Team members

Click/tap member for biography

• 
  Rosey Hurst
  Founder and Director
• 
  Tess van den Oever
  Head of UK Operations
• 
  Pam Wood
  Head of International Operations
• 
  Federico Burlon
  Senior Project Manager
• 
  Luke Smitham
  Project Manager
• 
  Bernard Gouw
  Project Manager
• 
  Ola Niwicka
  Senior Project Officer
• 
  Lisa Nathan
  Senior Project Officer
• 
  Barbara Dirnberger
  Project Officer
• 
  Emily Day
  Project Officer
• 
  Heidi Chan
  Project Officer
• 
  Manuel Silva
  Project Officer
• 
  Hazel Neaverson
  Finance Manager
• 
  Fozia Tahir
  Finance Assistant
• 
  Yeye Kieribo
  Finance Manager

Rosey Hurst



Founder and Director

Rosey founded Impactt in 1997 with the mission of improving the lives and livelihoods of workers worldwide by using the positive power of global supply chains. She has since used her knowledge and experience of the developing world and the corporate and NGO sectors to develop diverse tools, solutions and services to create positive impacts for workers.
Rosey has led multiple innovations in ethical trade. She founded Sedex and the Local Resources Network, pioneered and normalised the use of participatory techniques in China, and devised and launched the Benefits for Business and Workers Programme in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Elsewhere, she worked with Awaj Foundation on building workers’ negotiation capability, and using techniques derived from social psychology to re-humanise relations in the workplace. Rosey is working with many leading companies and organisations on their Human Rights Programmes, serves on the Ecovadis Technical Committee and is a member of the Responsible Investment Advisory Council at BMO-GAM.
Rosey’s passion for the topic and for finding innovative ways to make what works for workers work for business can be seen in her TEDx talk below.

Tess van den Oever



Head of UK Operations

Tess heads up Impactt’s UK office, helping to ensure the team has the right support to do what we do best: making a difference to workers in global supply chains. She is also a member of Impactt’s Senior Management Team. Since joining Impactt in 2011, Tess has taken an active role in developing many of our services including ethical assessments and capacity and remediation programmes. She has hands-on experience of conducting assessments in the UK, Europe and the Middle East, and has also provided strategic and day-to-day support to global brands’ sustainable sourcing teams. Tess helped lead the roll out of our Benefits for Business and Workers programme in Bangladesh, working with a consortium of 14 different stakeholders. She holds a Masters in Corporate Social Responsibility and has studied in the UK and the Netherlands.

Pam Wood



Head of International Operations

Pam works with our multi-national clients to trial innovative solutions to their specific needs, and tailor Impactt’s proven methodologies to new industries and challenges. She is active in strengthening Impactt’s global teams’ range and depth of experience, helping them to deliver high quality services. Pam spends much of her time at production sites, auditing, researching and working with site managers to build the business case for improving ethical performance. Prior to joining Impactt in 2010, she gained more than ten years’ experience in supply chain ethics, microfinance and sustainability. She has previously worked for the Overseas Development Institute, MEDA and Ethical Corporation, and continues to sit on the Advisory Board for Ethical Corporation Magazine. Pam grew up in Canada, and has lived and worked around the world, including in China, Peru, Costa Rica and the UK. She holds a Masters in Development Management from the London School of Economics.

Why I enjoy working at Impactt

‘Impactt is a joy to work at because we work with big players who are willing to push the envelope and make a real difference to livelihoods and working conditions. Companies trust us to help direct their strategies, and to dig deep into their supply chains in order to make a real and lasting impact on the lives of people who produce the goods we consume. It’s the way all development should be structured.’

Federico Burlon



Senior Project Manager

Federico provides strategic ethical trade advice to global brands, establishes and delivers audit and compliance programmes, and manages multi-stakeholder factory improvement projects. He has strong experience in the construction, food and garment industries, and works across the UK, South America, the Middle East and Asia. In particular, he led Impactt’s work to monitor the welfare of workers involved in 2022 FIFA World Cup construction projects in Qatar. Prior to Impactt, Federico was a Responsible Sourcing Manger at Tesco plc, where he worked with both food and procurement teams, supporting technical and buying colleagues in addressing labour standards issues. Federico holds a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, and has lived in Argentina, Italy, the US and the Netherlands. He speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

Luke Smitham



Project Manager

Luke started out as a paralegal in a trademark attorney’s firm in Belgium. After three years, he decided to change careers and devote his professional energy to improving the world a little every day. To this effect, before joining Impactt in 2015, Luke worked with parliamentarians in Ghana to support them in developing the country’s natural resources in a responsible and transparent way, as a researcher at the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and IPIECA (the oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues). Luke holds an MA in Law from SOAS, University of London, where his studies focused on international economic law and the legal and regulatory frameworks binding multinational companies. He is a firm believer in the positive role business can have in global development while proactively protecting and respecting human rights.

At Impactt, Luke specialises in developing the links between investors and positive working conditions, using data to maximise and measure impact, and developing innovative training to improve conditions on the factory floor and at brand headquarters.

Bernard Gouw



Project Manager

Bernard manages large-scale compliance projects, an innovative worker satisfaction pilot and factory improvement programmes in the Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Prior to joining Impactt in 2016, Bernard held two jobs at the Oxfam Great Britain HQ: one supporting advocacy and research projects in Ethical Trade and the other in supporting a global agricultural value chains programme. After a short period supporting value chains projects in Tanzania, Bernard spent two years in Ghana, where he led the extractives programme at the United Nations Development Programme. Throughout his career, Bernard’s roles have focused on project management, research & analysis and multi-stakeholder coordination. Bernard holds an MA in International Development from the University of Manchester.

Ola Niwicka



Senior Project Officer

Ola supports Impactt’s international teams in managing and ensuring a smooth delivery of factory improvement projects, including our flagship BBW programmes in Bangladesh and India. She is also a part of the UK auditing team, and has spoken to more than 100 UK-based factory workers to understand their challenges and concerns. Prior to joining Impactt in 2015, Ola’s passion for human rights, sustainable development and ethical trade took her to the Philippines, where she spent a year volunteering for the Youth for Sustainable Development Assembly. In particular, she focused on raising awareness of sustainable practices among local farmers, and helping them to access fair trade cocoa beans supply chains. Ola has also worked as a fundraiser for Amnesty International. She began her career in the pharmaceutical industry and holds a degree in medicinal chemistry.

Lisa Nathan



Senior Project Officer

Lisa manages a variety of projects from capacity building training to policy development. Her career has focused on addressing poor quality jobs. Most recently she led ShareAction’s Good Work Programme, supporting institutional investors in assessing and engaging with investee companies on labour risks. For her work in this role on living wages, Lisa won the Sheila McKechnie Foundation Economic Justice award in 2017.

Lisa previously worked in Switzerland for the global trade union federation UNI Global Union on project management and research. She started out as a Research Assistant for Professor John Logan at the UC Berkeley Centre for Labour Research and Education analysing implementation of labour standards.

 

Barbara Dirnberger



Project Officer

Barbara works on various Impactt programmes, leading projects such as factory training and child labour remediation. In particular, she is responsible for collating and analysing Impactt’s factory data. Before joining Impactt in 2016, she spent several months in South Africa researching the working conditions of farm workers and the impact of ethical trade certifications on their well-being. Barbara has also worked in human rights and international development at NGOs including Care, as well as at the Austrian permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva. She holds an MSc in Social Anthropology from University College London, and an IPMA project management certification.

Emily Day



Project Officer

Emily supports various Impactt programes including the collection and analysis of factory compliance data, and large scale data programs. She is a lead on child labour remediation and factory improvement programs. Before joining Impactt in 2017, she worked extensively in the charity sector in research and advocacy, database development and M&E positions for Citizens Advice, Stop Funding Hate and Marine Stewardship Council. She holds an MSc in Research for International Development from SOAS, University of London.  Her dissertation focused on the choices women make in accessing the labour market.

Heidi Chan



Project Officer

Heidi supports projects that improve industrial relations and engage different levels of the supply chain to improve pay and working conditions for workers.

Heidi joined us with prior experience in project management and multi-stakeholder initiatives in democratic governance with the United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh and localising human rights in northern England. Additionally, Heidi has a strong understanding of the fashion sector with experience working for high street and semi-luxury brands.

She holds an MSc with distinction from University College London focusing on inclusive international development practice underpinned by a background in women’s and gender studies.

Manuel Silva



Project Officer

Having worked in both the private and charity sectors, Manuel has over the years accumulated a diverse set of skills. Before joining Impactt in early 2018, Manuel worked briefly at the Wellcome Trust and spent two years working in the UK philanthropic landscape at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.  Prior to this he  worked as a Quality Assurance Analyst and as a Project Coordinator at Google.  He began his career with an internship at Amnesty International in Lisbon.

He holds an MSc in Anthropology of International Development from Brunel University and speaks English and Portuguese fluently, as well as intermediate French.

Hazel Neaverson



Finance Manager

Before Hazel joined Impactt, she had worked in many different industries, including shipping, recruitment, corporate finance and training companies, which has given her plenty of experience in working with international companies. Hazel is responsible for the finances of all Impactt’s companies. Hazel is a qualified chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

What I enjoy about working with Impactt

“I love the fact that Impactt really makes a difference. All our work is directed towards improving workers’ lives, and the strong team focus ensures that this happens. I also love working with our overseas colleagues so we can make a difference to workers around the world. ”

Fozia Tahir



Finance Assistant

Fozia joined Impactt in November 2016. Before joining Impactt, she helped her husband set up and run their own family business. After working from home for the past eight years, she felt it was time for a change. Fozia has 15 years’ experience in the finance field in both the public and private sector.

Yeye Kieribo



Finance Manager

Yeye joined Impactt in Nov 2017. Before working at Impactt Yeye worked in a variety of industries including book publishing, Leadership & Development, a major accounting body, charity and a Pupil Referral Unit. Yeye is responsible for the accounts of Impactt’s UK company

Yeye has a degree in Accounting & Finance from the University of Brighton and is a qualified accountant with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants.