We are happy to confirm the appointment of Vanessa Fox as our new Chief Executive. Vanessa will join the team at Head office in Exeter on 23rd April and brings with her a wealth of management experience in the international development sphere, working with charities and agricultural projects across the globe. We are very much looking forward to welcoming her to Farms for City Children and benefiting from her unique expertise.
Having graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Social and Political Sciences, Vanessa joined professional service firm PwC as an associate for two years. In 2009, Vanessa moved to Nairobi to work with the Kenyan NGO Wajibu (meaning ‘responsibility’ in Swahili) supporting smaller holder crop farmers and pastoralists to improve livelihoods and land health by providing training in agricultural production. After four years, working latterly as Director of Development & Communications, Vanessa moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to become Senior Projects Manager for BBC Media Action, where she led donor-funded development projects across the fields of agriculture, youth, governance, and health. In 2015, Vanessa was appointed Director of the Sidley Emerging Enterprises Program, based in Geneva, which works closely with corporate partners and alongside UN agencies to support social enterprises and non-profits that benefit deprived rural communities in 30 developing world countries.
At the same time, we are extremely grateful to our former Chief Executive, Dr Tessa Stone for her hard work and commitment to the charity over the past three years. We wish her well for a successful future in her new role as Executive Director of The Devon Guild of Craftsmen based in Bovey Tracey where she lives. We would like to thank her sincerely for her energy and her enthusiastic commitment which resulted in remarkable work for the charity.
Elizabeth Owens
Chair of Trustees
