FareShare has appointed Kris Gibbon-Walsh as its permanent CEO.
Gibbon-Walsh had served as interim CEO since October, following George Wright’s decision to leave the food redistribution charity, and takes on his permanent role with immediate effect.
It’s not the only change at the top of the charity, which has also appointed deputy chair and Compass Group CEO Dominic Blakemore as the new chair of its board of trustees. Having served on FareShare’s board since 2023, he will replace John Bason, who is stepping down from the chairmanship after 13 years.
It marks the culmination of an extraordinary rise for Gibbon-Walsh, who joined FareShare as an intern in 2013, after he left an engineering career designing submarines for the French navy.
During that time he has led the launch of FareShare Go – which co-ordinates direct deliveries of surplus food from supermarkets – as well as served as the charity’s head of network partnerships, head of delivery operations and chief operating officer, among other roles.
Since taking over as interim chair in October, he has led calls for farmers to be given further financial support in order to help them store and distribute surplus food for human consumption, to build on the launch of Defra’s £15m farmgate food waste fund.
“I would like to thank George Wright for his support and advice,” Gibbon-Walsh said. “It is an honour to take on the role of CEO at FareShare.
“Having started at FareShare as a volunteer at one of our warehouses over a decade ago, I truly understand how the surplus food we redistribute changes lives. The food and logistic sectors have been brilliant partners over the last 30 years and the 8,000 charities we distribute to are at the heart of our mission, using surplus food to bring people together and strengthen communities. I am excited and optimistic that we can do even more together.”
Gibbon-Walsh and Blakemore take on their new roles as FareShare celebrates its 30th anniversary. Having enjoyed what it claimed was a “record-breaking year” for the amount of surplus food redistributed, the charity is now targeting its next stage of growth.
It includes continuing to grow the King’s Coronation Food Project, which has seen supermarkets and suppliers collaborate to produce thousands of additional meals through the Alliance manufacturing programme. FareShare credited Blakemore as playing an “instrumental role” in the project.
Paying tribute to his predecessor, Blakemore said: “I would like to thank John on behalf of all of the trustees on the board for his incredible service over the past 13 years.
“He has chaired us with passion, commitment and integrity throughout this time and has been integral to all that has been achieved,” he said.
“I’m delighted to be working with Kris, whose deep-seated knowledge of FareShare and its partner network — and incredible personal commitment to the purpose of FareShare – is at the heart of all he does,” Blakemore added.
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