TRAFFIC welcomes three new Directors

The new Director of Development, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Communications will support TRAFFIC in its work to drive action around trade in wild species - one of the world's most pressing conservation and development challenges.

Their arrival comes at a time when TRAFFIC’s work is more needed than ever: global supply chains for wild plants and animals provide desperately needed livelihoods for hundreds of millions of the world’s poor. But illegal trade in wild species – one of the most profitable criminal activities worldwide – is growing, fuelling environmental degradation and economic losses.

This is a significant moment as we seek to really shift the dial on wildlife trade. At a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss, TRAFFIC is scaling up evidence, solutions, and influence to ensure that trade in wild species is legal and sustainable, for the benefit of the planet and people."

Richard Scobey, TRAFFIC Executive Director“Our new Directors bring with them a wealth of professional skills and experience to add to our existing valued and expert senior leadership team. Between us, we look forward to steering the organisation forward to help protect our planet and people.”

Andrea Diez de Sollano, Director of Development, will lead the design and implementation of multi-year philanthropy strategies and strengthen relationships with existing partners and new donors.

For the past five years, Andrea has been leading all External Relations at UWC Atlantic as Director of Philanthropy, Engagement, and Partnerships. Previously, she worked for twelve years at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as Associate Director of Development and in other roles with a vast scope over Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. Before joining the fundraising world, Andrea was interested in pursuing a career in diplomacy and worked as Deputy to the Minister for Political Affairs at the Mexican Embassy to the UK. 

Saheed Adegbite, Chief Operating Officer, will focus on operationalising TRAFFIC’s 2030 Strategy, overseeing a global finance and operations team across financial resources operational risk management, including the management of the project portfolio, human resources, general administration, and information technology.

Over a career spanning 30 years, Saheed has held several strategic budgeting and organisational development roles at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome and was the Senior Finance Systems and Business Process Coordination Officer at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. Previously, as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Oracle UK, he led business improvement programmes for private and public sector clients.

Sarah Vincent, Director of Communications, will oversee external stakeholder communication and engagement.

Sarah began her career as a journalist at the Press Association in London before transferring to non-profit communications. With more than 25 years in strategic communications, Sarah’s experience spans from polar environmental science at the British Antarctic Survey to children’s rights for UNICEF UK. Most recently, Sarah was Head of External Affairs at Cambridge University Hospitals, where she worked on three series of the BBC hit series “Surgeons: at the Edge of Life”, a Panorama programme on AI, and two new pioneering research hospitals - Cambridge Children's Hospital and Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital. She was also responsible for high profile stakeholder visits, which included two UK prime ministers and several international heads of state or senior representatives.