Deborah is the Founder and Managing Director of the Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF), a not-for-profit Foundation, set up in 2020 to support the leather industry to become more sustainable. Deborah created the SLF’s “A.I.M. Approach” to sustainable improvement – Accessible, Inclusive and Modular, ensuring that the tools, mechanisms and audit certification programme are available for all. This approach is brought to life through SLF’s revolutionary Transparency Dashboard, the first and only one of its kind in the leather industry.

Deborah’s early career was spent in Sales & Marketing, working for the largest marquee and events company in the UK. This provided experience of managing large budget events for corporate blue-chip companies such as Powergen and the International Petroleum Exchange; entertainment and event companies such as the BBC and the Lawn Tennis Association;public sector organisations and the public. For 15 years while her children were young, Deborah ran her own business as a freelance project manager and worked with brands including Sony Mobile and PlayStation looking after their incentive and recognition programme websites.

Deborah’s career in the leather industry began in 2015 when she managed the Leather Working Group (LWG), an environmental stewardship programme that supports the reduction of environmental impacts caused by tannery operations around the world. During her time at LWG, Deborah saw membership and audited tannery numbers double, managed the increased number of audit tools now available and created greater collaborative effort and formal links with other initiatives in the sector.

In setting up the Sustainable Leather Foundation in 2020, Deborah has widened out the remit of support for the leather industry to include all aspects of ESG and all parts of the leather value chain for a joined up, systematic approach to sustainable improvement. Deborah is passionate about providing the right environment for transparent and verifiable information that gives confidence to consumers while protecting the commercial integrity of the individual organisations along the value chain.

A practitioner member of the Chartered Quality Institute and a certified SA8000 lead auditor, Deborah is passionate about encouraging individuals and businesses to make a difference and believes that “a small change, made by many, can result in much more significant, positive impact than one person or organisation making a single big change”,

Deborah is an advocate of working collaboratively in the industry to encourage a cohesive approach to improvement. Deborah is the President of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists, having been a Council Member since 2021, and she is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Curriers.

Since April 2020, Deborah has also worked as the leather value chain expert for the UNECE on the project to “enhance traceability and transparency for more sustainable value chains in the garment and footwear sector”.

At home, Deborah serves as a Trustee of a local charity, the Welton Townlands Trust, since 2005 and she is also a member of Mensa since 1992 with a registered IQ of 150.