Peg Wyant Recieves ToC Women’s Squash Leadership Award

(l-r): Ashley Bernhard, Jessica Winstanley, Peg Wyant, Melissa Winstanley, John Nimick

Peg Wyant, a pioneer in business, serial founder, philanthropist, writer and the matriarch of one of the most successful families in American squash history, received the 2022 ToC Women’s Women’s Squash Leadership Award during the eighth-annual ToC Women’s Leadership Awards Program Monday, May 2 , at the Yale Club of New York City.

Wyant is lauded as the first woman to wield real decision-making power in big business as Proctor & Gamble’s first female brand manager. She was the company’s first and highest-ranking female executive throughout her ’67-’84 career, with leadership roles in marketing strategic planning and diversity policies.

After Procter, Peg went on to trail-blaze in venture capital and real estate. In 2014, she launched the Cincinnati Squash Academy in her hometown, adding one more vibrant chapter to the national Squash & Education Alliance while pursuing a passion close to her heart.

Throughout her amazing journey, Peg mothered, fostered and inspired four nationally recognized squash champions including Chris, Yale Varsity team member and recent Obama Foundation Deputy Director; Jack Jr, Head Coach at University of Pennsylvania, Missy, national champion and top San Francisco real estate agent, and Tim, US National Team member and Executive Director of the Squash & Education Alliance. Peg and venture-capital executive Jack Wyant call Cincinnati home and have been married for over 45 years.

“I had played tennis and squash at Smith College and I knew if I could beat the boys on court I could beat them in Business,” Wyant said. “Our game is hard. Winning takes work, like life itself. Excellence is achieved not stumbled upon. I complement the ToC for pioneering equality and US Squash for focusing on women. The future of squash is clearly in the hands of women.”

Peg’s book, One Red Shoe (Gatekeeper Press 2021), brings her incredible journey to life and adds the notable achievement of author to her trophy case.

“Squash is grinding out wins in a small box when you really need to, or enduring excruciating losses in the same way–grace under pressure,” Wyant said. “Because of this game, our family, like so many of us learned how to work, to lead, to win, to lose–under pressure and with grace, most of the time. You get a passport with no expiration date, and the confidence to say ‘I can do that.'”

Past recipients include Wendy Lawrence, Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Nicol David, Demer Holleran, Linda Elriani, Natalie Grainger and Jenny Duncalf.