Ms Lamb is an experienced CEO including having built the global movement Fairtrade which fights for better conditions and fair prices for smallholder farmers and workers across the developing world.
She said: “I am thrilled to be joining the ace-team at WRAP given their impressive track record of finding solutions, bringing partners together and dialling up the impact.
“I look forward to scaling WRAP’s respected programmes tackling the issues of waste, carbon and water while promoting the circular economy. We can be at the forefront of making the good life, everyone’s life. It’s an enormous opportunity to unite the public, businesses and governments behind tackling climate change head-on.”
WRAP’s Chair Sebastian Munden said: “Appointing a CEO is one of the most important things a Chair and Trustee board do, and we are incredibly excited that Harriet is joining us. She brings a wealth of experience at CEO level and has demonstrated across her career so far that she can bring people together to scale positive change.
“Our purpose at WRAP is to tackle climate change and protect our planet by changing the way things are produced, consumed and disposed of. To bring this about we need to increase our reach and the practical support we can give stakeholders like governments and businesses, internationally and in the UK, to achieve their sustainability goals. I have every confidence that Harriet’s appointment will accelerate our impact.”
Interim CEO Richard Swannell said: “I very much welcome this appointment and look forward to working with Harriet. Her experience of working in the food system at Fairtrade, and working in both the UK and internationally on climate issues will be invaluable to WRAP going forward.”
Ms Lamb has always worked for social and environmental issues, including 15 years with Fairtrade, as CEO of the UK Fairtrade Foundation and then of Fairtrade International. Fairtrade is a certification scheme that sets standards to make trade fairer, working with producers in the developing world as well as thousands of companies and retailers and creating a vibrant grassroots movement.
She is currently CEO of Ashden, which promotes just climate solutions including sustainable energy in the UK and globally. Prior to that she led International Alert, a peacebuilding organisation.
She has won a number of awards including a CBE, Orange Businesswoman of the Year and Cosmopolitan EcoQueen. She was also the first woman Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Ms Lamb will take up her post on March 15th