy and Rio this summer, a home World Cup in 2018 and then Tokyo in 2020, so I think the combination of factors across the board makes my decision the right one."
Chief Executive Sally Munday added: "Danny is an exceptional coach and rightly considered one of the best in the world.
"He has also been an excellent Performance Director and under his leadership we have made huge progress in our coaching and talent development programmes.
"Keeping talented people like Danny is an absolute priority for us and, seeing him back coaching the women's team in the past 18 months, it is clear the impact he has.
"I fully believe he will provide our talented players with the best chance of winning more gold medals moving forwards.
"I am thrilled we have been able to retain him permanently through to Tokyo."
Kerry will continue in his dual role through to the Rio Games and the hunt for a new Performance Director will begin immediately, with the plan being that the new appointee will start work immediately after the Rio games.
The GB team will next be in action at the Champions Trophy at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre from 18-26 June.
