Practical Action appoints new chair of trustees

Innovative international development group, Practical Action, is proud to announce the appointment of Dr Yvonne Pinto as their new chair of trustees.

The appointment coincides with a period of significant change for the organisation, as it embraces a new long term strategy to help people in poverty change their world. The strategy is heavily influenced by the new catastrophic climate reality that is having a disproportionally negative impact on the world’s poorest people.

Yvonne will be taking over in December this year and will initially be focusing on embedding the new strategy and a broader change programme. She brings with her over 25 years’ experience in the agriculture sector, and is the managing director of ALINE Impact Limited, an international development consultancy. She has also worked in various positions with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gatsby Foundation, UN FAO and the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College.

Yvonne said “What draws me to Practical Action is the different way the organisation approaches development; ingenious thinking, knowledge sharing and bold collaboration - bringing people and ideas together to bring about lasting change to the systems that keep people poor. I can’t wait to get started as the new Chair of Trustees.

“I’ve always admired the work of Practical Action because of the scale of change they manage to achieve. Growing up in Ethiopia, I gained an understanding of the challenges faced by communities living in difficult circumstances. My career began in science and innovation and I soon realised that the most appropriate innovations were not reaching those who needed it the most.

“I left the science sector and moved into development and I discovered that there is a lot of value in the power of small to change the big picture- and that high levels of complexity are not necessarily the answer.”

Paul Smith Lomas, Practical Action CEO said “We can’t wait for Yvonne to join the board as Chair. After a broad and intensive search process, our selection panel was enthusiastically unanimous in their support for Yvonne. She will bring new energy to Practical Action and her experience will be invaluable, especially during this exciting period for the organisation.”

To interview Yvonne, contact Elizabeth Dunn on +44 (0)1926 634509 or Abbie Wells on +44 (0)1926 634510.