Dear Nirapon Members,
Following the retirement announcement of Paul Rigby, we are pleased to announce an important change in our leadership team at Nirapon. Effective March 10, 2025, Lewis Temple will take over as our new Chief Executive Officer.
First, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Paul Rigby for his exceptional leadership and commitment to Nirapon. Paul has led the organization with dedication and vision, and his contributions have been invaluable. He has made a lasting impact on worker safety in Bangladesh, and will no doubt continue to be a close friend to Nirapon. We look forward to hearing of his new adventures in retirement and wish him all the best!
Paul will continue to support the transition on a part-time basis through March 2025 to ensure a smooth and seamless transfer of responsibilities.
We are delighted to welcome Lewis Temple as our new CEO. Lewis brings a wealth of experience and a strong track record of success.
- Lewis has worked for over twenty-five years in international development and has had leadership roles living and working in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. He has led programs on a wide range of impact areas including small-holder farming, ageing, child protection, and emergency health and education, working in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector.
- For nine years until 2023 Lewis led the European arm of the renowned Bangladeshi international development organization BRAC, as CEO of BRAC UK. Under his leadership, BRAC UK pioneered a new approach to advocacy and policy influencing in Europe which enabled BRAC to grow its impact beyond the direct service delivery at scale for which BRAC is celebrated.
- Lewis’ most recent position is CEO of the international social enterprise The Impact Facility (TIF). TIF works with communities endowed with mineral wealth to grow a sustainable economy that is catalyzed by, rather than relying on, mining. Amongst its pioneering initiatives, TIF founded The Fair Cobalt Alliance, a multi-stakeholder alliance of companies along the cobalt supply chain, including Tesla, Google, Glencore and Fairphone to enable sustainable improvements to the health, safety, wellbeing and economic opportunities for artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This leadership selection comes after an exhaustive search by the Nirapon Board, reviewing a wide range of highly qualified candidates. Lewis’s strength lies in collaboration and sustainable impact, and he is excited to work with Nirapon’s members, partners and relevant external organizations to strengthen the understanding of Nirapon’s work and further its reach.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Donna Sikyta and our partner teams at LRQA, BRAC and Amader Kotha for their continued dedication and support to the mission of Nirapon during this time of transition.
Finally, a special thanks to our membership for its support to program delivery at a time of change within the organization and in Bangladesh. We look forward to continuing to work together to drive success in 2025!
Warm regards,
Nirapon Board of Directors
