Population Matters is excited to announce the appointment of our new CEO. Sara Parkin, Chair of the Board of Trustees, welcomes Amy Jankiewicz.

I am delighted to welcome Amy Jankiewicz – who took up the role of Chief Executive with Population Matters at the beginning of March. She joins us with an impressive range of experience behind her, as well as being fresh from a postgraduate degree in anthrozoology from the University of Exeter.

The latter has given Amy a deep, science-based understanding of how the future of all species – including our own – is tied up with the health of our shared environment. An outlook on life that ties in well with PM’s recent Vanishing Icons report, which looks at several human-animal conflicts around the world.

Wide-ranging conversations

Thinking of the interconnections between all populations also underpins Amy’s approach to working on PM’s next strategy, which she is kicking off through wide-ranging conversations with our friends and critics – as well as those who have
never thought twice about us.

She is a fan of the ‘one-health’ approach to uniting the interests of people-animals planet and recommends to anyone who missed it a recent PM webinar with Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka.

Bringing our positive and powerful message to a wider audience.”

A leading veterinarian and conservationist, Dr Kalema-Zikusoka, who is also a Population Matters Change Champion, uses a public health framework to protect endangered gorillas in Uganda. This includes family planning to reduce the pressures on people, the environment and gorillas from growing human numbers.

Mission-driven and values-led

Amy joins us after working in a variety of senior roles – both executive and governance – including Brooke International Equine Charity, the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs, Guide Dogs for the Blind, and a stint as Captain in the British Army. We were all impressed with her mission-driven and values-led focus.

As we have recently been discussing, this next strategic period is pretty critical for the health of us all – people and planet.”

Her positive outlook suggests she will seek to lead the organisation in exactly that way – positively – an attitude she has already been pleased to find in the stirring stories told by some of our Empower to Plan partners.

Amy already wants to nurture and grow our existing partnerships and will be seeking out new collaborations – essential if we are to raise the voice and influence of Population Matters. A good example of this is the recent Population Conversation in Nigeria earlier this year.

In recent months, Population Matters has been represented at various international conferences, including COP 28, the Commission on the Status of Women and, as this magazine goes to press, the Commission on Population and Development, where PM was represented by Florence Blondel, our Campaigns Specialist, and Simone Filipinni, a Population Matters Trustee. I know that Amy is keen for PM to continue to be active on the international stage, bringing our positive and powerful message to a wider audience.

So, welcome Amy! We are all thrilled you have joined us, and we look forward very much to working with you in the years to come. As we have recently been discussing, this next strategic period is pretty critical for the health of us all – people and
planet. We are sure you are just the person to lead Population Matters as
we build powerful coalitions for the changes we need to achieve the best
possible outcomes.

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