Rita Clifton CBE

Rita graduated from Cambridge and started her career in advertising, becoming Vice Chairman and strategy director at Saatchi & Saatchi. During her time there, she set up their pioneering Green Unit to advise companies on environmental policy. Her career then included becoming London CEO and then Chairman at the global brand consultancy Interbrand, advising a wide range of leading global businesses as well as non-profit brands of all kinds, including the Red Cross, Oxfam and Fairtrade, followed by co-founding the brand and business consultancy BrandCap. She has also written books including ‘The Future of Brands’ and two editions of The Economist book ‘Brands and Branding”.

She is a non-executive director on the board of businesses including Nationwide Building Society and ASOS, where she has been involved in all aspects of corporate responsibility. She is an Advisory Panel member of BP’s carbon-offsetting programme Target Neutral.

Rita’s non-profit board roles have included being a Trustee of WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature), and where she is now a Fellow. She has also been Chair of the leading environmental volunteering charity The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), and served on the UK Government’s Sustainable Development Commission. Before that, she was involved in the Advisory Council for Business and the Environment and the Government’s advisory committee on eco-labelling.

Rita received a CBE for services to the creative industries in 2014.