The faces of Trade Aid

Michelia Ward – Partnership/Communications

Focus: Education in regards to trading injustices, environment and fair trade, impact stories from recent visits to: Ethiopia, Palestine, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, knowledge on producer partners.

Bio: Michelia has worked for Trade Aid since 2004, prior to which she volunteered at a development organisation in Africa. She has a Commerce Degree and her role has a focus on educating the educators for Trade Aid, as well as communications for the Trade Aid Movement. She has a large general knowledge on all things to do with fair trade and the environment. She is a member of Trade Aid’s development committee and is also a Board Member of CID (The Council for International Development).

Justin Purser – Coffee and Food Manager

Focus: Trade Aid’s food buyer (including green bean coffee). Knowledgeable on fair trade food products (global and national).

Bio: Justin has worked for Trade Aid for 17 years - one of his first and only jobs! He has played a crucial role in getting fair trade coffee into the NZ market – and essentially is the face of "fair trade coffee” in NZ. Trade Aid imports (or co-imports with other roasters) coffee green beans for the majority of fair trade roasters in NZ - this year the equivalent of 800 tonnes of coffee!

Vi Cottrell – Producer liaison/Co-founder of Trade Aid

Focus: Trade Aid’s producer partners. Trade Aid’s history (she and her husband founded Trade Aid in 1973). Environmental justice.

Bio:  Vi is a wonderful and charismatic public speaker. She is the Development Manager at Trade Aid, and her role is very much producer focused. She is also a member of the Trade Aid development committee and has a strong focus on impact assessment (assessing how Trade Aid is performing,  producer audits, and helping with Trade Aid's capacity building funds and sharing of Trade Aid’s trading profits).

Geoff White - General Manager Trade Aid Focus: Oversees all aspects of Trade Aid. Has a large general knowledge in regards to the fair trade market in New Zealand and globally, New Zealand business, the retail market, free trade agreements and international fair trade Bio: Geoff has been the General Manager for Trade Aid for the past 5 years and has a great general knowledge on all things to do with fair trade. He comes from a strong business background (Geoff co-founded the NZ owned Seventh Wave wetsuit company).