The Fairtrade Foundation has appointed the former head of the education charity Impetus as its next chief executive.

Eleanor Harrison, who led Impetus between September 2020 and June 2024, has most recently been working as a freelance interim chief executive and consultant.

She succeeds Michael Gidney, who announced in September that he would be leaving the Fairtrade Foundation, which ​​works with farming co-operatives, businesses and governments to make trade fairer, to take up a role at another charity.

In Kind Direct, which redistributes donated consumer products from companies to charities, announced today that Gidney joined last week as chief executive.

Harrison was chief executive of GlobalGiving UK, which connects non-profits to donors and companies, between 2012 and 2018 and was vice-chair of the NGO umbrella body Bond between 2014 and 2020.

She is chair of Asylum Reform Initiative UK and was appointed OBE in 2016 for services to international development.

“Fairtrade’s mission speaks to my values,” she said. “To connect producers and consumers and promote fairer trading conditions so producers can earn a fair income has never been more vital.

“Trade can and must work better for people and planet at this critical time of heightened political, economic and environmental volatility and fragility.

“I will lead the Fairtrade Foundation with empathy, ambition and warmth and look forward to working with our team, partners and network to take Fairtrade to the next level.”

Nyagoy Nyong’o, chair of the Fairtrade Foundation, said Harrison “brings a wealth of experience in how to make lasting change happen and has a very strong track record in growing impact, influence and income through visionary, strategic leadership, well-honed change-management skills and energy, compassion and optimism”.

Fiona Kindness, chief financial officer at the Fairtrade Foundation, will be interim chief executive until Harrison joins in March.