2019 saw our biggest ever Veganuary with 250,000 people registering to take part.
We are delighted (of course!) but our ambitions for the future are bigger still, and bolder: we want more people taking part around the world, more people staying vegan, and even more vegan food in restaurants and shops!
To take us there, we are delighted to welcome our wonderful new CEO, Ria Rehberg.
For six years, Ria worked as the Co-Executive Director at Animal Equality in Germany before taking on the role of Country Manager for the global ‘flash’ campaign, Million Dollar Vegan, which offered $1 million to charity if Pope Francis went vegan for Lent. Now, she has joined Veganuary and has plans for significant expansion and increased efficacy.
Returning to support her in her mission are founders Matthew Glover and Jane Land, and together they have appointed a range of trustees to help guide and advise the charity as it grows. They are:
- Bradley Russell, an investment manager, entrepreneur and co-founder of Manchester Pig Save and the UK Save Movement. Bradley went vegan in 2014 and is a long term supporter of Veganuary.
- Ciara Lynch is Chief Operating Officer at The Brilliant Club (an educational university access charity), where she oversees the charity’s Operations Division including Finance, HR, IT and Charity Governance. She became vegan after taking part in Veganuary 2018.
- Giles Fisher, Head of Category Trading at Waitrose. Giles was the driving force behind the first chilled vegan food bay in UK supermarket history. He was vegetarian for 31 years, before ‘upgrading’ to vegan over a year ago.
- Jane Thurnell-Read, former university lecturer, now entrepreneur, philanthropist and inspirational speaker. Jane is longtime Veganuary supporter and became vegan after meeting the Veganuary founders.
- Marie Page, a digital and social media marketer whose expertise and advice we have long relied upon! Marie is co-founder of The Digiterati and Digiterati Academy where she has several vegan client companies. Marie has been vegan since taking part in Veganuary 2017.
- Sagar Shah is a professional economist and has worked across the private, public and non-profit sectors on a range of issues including financial regulation and happiness economics. He has supported Veganuary in measuring its impact for animals and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions on dietary change.
- Seth Tibbott, Chairman and Founder of the family-owned Tofurky Company and its parent company, Turtle Island Foods. Seth has been a long-term supporter of the Veganuary campaign and is pleased to be waving the flag for us in the U.S.A.
This is our dream team, and our collective aims are simple: to expand Veganuary into other countries, ensuring it becomes as much of a fixture elsewhere as it is in the UK; to increase the number of people around the world trying – and staying – vegan; and to increase our corporate engagement to ensure that there are more and better plant-based foods available on menus and shelves for everyone to enjoy.
And we will be doing it all in our trademark positive, welcoming and upbeat way!
Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more information and updates, or to register to take part, and help us make this the biggest year for veganism yet.
If you’d like to try vegan with us, sign up to our free 31 day email series, and we’ll help you every step of the way.
