WHAT THEY SAY

Tor is truly a gifted leader whose counsel and advice is sought out by CEOs of some of the largest and most forward thinking companies in the world. Tor’s leadership in the Sustainable Markets Initiative Agribusiness Taskforce has demonstrated her unrivalled ability to both design and then seamlessly execute a strategy with rigour and pace. Tor achieves this while building powerful and extremely effective relationships with a wide range of people from a variety of organisations - private, public government and philanthropic.

Tor is passionately focused on achieving the mission and provides courageous, timely and sage counsel about how to do so in the most effective way. We would not have progressed the Agribusiness outcomes or received the broad based media and industry recognition without Tor’s incredible contribution. I have been fortunate to work with many passionate, capable and dedicated people over the years - and Tor is simply one of the best. I would highly recommend Tor to any CEO or executive who wants: an insightful, honest assessment; a compelling strategy; and a world class execution of their sustainability objectives - or indeed any major piece of work that needs a little brilliance cast over it.

Grant F. Reid, Chair of SMI Agribusiness Taskforce and former CEO Mars Incorporated 2014 - 2022

I highly recommend Tor as an advisor for any organisation seeking a professional who excels in driving, managing complexities, and gaining the trust of diverse stakeholders. With her exceptional skills and expertise she has consistently proven herself as a valuable asset in the Sustainable Markets Initiative.

One of Tor’s remarkable strengths is her ability to design and execute strategies with the needed pace and quality. She possesses a unique talent for understanding complex situations and formulating effective solutions that align with the initiative’s goals. Her strategic thinking and analytical mindset enable her to identify key opportunities and challenges, ensuring that decisions made were well-informed and impactful.

She possesses excellent communication skills, allowing her to effectively convey ideas and gain the trust and support of individuals at all levels. Whether it’s engaging with executives, public or private partners, she consistently demonstrates professionalism and a genuine interest in understanding their perspectives.

I highly recommend her for any consulting or advisory role, as she consistently delivers outstanding results and exceeded expectations during our experience at the Agribusiness Task Force

Natasha Santos, Vice President, Head of Stakeholder Affairs and Strategic Partnerships, Bayer AG

Tor is a brilliant programme manager. She can drive alignment and change whether with CEO’s or practitioners across a wide range of organisations with a strong strategic mindset and a firm but friendly style.

Barry Parkin, Chief Sustainability and Procurement Officer, Mars Incorporated

With the launch of Acorn Tor will bring her tremendous ability to balance commercial success with ethical priorities to a wider audience. Those who have  already taken her advice on the responsible business agenda are so impressed  and helped by her  great strength in making complex problems simple and setting out actionable first steps. She connects with people in business from the Boardroom to shop floor, from professionals to sceptics, cuts through noise and technical complexity to get through to the action point and make things happen. Acorn will make a real impact on growing ‘oaks’ through the practical and courageous action by business for the planet.

Dame Julia Cleverdon DCVO, Vice President, Business in the Community

Tor excelled in overhauling the Waitrose CSR Strategy. She immediately gained the confidence of the whole Board. She set and met all her targets and guided colleagues and suppliers expertly through the CSR maze. She has an exceptional grasp of the ever-changing landscape and communicates brilliantly a vision of a sustainable future. She is both passionate and pragmatic and a proven leader in the field of sustainable food and farming.  

Bishop James Jones KBE, Chair, Waitrose CSR Committee 2013-2019

Tor has a deep rooted understanding of how commercial sustainability and environmental sustainability are inextricably linked. This enables her to get strong engagement at all levels, cut through complexity and make things happen. She has real expertise and huge energy around the role that we should all be playing to accelerate the pace of change towards creating a more circular way of doing business. Her extensive knowledge of the food and farming sector is particularly impressive as is the way in which she always keep the customer front and centre of all that she does.

Rob Collins, Managing Director, Waitrose & Partners, 2016-2020

I was fortunate enough to work alongside Tor within the context of the Waitrose Foundation, initially in South Africa and subsequently on the Foundation’s Global Board. The Foundation’s mission is to improve the lives of people working in the Waitrose supply chain in some of the less developed countries in the world. Tor brought along not only a deep understanding and passion to our deliberations but also a sound understanding about how best to make things relevant to the corporate environment within the UK.

Chris Mack, Chairman, Fresca Group

At a recent Waitrose annual conference, Tor introduced the Waitrose CSR agenda as ‘Food as a force for good’.  It’s quite a statement to live up to but she went on to articulate a vision and plan of action that grounded the former in a CSR agenda that, several months on, is now starting to deliver.  The Waitrose CSR ambition is bold and needs many players to play their part both internally and throughout an extensive supply chain.  Tor’s skill was to bring these many people together, to challenge the status quo and to provide that all important effective communication that enables all to face in the same direction.  That sort of clarity of vision from Waitrose is a joy to work with and, under that sort of leadership, ‘food as a force for good’ moves from an ideal to being part of what we do, as dedicated supplier, every day.

Ed Ley-Wilson, Head of Aquaculture, Aquascot Ltd. 

Tor provides an engaging and much welcomed approach to CSR encompassing a clear understanding of both the producer, grower and suppliers challenges and the retailers core objectives. She has a breadth of experience having operated at the cutting edge of CSR at a senior retail level, and brings her experience, enthusiasm and dynamism to engage a team enabling the creativity to develop and deliver its CSR journey with tangible results. Moreover, Tor is supportive, engaging and a delight to work with.

Veryan Bliss, Commercial Technical Director, Suncrop Produce Ltd