Vice PresidentFair Trade USA
Ruskin Hartley leads Fair Trade USA’s resource development team, collaborating with individuals, corporations and foundations to innovate and grow Fair Trade’s model for change. As an experienced leader in the nonprofit sector he has spent more than 20 years working on environmental protection, land and water conservation, and management of public lands.
He served as Executive Director of the San Francisco-based Save the Redwoods League, one of the Nation’s oldest conservation groups. Under his leadership, the organization raised $100 million in public and private funds to advance protection and restoration of the redwoods, and launched the ground-breaking Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative. While serving as President of Heal the Bay – southern California’s leading environmental advocacy organization – he secured passage of the nation’s first state-wide ban on single-use plastic bags. Through working on these issues, Ruskin came to appreciate that at the root of most environmental challenges are a complex suite of social issues rooted in people’s livelihoods. It was a desire to work on these root causes through market-based solutions that brought Ruskin to Fair Trade USA.
Born in the United Kingdom, Ruskin has also worked in Britain, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman. A graduate of Cambridge University, Ruskin lives with his wife and four sons in the East Bay. In his spare-time he serves on his local Planning Commission to make his community more livable and sustainable.