Alison Ward has over 30 years of international experience in sustainability and corporate affairs. Alison is the CEO of CottonConnect, where she leads a team of over 140 employees, impacting the lives of over 800,000 cotton farmers in India, China, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Bangladesh. Under Alison’s leadership the organization: drives supply chain transparency connecting sustainable fibres from farm to store; focuses on the rights and skills of women in supply chains through pioneering gender programmes; and continues to develop innovations at a farm level. She leads cotton strategies and programmes for global brands and retailers. Alison was awarded edie’s Sustainability Leader of the Year in 2025 for her outstanding contributions to transforming global cotton supply chains.

Previously Alison worked with Mondelez International and Kraft Foods and was the Global Head of Corporate Responsibility at Cadbury.

With a mission to drive scalable change, Alison served as a Member of the Sustainable Cotton Steering Committee for Textile Exchange. She sat on the Sustainability Advisory Committee for the London Olympic Games and has been a Coach and Mentor to commercial teams at WWF and the Ethical Trade Initiative. Alison is also a Life fellow of the RSA- Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Alison has completed the Senior Executive Programme at Ashridge Business School and the Business & Sustainability Programme at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She holds a BA Hons in English from the University of Birmingham.