After 26 years at the helm of Fair Trade USA, Founder Paul Rice is stepping down as CEO of the award-winning social enterprise. Rice will finish the year at Fair Trade USA in the role of Founder, ensuring a smooth, successful transition.

Rice’s decision follows several years of leadership team development and organizational transformation, aimed at building capabilities and capacity to take the extraordinary impact of Fair Trade Certified™ to scale. The organization is now well positioned for its next chapter of innovation, growth, and impact. Beginning in 2025, Rice will remain with the organization as a member of its Advisory Council.

Rice’s new book, Every Purchase Matters: How Fair Trade Farmers, Companies, and Consumers Are Changing the World, will be published by Public Affairs in April 2025. He is excited to be able to focus on promoting the book and elevating the visibility of the Fair Trade and ethical sourcing movements.

Fair Trade USA’s Board of Directors has chosen Felipe Arango, the organization’s current COO to serve as Interim-CEO while a search is conducted for the organization’s new Chief Executive.  Arango has dedicated his career to advancing the Fair Trade and sustainability movements. Prior to Fair Trade USA, Felipe served as a Technical Advisor and Pilots Lead for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) where he advanced a global framework for management and disclosure of nature-related risks and opportunities, aimed at shifting global finance towards nature-positive outcomes. Before his work with the TNFD, Felipe co-founded BSD Consulting, serving as their Global CEO for 7 years, launching their operations in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and the U.S, providing knowledge and solutions for sustainable development to major global brands and development agencies. He also served as a lead auditor, trainer, and consultant at FLO-CERT and Fairtrade International for 8 years, and has partnered with rural communities, workers, and Indigenous People across the Americas to improve their livelihoods and protect the environment.

Rice launched Fair Trade USA (formerly known as TransFair USA) in late 1998 in a one-room warehouse in Oakland, California. Under his leadership, the organization became the leading certifier of Fair Trade products in North America, partnering with over 1,500 respected brands and retailers. Fair Trade USA now certifies a broad range of consumer products, including coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, fresh produce, dairy, fish, apparel, home goods, and more. Consumer awareness of the Fair Trade Certified label has grown to 65%. By 2024, the organization had generated $1.2 billion in cumulative financial impact for over 1.6 million farmers and workers in more than 53 countries worldwide.

A pioneer in Conscious Capitalism, Rice is now a leading advocate of ethical sourcing as a strategy to improve lives, protect the planet, and promote sustainable business practices. Prior to Fair Trade USA, Rice worked with family farmers for eleven years in the mountains of Nicaragua, where he founded and led the country’s first Fair Trade coffee export cooperative. This unique, firsthand experience in the field inspired Rice to return to the United States with the dream of bringing the Fair Trade Certification to this country.

Rice has won numerous accolades for his accomplishments as a social entrepreneur. He was named Ethical Corporation’s 2019 Business Leader of the Year and has been recognized four times as Social Capitalist of the Year by Fast Company magazine. Rice also received the prestigious Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, the World Economic Forum’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Ashoka Fellowship. He has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Clinton Global Initiative, Skoll World Forum, TEDx, and numerous universities and conferences around the world.

“It has truly been an honor and privilege to lead Fair Trade USA and our amazing team,” said Rice. “I’m so proud of the impact that we and our stakeholders have had over the last 26 years. We have helped improve the lives of millions of hardworking farmers and workers, building hope for a better future. We have shown corporate America that ethical sourcing can be good not just for people and planet, but also for the bottom line. And we have helped consumers realize that they can change the world through something as simple as a cup of coffee, a banana, or a T-shirt. I have so much confidence in the organization’s current position and direction and can’t wait to see the impact Fair Trade USA will have in its next chapter.”

“Paul’s visionary leadership and dedication have transformed Fair Trade USA into a global force for good,” said Ricardo Crisantes, Chair of Fair Trade USA. “On behalf of the board and all those whose lives have been impacted, we thank you, Paul, for your many years of extraordinary service.”