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Appointment of a managing director to lead our work in North America

November 6, 2015 / Freedom Fund Updates, Blog Nick Grono / @nickgrono

I’m delighted to advise that the Freedom Fund has recently appointed Kate Kennedy to the position of Managing Director, North America.

Her immediate previous role was as CEO of Hagar Australia, which was founded 20 years ago to create full recovery services for trafficked women in Cambodia. It has 300 employees in ten countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar and Vietnam and is committed to systemic change through law reform and training of protective services.

Hagar has worked with over 15,000 women and children who have survived abuses such as slavery, rape, trafficking and child sexual exploitation.

When I first met Kate, I was struck by her energy and determination to change the landscape of the human trafficking industry.

Kate was drawn to the Freedom Fund’s mission, having worked with an agency that specialises in the recovery and trauma for some of the worst acts of slavery. She explained to me that you can’t “unsee” that sort of thing. It stays with you – which is why Kate is so deeply committed to efforts to combat it.

And that’s why we are delighted to welcome Kate to our team. She will be relentless in her approach to serve the Freedom Fund’s mission to mobilise the knowledge and capital needed to end slavery, including our fundraising target of raising $100m by the end of 2020.

We are particularly keen to increase our engagement in the US, which is home to many of the actors and resources dedicated to fighting slavery – and Kate will focus her efforts on achieving this, with my strong support and involvement.

Kate is a proven leader, who has a depth of experience across private, nonprofit and government sectors and in developing and implementing solutions to global and local disadvantage. You can learn more about Kate by reading her bio here.

Kate will start on 23 November, and will relocate to New York in January.