Clarke is departing for a new position as director of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights charity Stonewall.

She joined GBWR as head of operations in January 2012, bringing with her extensive sport development knowledge and experience that she used to support club development and encourage participation growth across wheelchair rugby.

Clarke was previously at Sport England, where she held both national and regional roles, including leading the re-development of Sport England’s Clubmark and running sports programmes.

She also has experience in project and campaign management.

"Kirsty has been our national development director for almost six years and has been at the heart of the transformation of the sport in this country," GBWR chief executive David Pond said.

"Over that period she has built and led a strong development team which has opened up opportunities for wheelchair rugby to be available to many more people in areas which previously had no history and often no knowledge of the game.

"Year on year she has presided over a growth in the number of clubs and of individuals playing the game and this was recognised by Sport England who increased our funding to meet the new demand.

"This in turn has been a real boost for our domestic competition, and with three leagues now playing in the Super Series, our competition is the envy of most nations.

"She has worked intelligently to ensure the long-term sustainability of the sport by focusing on the development of a professional workforce, first with the accredited coaching courses and most recently with the initiatives designed to better support our officials and classifiers."

Pond claimed Clarke’s experience has also been invaluable in GBWR’s dealings with Sport England.

"Her knowledge and insight as we put together two successful Sport England investment proposals was invaluable," he added.

"She has been a highly effective member of the senior management team and I know that I shall miss her as a colleague who I have learned much from.

"With all that said I am delighted that her talent and ambition has been recognised by Stonewall.

"She leaves for an exciting senior post which has just been created and I am sure she will make a huge success of it.

"I know you will all want to join me in saying thank you and good luck.

"We don’t quite say goodbye to her yet and have a couple of months to find her successor, which I will be advertising in the next few days."

In June of this year, GBWR was one of 11 national governing bodies to demand an overhaul into how Olympic and Paralympic funding is distributed in Britain.

It joined forces with Archery GB, BaseballSoftballUK, British Basketball, British Fencing, British Handball, British Volleyball, British Weightlifting, British Wrestling, GB Badminton and Table Tennis England, claiming the current system has "disenfranchised many of the country's elite sportsmen and women" in the rigorous pursuit of medals.

In February, UK Sport rejected appeals from seven sports, including wheelchair rugby, which challenged their funding decisions for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.