New Executive Director for the Food Ethics Council

The Food Ethics Council is delighted to announce the appointment of Sue Dibb as its new Executive Director.

Sue’s background is firmly rooted in ethical and sustainable food issues, with a career that includes working with the Sustainable Development Commission, the National Consumer Council and the Food Commission.

Sue previously headed the Sustainable Development Commission’s Enabling Sustainable Lives team, responsible for advising Government on the need for a vision and strategy for its sustainable and farming policy and action to catalyse sustainable diets.

At the National Consumer Council she initiated benchmarking surveys to rate how well supermarkets helped their customers shop more healthily and sustainably.

Helen Browning, Food Ethics Council Chair said:

“Sue won through against a very strong field of candidates for this role, and her mixture of experience and personal qualities make her the perfect choice to lead the organisation. We are delighted with her appointment, and very much look forward to working with her to help shape a sustainable and just food system.”

Sue said:

“I am delighted to be taking up this role at such a crucial time. Rising food prices and tightened budgets are putting pressure all along the supply chain, from producers to retailers and consumers. The Food Ethics Council plays an important role in ensuring that the food system works for fairness and justice, not just the financial bottom line.

"Business as usual is not an option. Over the next few years we’ll be working hard to take that message to government, business and citizens. Building on our Food Justice report and our current project Beyond Business as usual, we will help them put fairness at the heart of our food system."

Sue starts at the Food Ethics Council on 3rd January. She succeeds Dr. Tom MacMillan, who is leaving to take up the post of Director of Innovation at the Soil Association.

For more information, please contact Liz Barling (liz@foodethicscouncil.org) on 01273 766 655.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The Food Ethics Council is a charity that works towards a food system that is fair and healthy for people and the environment. Our independent advice to business, government and civil society helps find a way through controversial issues and supports better choices in food and farming.

2. We believe that healthy and sustainable food, produced and traded fairly and humanely, should be the norm not the exception. We want to change the food system to make this a reality.

3. Our fifteen-member Council is the foremost group of experts and opinion formers on ethical issues in food and farming. They work voluntarily and in a personal capacity. Their backgrounds include farming, food businesses and academia.

4. Our Food Justice report is the result of a two year inquiry into fairness in the food system, led by an inquiry committee of food and farming experts, including Melanie Leech of the Food and Drink Federation, Andrew Opie of the British Retail Consortium, Jeanette Longfield of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming and Helen Browning, Food Ethics Council Chair. You can find out more about it at www.foodethicscouncil.org/foodjustice

5. Beyond Business as Usual is an ongoing project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Foundation. Its aim is to identify ways for government to show leadership in tackling major structural challenges facing sustainable food and farming, through a series of high-level workshops with key figures in the sector.