RE:ACT hires exciting new Chief Executive

RE:ACT Disaster Response is excited to announce that Toby Wicks has been appointed its new Chief Executive.

RE:ACT is a humanitarian charity that provides direct action in emergencies and crises, rapidly deploying when people need immediate and urgent relief. It repurposes the hard-earned skills and experience of military veterans and turns them into exceptionally agile and resilient humanitarians, producing some of the finest emergency and crisis response teams in the world.

During the Covid-19 pandemic RE:ACT reoriented towards domestic response and also launched a trading subsidiary, RE:SILIENT. It was at this juncture that Society came on board to recruit a strategic, commercially astute Chief Executive able to reposition the charity in a post-Covid world. We conducted a cross-sector search for a leader comfortable in humanitarian and military circles, and skilled at strategy design, oversight of complex operations and partnership building.

Toby joins RE:ACT from his role as Chief of Data and Analytics at UNICEF. His career has focused on introducing and applying innovations in data and technology to some of the world’s biggest humanitarian challenges. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience, having deployed to more than twenty sudden-onset emergencies with NGOs and the UN across Africa and the Middle East. Toby previously worked as Head of Information Management at the UK Government’s Department for International Development (now the FCDO) and as a board member of MapAction.

Toby said of his appointment: “It will be an immense privilege to lead the next phase of RE:ACT’s growth. At a time when the scale and complexities of the crises we face are putting the humanitarian system under massive strain, this young and courageous organisation has an important contribution to make. I am excited to spend time with the team, including the incredible Responders and volunteers, to better understand how I can best serve them and increase our impact. Every step of the way, from their initial approach to the contract signature, Tanya and the Society team were just incredible”.

Sir Nick Parker, RE:ACT Chair of Trustees, commented: “The Board is delighted to welcome Toby as our new CEO. He is the ideal person to lead RE:ACT as it enters a new phase. Toby will bring a deep understanding of the challenges facing the humanitarian sector and is an impressively strategic and innovative thinker. He will be able build on all we have learnt over six exhilarating years and continue to develop RE:ACT into a relevant and capable charity which is recognised both at home and abroad. Toby has qualities and experience that will inject new levels of knowledge and passion into our efforts.”