Climate action NGO WRAP has announced the appointment of Harriet Lamb as its new CEO.

Lamb worked for 15 years at Fairtrade as CEO of the UK Fairtrade Foundation and then of Fairtrade International. She is currently CEO of Ashden, which promotes 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.

Speaking about her appointment, Lamb 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.

“I have every confidence that Harriet’s appointment will accelerate our impact.”

Lamb will take up her post on March 15th, replacing interim CEO Richard Swannell. Commenting on the news, 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.”