The Sustainable Cut-Flowers project is fortunate to have a fantastically committed Working Group at its core. The Group draws from different stakeholder interests
within the industry. Short profiles of the Group members are provided below:

Anna Barker, Head of Responsible Business, the Fairtrade Foundation

Anna Barker is responsible for the team working with Fairtrade’s major retail and FMCG partners to deliver responsible sourcing solutions in business supply chains across a

range of commodities. Anna was previously the Senior Supply Chain and Programme Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation, working on the flowers category in the U.K. and managing projects in a variety of commercial value chains. The mission of Fairtrade is to connect disadvantaged producers and consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empower producers to combat poverty, strengthen their position and take more control over their lives.

Dr Angela Coulton, Grower/florist, Petal and Twig Ltd

Dr Angela Coulton has worked for over 20 years on sustainability issues. She was a senior policy maker in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affa

irs where she led programmes on Greening Government and research into Sustainable Consumption and Production. For the last ten years she has been at the forefront of the grassroots movement to bring back seasonal British flowers into UK floristry. She is a florist and grower, using sustainable methods to supply outdoor grown seasonal

flowers for weddings, events and local markets, including through a partnership with Booths supermarkets. Angela is a member of Flowers from the Farm, the national network of small scale flower growers, and is working with 

us to develop a recognised scheme for sustainably grown British flowers.

Colin Gray, Managing Director, Lavender Green Flowers

At Lavender Green Flowers we pride ourselves in providing market leading florals from weddings and hotel contracts to large sporting events. We focus in using seasonal flowers with sustainability credentials at every level and are proudly proactive in promoting sustainability with each and every client.

 

Caroline Downey BA, MSc, FRSA, 

Caroline is the Executive Director of Women Working Worldwide, one of the first UK NGO’s to spearhead the fight for women’s rights in global value chains back in the 1980’s. WWW has been working with partners around the world ever since promoting gender equity and ethical trade; from the flower farms of Kenya to the garment factories of Bangladesh.

Caroline has a BA in Design and Communication and an MSc in Environmental Resources. She has worked on behaviour change, women’s rights, ethical trade and sustainability programmes around the world, for companies such as FAO, World Bank and IUCN. For the last five years she has been the Executive Director of WWW and engaged in living wage, sexual harassment, CSR and gender action learning systems, with partners such as Oxfam, Amfori and ETI.

In 2019 she joined MM Flowers as their Sustainable Sourcing Manager (part time) and in 2021 became their sustainability consultant and is supporting their progress on these issues across their value chains. MM Flowers is one of the leading flower suppliers for the UK, and supplies major retailers with the highest quality, environmentally and ethically sourced flowers.

Mahsa Yeganeh, Senior Sustainable Sourcing Manager, Fairtrade Foundation

Mahsa is responsible for developing and implementing sustainable value chain strategies for Fairtrade flowers, focusing on delivering impact for flower farm workers and their communities.  She has worked in labour rights and supply chains for over 10 years across various commodities and has been at the Fairtrade Foundation for 3 years.

 

Brian Wills-Pope, President British Florist Association

 

Ian McClellan, Branch Manager, Fleurametz UK Ltd