After completion of his 7 years term, we are sadly saying goodbye to Chris Underhill, Chairman of the board. Chris will be succeeded by Peter Freedman, previously a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, Spring Impact’s current Chair Elect.
Over the years Chris has used his formidable knowledge and expertise to shape Spring Impact, and has helped to steer us as we grew from a small team in London, to a global organisation with an additional office in San Francisco.
Chris is a Senior Fellow of the Ashoka Fellowship, a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur, and founder of mental health charity BasicNeeds, who have recently become an invited member of the Clinton Global Initiative. In 2000, Chris was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his services to disability and development.
“Chairing Spring Impact has been fascinating. As an organisation they are inspired by the vision of their clients. As can be imagined, they work in so many different fields of human endeavour and to be linked to these myriad efforts is a great privilege. Their support of the social mission of their clients by scaling their impact through replication, is at once both incredibly sensible and satisfying!
I have been delighted at the competence shown by the Spring Impact staff over the years and by the skills of our board members both in the UK and, indeed, our US board so ably chaired by Kathy Vizas. It has been a tremendous pleasure to work with our founder, Dan Berelowitz, and our senior directors both in the UK and the US.”
I am so happy that Peter Freedman is taking over the Chairmanship from me. Spring Impact couldn’t be in better hands as it continues to develop and deepen its own extraordinary mission.”
Peter Freedman was previously a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, advising both retail and consumer goods clients on issues of strategy, organisation, operational improvement, change management, and capability building.
“I feel honoured to be taking over from Chris as Chair of the UK Board. Spring Impact is a unique organisation with an inspiring mission and some extraordinary people. I am looking forward to working with Dan, his team and the Trustees to help drive even more social impact in the years ahead.”
Today, Peter is the Managing Director of the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a membership organisation comprising 400 of the world’s leading retailers and consumer goods companies. The CGF’s mission is to drive positive change in the world, on issues such as environmental and social sustainability, product safety, public health and the efficiency of the industry value chain.
Founder Dan Berelowitz is looking forward to the new working relationship:
“It has been a great personal privilege to be able to work with Chris as a board chair, mentor and thought partner since the foundation of Spring Impact. As an organisation we could not have hoped for a better person to help guide us through the start-up and early expansion phase of growth.
I’m equally delighted at the transition to working with Peter as our new Chair. Peter brings a wealth of knowledge and experience with him that will strengthen us as an organisation, and enable us to do even more for our clients, increasing their social impact exponentially.”