Lauren Pett

Lauren Pett

CEO

After almost five years supporting growth and diversification as COO, Lauren became the CEO of Agulhas in January 2023. She continues to shape the strategic direction of the company having played a pivotal role in transferring the company to the employee ownership model in 2020. In her new role, she is responsible for leading Agulhas, including overseeing several of the company’s project portfolios, managing risk and ultimately supporting the Agulhas team to deliver high quality work to address the challenges of climate, crisis and conflict. Lauren is an active supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and has a fundamental commitment to fairness, equality and diversity in all her work.


Lauren has a background in entrepreneurship, having supported the start-up and establishment of a successful development research consultancy, Integrity Global, and a social enterprise specialising in peace building in the Middle East. She has worked extensively in the humanitarian sector both overseas, with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), and contributed at the strategic level, in HQ for The Fairtrade Foundation, CARE International and MSF. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology with honours, a Master’s degree in Violence, Conflict and Development, and in 2021 Lauren graduated with Distinction in her second Master’s in Psychology.


Key work skills

She has expertise in risk analysis, security management, strategic planning and change management, with keen thematic interests in countering violent extremism, conspiracy theory and humanitarian action.

Other interests

Lauren aims for a balanced lifestyle outside work, focusing on fitness and wellbeing as well as the consumption of excellent food and fine wine. She is a believer in finding new challenges, and recently started learning how to surf, as well as taking lessons improve to her French language skills.

Sign up to our bulletin

Sign up to our free weekly bulletin for the latest international development news and analysis