New Chair for the Fairtrade Foundation
David Clayton-Smith, business and brand consultant, has today been appointed Chair of the Board of the Fairtrade Foundation. The appointment was confirmed at a board meeting in central London.
“I am looking forward to working with the Fairtrade team in developing and implementing their growth strategy” says David, who has been a member of the board of ten people for ten months and is supporting the Head of Communications in developing the Foundation’s new five-year communications strategy.
David, who is Director and Co-founder of the business consultancy Andrum Ltd, has an impressive range of retail and online sector experience. He has been responsible for brand management, sales, marketing, and buying and supply functions in major blue-chip consumer businesses.
Before Andrum Ltd, he was Non-Executive Director of handbag.com, Europe’s biggest online magazine for women. From 2000 to 2003, he was Commercial Director of Halfords Ltd, and from 1998 to 2000 was Customer Marketing Director for Boots the Chemist Ltd. David is a Non-Executive Director of Imagesound plc and Chairman of Highwood Brewery.
“David brings a fresh creative perspective to developing business growth in the Fairtrade sector. His wealth of experience in the consumer-facing retail world, combined with his commitment to development issues, means he is uniquely well placed to help the Foundation scale up to deliver greater benefits for producers,” says Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation.
Harriet also paid tribute to Mike Gidney, Director of Policy at Traidcraft Exchange, who has served as Chair on the Fairtrade Foundation Board for three years and before that was a Board member for three years. Six years is the maximum period it is possible to serve on the Foundation’s Board.
“Mike has constantly challenged the senior management team and staff of the Fairtrade Foundation to deliver his vision of a Fairtrade lifestyle for the public. We are in particular very grateful for all his direction and steer in developing the Foundation’s ambitious five-year strategy launched earlier this year, Tipping the Balance.”
David will now help the organisation deliver the goals of the strategy which, over the next five years, seeks to tip the balance of international trade in favour of disadvantaged producers through maximising the combined effect of changes in:
- the scale and impact of the Foundation’s work with organised farmers and workers in developing countries
- the attitudes and behaviour of UK consumers, businesses and government on fighting poverty through trade.
Specific targets include achieving a UK market share of at least 50 per cent in the top three product categories, and more than 10 per cent in at least six other food and drink categories. The number of farmers and workers in the developing world benefiting from sales of Fairtrade products in the UK will have more than doubled.
David’s other diverse experience includes being Director of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance Ltd (2000–2004), member of the National Cycle Strategy Board (2002–2003), Chairman of the Committee of Advertising Practice (1998–2000), Chair of School Governors at Staffordshire LEA (2000–2004), Freedom of the City of London, and a member of the Marketing Society and the Marketing Group of Great Britain.
Janice Langley, National Federation of Women’s Institutes, will also step down from the Board after six years, and nominations were received at the meeting today for this place. Other members of the Board are:
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treasurer Lynne Gregory of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations,
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Rosemary Byrde of Oxfam,
- Bert Schouwenburg of GMB London Region
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Merling Preza Ramos of the coffee cooperative Prodecoop in Nicaragua, representing Latin American and Caribbean Fairtrade network,
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Ed Mayo of the National Consumer Council, Bert Schouwenburg of the GMB London Region,
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Nabs Suma, consultant on organic and certification issues,
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and Silver Kasoro of the Mabale Tea Factory Company in Uganda, representing Africa Fairtrade Network.
The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. The Foundation was established in 1992 by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, Traidcraft and the World Development Movement, later joined by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. Member organisations now also include Banana Link, Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, People & Planet, SCIAF, Shared Interest Foundation, Soroptimist International, Tearfund and the United Reformed Church.
For further information, please phone 020 7440 7695 /7686 or mobile 07770 957 451, or email martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk or eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk
Notes to Editors
1. The FAIRTRADE Mark is a certification mark and a registered trademark of Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) of which the Fairtrade Foundation is the UK member. This independent consumer label appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal. Today, more than five million people – farmers, workers and their families – across 58 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
2. The full range of Fairtrade products now includes coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, apples, pears, grapes, plums, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, lychees, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, fruit juices, quinoa, peppers, green beans, coconut, dried fruit, rooibos tea, green tea, cakes and biscuits, honey, muesli, cereal bars, jams, chutney and sauces, herbs and spices, nuts and nut oil, wine, beer, rum, flowers, sports balls, rice, yoghurt, babyfood, sugar body scrub, cotton wool and cotton products.
3. The Fairtrade Foundation, which started in the early 1990s, has now grown to more than 70 employees.