Ms. Alison Ward has over 30 years of international experience in sustainability and corporate affairs. She is the CEO of CottonConnect, where she leads a team of over 140 employees, impacting the lives of over 770,000 cotton farmers in India, China, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Bangladesh. Under Ms. Alison’s leadership the organization: drives supply chain transparency connecting sustainable fibers from farm to store; focuses on the rights and skills of women in supply chains through pioneering gender programmes; and continues to develop innovations at a farm level. She leads cotton strategies and programmes for global brands and retailers.

Previously Ms. Alison worked with Mondelez International and Kraft  Foods and was the Global Head of Corporate Responsibility in Cadbury.

With a mission to drive scalable change, Alison serves as a Member of the Sustainable Cotton Steering Committee for Textile Exchange.  She also sat on the Sustainability Advisory Committee for the London Olympic Games and has been a Coach and Mentor to commercial teams at WWF and the Ethical Trade Initiative.