The UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste, Fareshare, has announced that George Wright, Commercial Director, Food at Marks & Spencer, has been appointed as its new CEO.
George will join the charity this summer, bringing over 30 years of retail and food experience, including commercial roles at Tesco, John Lewis, and Coles in Australia. Having worked at Marks & Spencer for almost four years, George has led the Food Trading, Supply Chain and Logistics teams through COVID, Brexit and a number of successful Christmases.
George’s appointment follows CEO Lindsay Boswell’s announcement that he will leave FareShare in July 2023 after 13 years leading the charity, which has seen it grow in size to redistribute 128 million meals worth of food to 9,500 charities in communities across the UK in 2022.
FareShare Chair John Bason said: “I am delighted to welcome George to FareShare. He brings a deep understanding of the food industry along with a wealth of experience of running the logistic networks of food supply. He has a great desire to make a difference to people’s lives. FareShare has so much to achieve in the coming years to meet the increasing need by charities for the food to support the most vulnerable in society.”
George Wright said: “The outstanding commitment of my colleagues in the FareShare network to delivering surplus food to those who need it most is an inspiration to us all, and I can’t tell you how excited I am that John and the Trustees have chosen me to support everyone in that purpose.
I’m also really looking forward to working with our partners across all parts of the food sector and government alike. By continuing to pull together, we can build on Lindsay’s fantastic legacy and take surplus food redistribution to even greater levels, supporting families for whom the cost of living crisis is exactly that – a crisis. I’m determined to ensure that, as an industry we can address that head-on.”
George will lead FareShare as it builds on its ambitious growth strategy to deliver increased food volumes to support the UK’s grassroots charities and community groups whilst ensuring that Fareshare is financially stable for the years ahead. He will also continue the charity’s campaign to reinstate government funding towards getting food on UK farms to people most impacted by the cost of living crisis rather than letting it go to waste.
