Business and Farming

Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), he demonstrated that business can profit through purpose, delivering shareholder returns of 290% while the company consistently ranked 1st in the world for sustainability. Today he works across a range of organisations to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which he helped develop. His widely-acclaimed Net Positive was a Financial Times Business Book of the Year. www.paulpolman.com

Peter went into publishing on the design side and started his own company in 1974 with a partner. Dorling Kindersley became a highly successful publishing company and it was finally sold in 2000 to Pearson PLC - owners of Penguin. Peter and his wife Juliet had bought Sheepdrove Farmhouse in 1970 and they bought an additional 2250 acres of land which they now run as a successful organic farm and centre. Their aim is to make the land serve both people and nature.

Travelling across Asia on the ‘hippie trail’ of the 1970s led to Tony and Maureen Wheeler creating Lonely Planet Publications. One hundred million books – plus websites, digital publications, smart phone apps, a photo library and TV productions – later, they sold the business to BBC Worldwide. This hasn’t stopped them travelling or working with their developing world foundation Planet Wheeler.

Gordon Roddick born 1942, Annan, Scotland graduated from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. Gordon was a co-founder of The Body Shop 1976 and was the cofounder and funder of The Big Issue in 1991. A strong human rights and social justice activist, Gordon has for many years supported the Free the Angola 3 coalition. More recently his activism has extended to co-founding 38degrees.org.uk, a non-party political movement that seeks to empower every citizen.

In 2002 Ben Goldsmith co-founded WHEB Group, now one of Europe’s leading specialist green investment businesses. Ben is also actively involved in environmental philanthropy through the JMG Foundation, which funds campaigning and advocacy work on key environmental issues. In 2003, Ben co-founded the UK Environmental Funders' Network, which brings together more than 80 grant-making organizations with a combined annual budget of more than €80 million.

David and Mike are the CEO & President of Dr Bronner's Magic Soaps, and grandsons of the company founder, Emanuel Bronner. Their soap products are organic, fair trade and have become best sellers in the US with sales growing in Europe and Asia. David, who is vegan, is also an activist for the farming and use of hemp in foods and body care products and against the use of GMO's. The brothers combine issue activism and philanthropy with business prowess.

Michael is a well-known entrepreneur and restaurateur in London. He has held several senior positions in the Restaurant Association (over 3,500 members) and is currently Chairman Emeritus. He is a founding partner of the Buell Consulting Group, which works mainly in the hospitality and leisure sector.

Michael Pellman Rowland is an impact expert and board member at Baseline Wealth Management. He is a board member at Mercy For Animals while also advising The Good Food Institute and the Eat Foundation.

Peter Hall is the founder, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Hunter Hall Investment Management, Australia’s largest dedicated ethical investor with A$1.2 billion of assets. Peter is a director of the International Rhino Foundation, Patron of the Asian Rhino Project and a member of the Order of Australia.

Deborah is a highly successful entrepreneur and Dragons Den Investor, who spends her time between London and her West Country home. She is devoted to her many animals: cats, dogs, horses, pigs, sheep and even geese (many of which have been rescued). Deborah has been involved in a wide range of Business Ventures, primarily within the Leisure sector and is now a full-time investor with a wide-ranging portfolio. Despite endless TV and business commitments Deborah has said that Compassion’s work is “something close to her heart” and readily supports our campaigns.

Devendra Raj is the former Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and has held many senior posts in both government and banking in India. He is also founder and Chief Patron of BMVSS, (also known as Jaipur Foot), which has distributed over a million free replacement limbs to the disabled. A devout Jain, who believes in reverence for life, he is on the Board of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO). He was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his work.

Leo Johnson is the co-Founder of Sustainable Finance, and founder of the urban wine-making cooperative "Unthinkable Drinkable Brent". He is a Visiting Fellow at the Smith School of Enterprise & Environment at Oxford and co-author of "Turnaround Challenge: Business & the City of the Future" (OUP 2013). He is the co-Founder of Photo London, and of the Prix Pictet, the global prize for photography on sustainability. He is a regular presenter of the BBC World News programme "One Square Mile".

Julian Richer is the founder and managing director of Richer Sounds PLC, the U.K.’s biggest hi-fi and home cinema equipment retailer.  In May 2019 Julian announced that he was transferring 60% of the company into an employee owned trust.

He’s written several books the most well-known being The Richer Way, published in 1995 and now in its sixth edition, and his latest book The Ethical Capitalist was launched in 2018 to promote responsible capitalism which has received favourable reviews.

Richer Sounds gives 15% of its profits to charity though it’s charity foundation supporting several hundred organizations each year.  In addition Julian has founded six himself which he oversees; Acts 435 to help those in need, ASB Help to help victims of anti-social behaviour, Richer Unsigned to help musicians and Tax Watch UK to investigate and expose aggressive tax avoidance, Zero Hours Justice hoping to ban zero hours contracts and the Good Business Charter to encourage good business behaviour.

Darina Allen is Ireland’s most famous cook and owns the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Co Cork, which runs courses all year round and is in the midst of an organic farm. Darina is a passionate and committed teacher and helped set up the Farmers Market movement in Ireland. She is a Trustee of the Irish Organic Centre, a Patron of Irish Seed Savers, a member of the European Association of Chefs and the Guild of Food Writers in both the UK and Ireland, and a Councillor in the Slow Food Movement.

The multi-brand wellness brand founder now publishing Liz Earle Wellbeing magazine, Liz is also a bestselling author, broadcaster and campaigner for sustainable and environmentally sound farming practices. Liz has been a pioneer of the Pasture For Life movement in farming and an advocate for free-range, grass-fed meat, milk and dairy production. Founder of the charity LiveTwice, Liz also works with sustainable development projects in communities across East Africa and is an ambassador for the Prince’s Countryside Fund and an ambassador for Fairtrade.

Ryan Pandya, a bioengineer by training, co-founded Perfect Day in 2014 to develop an alternative to the intensive factory farming of dairy cows. He is passionate about restructuring and redefining the food system in order to minimize impact on the planet, animals, and public heath, while maintaining the rich culture surrounding food and ensuring that good, healthy food is accessible to as many people as possible. With Perfect Day, Ryan hopes to combine the best of the business world with engaged activism.

Bruno Loubet is a multiple award-winning, Michelin-starred chef from France. His latest venture in Kings Cross is Grain Store, awarded London Restaurant of the Year at the Sustainable Restaurant Awards 2015. Bruno is an innovator, calling for a reduction in meat consumption. He has banned beef from Grain Store and centres his dishes around plant foods, saying “you can eat very well by eating much less meat and have exciting colourful tasty food on your plate". He also uses free-range meat, sustainably sourced fish, and herbs as well as edible flowers from a local community garden.

Kevin Brennan is CEO of Quorn Foods Ltd. A businessman with a great marketing record, Kevin is passionate about Quorn, a mycoprotein meat alternative, now widely sold in supermarkets in the UK, Europe and, increasingly, in the US and Asia. Quorn is a leading partner in the annual “World Meat Free Day”, celebrated each June. The company has recently developed several vegan products. Outside of work, Kevin is a family man, a gigging guitarist and speaks Chinese, having previously lived there for 3 years.

Seth Goldman is Co-Founder of Eat the Change®, a snack brand that offers chef-crafted, nutrient-dense planet-friendly foods. Eat the Change® recently launched a line of organic mushroom jerky and launched a kid-friendly snack line in fall of 2021. Seth is also the Co-founder of PLNT Burger, Honest Tea and Chair of the board of Beyond Meat. He has been widely recognized for his entrepreneurial success and impact, including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in Greater Washington, the Washington DC Business Hall of Fame, Beverage Industry magazine’s Executive of the Year, Beverage Industry Magazine’s Executive of the Year and Partnership for Healthier America’s CEO of the Year

Claire Smith is a vegan entrepreneur and impact investor based in Geneva, Switzerland. She has created Beyond Investing for vegans and environmentalists, with programs in both public equity markets (the US Vegan Climate Index) and venture capital, directly founding and investing in vegan, plant-based and cruelty-free businesses. She is a co-founder of Beyond Animal, an online platform to accelerate the growth of a thriving vegan economy, and the founder of Beyond Cruelty Foundation, formed to campaign for zero animal exploitation and to fund safe havens for animals.

Now more or less retired, Roger has had a varied career; among other things he was an  economics lecturer at Cambridge, a commercial manager at BP, Finance Director at National Power and finally Chairman of the Competition Commission. His other roles have included Chair of Governors at Winchester University and non-exec director at Anglian Water. He is currently helping Ofgem regulate the energy network companies and is a Trustee of Opportunity International, a microfinance charity.

Ruud Zanders is Founding Partner of Kipster. He grew up on a poultry farm and studied economics at Wageningen University. He had his own largescale poultry farms. A personal crisis led him to change his thinking. Since 2008, he has focussed on sustainable, relatively small scale, ecological and higher welfare animal production. His latest project, together with 3 partners, is Kipster: a revolutionary poultry farm that will produce higher welfare eggs and meat with minimal pressure on the environment. It will be an example for the role of animals in a worldwide, sustainable food system. Ruud dreams of the time when we no longer use animals at all in our food system. Until then, we all have an obligation to respect the animal as much as possible and to cause as little suffering as possible.

Paul owns and runs The Victoria Public House, which won Best London Gastro Pub 2011. Paul has achieved two Michelin stars in his career as a chef. His TV work includes presenting Economy Gastronomy on BBC2. He has published two books: Using The Plot, Harper Collins, 2007, about Paul’s year of self-sufficiency from an allotment, and Economy Gastronomy, Penguin, a recipe book with Allegra McEvedy. He also hosts cookery mornings in local schools with the charity School Food Matters.

Seth is the fourth generation of his family to care for Pinhook Farm. Located in Southwest Iowa, the farm was established by Seth’s great grandfather in 1848.

Today Pinhook Farm is home to a herd of Angus cattle, several hives of honey bees, a few chickens, and a recently acquired flock of Katahdin sheep. Seth attributes Pinhook Farm’s success to prioritizing stewardship over production by striving to build a system that works with nature. In addition to caring for livestock, Seth is a TedX speaker, serves as a United Nations Food Systems Champion, serves on the Iowa USDA Farm Service Agency State Committee, and is a part of a National Science Foundation funded program called BlueGAP that is working to help communities address nitrogen pollution.

Dr. André Leu is a founder and the International Director of Regeneration International, which promotes food, farming, and land-use systems that regenerate and stabilize climate systems and the planet's and people's health. Regeneration International has 500 partners in 70 countries and is the organization that started the international regenerative agriculture movement. André has spent over 50 years as an organic farmer specialising in tropical fruits. He was the longest-serving President of IFOAM-Organics International, the global umbrella and change agent for the organic sector and has published three books entitled ‘Growing Life,’ ‘Poisoning Our Children’ and the ‘Myths of Safe Pesticides’. Andre has a Doctorate of Science in agricultural and environmental systems and teaches at universities and speaks at conferences and United Nations events on every continent. He meets with governments, United Nations bodies, industry, farmers, consumers, and NGOs on the multi-functional benefits of regenerative agriculture. André and his wife Julia live on their organic tropical fruit farm in Daintree, Australia.

Isha Datar is the executive director of New Harvest, a nonprofit dedicated to ending our dependence on industrial livestock production by growing foods like meat, milk and eggs from cells instead of animals. After publishing one of the first papers to discuss cultured meat in academic literature, she coined the term "cellular agriculture" to create a new category for agricultural products produced from cell cultures rather than whole plants and animals.

In 2014, Datar co-founded two of the world's first cellular agriculture companies: Perfect Day Foods (formerly Muufri) and The Every Company (formerly Clara Foods). She promptly donated all of her founding equity to New Harvest to establish a public endowment for cell ag research. Now, she works to accelerate scientific breakthroughs and steward cultured meat such that it serves the public good.