Caroline Harper

Biography

I was appointed to Sightsavers as CEO in 2005 - the organisation has grown five fold since then, widening and deepening our impact. Our mission is to prevent avoidable blindness and to fight for the rights of people with disabilities, working in low and middle income countries. We play a leading role in the campaign to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, managing large consortium contracts for the British Government and major philanthropists. I sit on various boards including the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and the International Civil Society Centre (based in Berlin).

Prior to Sightsavers I worked in the oil and gas industry. I spent 11 years at Hess Corporation where I built their retail gas and electricity business from scratch before selling it for £120 million. I then ran my own interim management business where our biggest client was a Finnish gas and electricity organisation - we overhauled and sold their British gas and electricity subsidiary.

I was educated at Bristol university (BSc in Physics) and Churchill College Cambridge (PhD). I received an OBE for services to the gas industry in 2000 and a CBE for services to visually impaired people in 2015. I received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bristol.