Richard Hawkes

Author

Richard has been Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust since September 2015 after having held a range of senior roles in the UK and international not-for-profit sector for more than 20 years. Richard was formally Chief Executive of Scope (one of the largest not-for-profit organisations in the UK), International Director of VSO and Chief Executive of Sense International. He has worked for the United Nations and been Chair of a number of UK sector bodies, including the umbrella body for UK international NGOs and the UK voluntary sector body on social care. He is currently Chair of Motivation, an international disability NGO. Richard has a vast experience of innovative finance. As CEO of Scope he was responsible for launching the first social investment bond in the UK, a £20m bond that was listed on the Luxembourg Stock Market. Scope was the only UK charity involved in the G8 summit on social investment, as well as being listed on the Social Stock Exchange. The British Asian Trust is at the cutting edge of development finance, where traditional philanthropy meets innovative finance solutions and is currently developing a number of innovative products for South Asia, including an $11m Development Impact Bond for education in India.