Richard Adams (businessman)

Richard John Adams

ethical business.^[1]

Early life and education

Adams attended

King Edward VI Five Ways school in Birmingham. He has degrees in sociology (St John's College, Durham University), theology (University of London) and business administration (Newcastle University). He received an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law in 2005 from Newcastle University and one from Durham University in 2007.^[2]

He also holds a National Licensee's Certificate for on-licensed premises.

Career

After visiting small farmers in Gujarat, India, in 1973 Adams established Agrofax Labour Intensive Products, an agricultural imports company in London with distribution to the main wholesale markets.^[1] In 1974 this business began importing crafts from farming communities in Bangladesh, following which he founded Tearcraft which became the marketing arm of the UK relief and development charity, Tearfund.

In 1979 Adams established the independent company

Max Havelaar Foundation. He was its founding director, and a member of its board from 1992 to 1999.^[3]

In 1994 Adams founded the Creative Consumer Co-operative, through which Out of this World, Britain's first chain of organic grocery stores with an explicit ethical, fair trade, social and environmental agenda, were launched. In 2000 he co-founded the

NHS Primary Care Trust and in 2010 was appointed Chair of Newcastle and North Tyneside Community Health (NHS).^[1]

Adams was a director of the UK Social Investment Forum 1992–1996; Chair of the

Innogy SE^[4]

and was a Trustee of the energy policy think-tank, Sustainability First. He chairs the board of directors of the Fair Trade Advocacy Office in Brussels.

Honours

Adams is a

Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to the promotion of ethical trading".^[5] He won the New Statesman Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2005 and in 2006 was listed by The Independent newspaper as one of the top 50 people in the UK who had had most impact in "making the world a better place" for his development of the concept of ethical shopping.^[1]^[6]