Sir Stuart Hampson

President of the Employee Ownership Association

Sir Stuart Hampson retired in March 2007 after 14 years as Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership. He joined JLP in 1982 after a twelve-year career in the Civil Service. He saw front line service as Managing Director of Tyrrell & Green (now John Lewis Southampton) for nearly three years, before being appointed to the Board with responsibility for department store development. Sir Stuart became Deputy Chairman in 1989 and the Partnership’s fourth Chairman in 1993.

Sir Stuart was a founding Deputy Chairman of London First, a member of the RSA Inquiry into Tomorrow’s Company, Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts (1999-2001) and President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (2006). He is currently President of the Employee Ownership Association, leads the Business in the Community Economic Regeneration team and is one of the Prince of Wales’s Ambassadors in this field. He has been a member of the Corporate Leaders Group, which has been pressing the government for stronger action on climate change. Sir Stuart was made a Knight Bachelor for services to retailing in 1998.

Patrick Holden

Director of the Soil Association

Patrick Holden was brought up in London. He visited a dairy farm near Epping aged five and decided he wanted to milk cows. He studied biodynamic agriculture at Emerson College in 1972 and started a community farm in West Wales in 1973.

The 93 hectare mixed organic farm is now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, with a herd of 65 Ayrshire cows - the milk from which is being made into an unpasteurised cheese by his son Sam. Patrick still milks his cows at weekends.

He has worked for the Soil Association since 1988 and as Director since 1995. During that period income has risen from £200,000 to £10 million and sales of organic food from £50 million to £2 billion.

He is a regular broadcaster and speaker and was responsible for Tony and Pat Archer's conversion in 1985 and still advises for the Archers on matters organic. He was awarded the CBE for services to organic farming in 2005.

Paul Conway

Senior Vice President, Cargill Inc.

Paul Conway became a Senior Vice President and member of Cargill’s Leadership Team in October 2006, having moved to Asia as President/Regional Director in January of that year. He was elected to Cargill’s Board of Directors in September 2008.

He joined Cargill from Law School in 1979 and held a number of merchandising roles in the United Kingdom, USA and Switzerland before becoming a Division Head of UK corn processing in 1989. Throughout the 1990’s he worked in the European processing businesses, becoming Executive Vice President of Cargill’s European Food Processing Businesses in 1997.

Mark Price

Managing Director, Waitrose.

As befits a business with its eye on the long term, Waitrose Managing Director Mark Price first joined the John Lewis Graduate Training Scheme in 1982.

He was subsequently appointed Managing Director of John Lewis High Wycombe and then John Lewis Cheadle before transferring to Waitrose in 1998.

Mark comes from a family of Cheshire grocers and became Waitrose’s first Marketing Director taking on additional responsibility for retail operations in 2000, taking the title Director of Selling & Marketing.

In 2005 Mark returned to John Lewis as both Managing Director for Partnership Development and then John Lewis Development Director.

However, as a foodie to the core, it wasn’t long before Mark was drawn back to the food division, taking up the post of Managing Director, Waitrose in April 2007.

As well as being Managing Director of Waitrose, Mark is also a member of the CIES Food Forum Board of Directors, President of the grocery industry charity, Caravan, and is Chair of His Royal Highness Prince Charles’ Rural Action Programme.

What inspires Mark about Fairtrade?

“As I said in your annual report, my visit to Rwanda served to reinforce my view that through Fairtrade there is a more morally just way of sourcing from developing countries. Fairtrade is a proven model to raise the more disadvantaged out of poverty and I hope that one day all developing world commodities will be traded on a fairer basis across the board, inspired by your splendid work.”