Richard Harvey

Concern Universal – voluntary advocate
Former Group Chief Executive, Aviva plc

Richard Harvey was the long standing CEO of AVIVA, one of the UK's largest FTSE companies, until July 2007. With 57,000 employees serving over 45 million customers, Aviva is the world’s fifth largest insurance business, and the biggest in the UK. It works in 27 Countries and deals in fund management, long term savings and general insurance. Aviva’s has worldwide total sales of £41.5 billion and assets under management of £377 billion. Richard was responsible for the strategic development of the group through both organic and inorganic growth. His notable achievements include the successful merger of Norwich Union and CGU in May 2000 to create Aviva.

Under Richard’s direction, Aviva took important steps forward; for instance, acquiring RAC in 2005 which enabled the group’s UK business to take a substantial step towards securing high value business and gaining increased access to customers; he oversaw the acquisition of AmerUs, a leader in the high-growth US equity-indexed market, which expanded Aviva’s US presence four-fold; Richard started the business’s work in China and India with trading in both countries and outsourcing in the latter. Richard has held various positions: for instance, he was Chair of the Association of British Insurers (ABI); a member of the CBI’s Governing Council and the CBI President’s Committee; a member of the European Financial Services Roundtable and a member of the Geneva Association.

In mid 2007 Richard and his wife Kay decided to take a Gap Year in Africa. After meeting with a number of international development organizations, they decided to work with Concern Universal. He said, "we looked at volunteering our services to a number of charities, but it was the nature and scale of Concern Universal that appealed to us; the chemistry with the people was good, its cost effective reputation in developing countries excellent; it was large enough for us to make a genuine contribution, but at the same time had the feel and personal approach of a smaller organisation that we were looking for. We felt their down-to-earth approach would give us the insight and practical experience needed to make a meaningful contribution to the charity sector over the longer term." As part of their induction, Richard and Kay spent the first month visiting a range of initiatives in Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. Up to December 2007, they worked with Concern Universal in Kenya where they were involved in a range of activities; for instance, reviewing the school feeding programme in a specific District and working with local stakeholders to explore the way forward; considering the potential to harness carbon finance for sustainable development purposes and so on. From January, 2008 Richard and Kay were based in Malawi. A short visit to Ghana in April - pre returning to Malawi - was undertaken to experience Concern Universal’s work there and take part in key events organized for business leaders by British Council; during the time a CNBC film was made; the team from CNBC included News Anchor, Louisa Bojesen

Since completing their Gap Year in mid 2008, Richard and Kay have returned to the UK and continued working one day per week in voluntary roles as Advocates for Concern Universal. Richard has helped improve the Charity’s effectiveness in a variety of ways. He has made a considerable wider external contribution in raising awareness, especially encouraging business to engage more substantially in development. He brings the organisational, financial and communications expertise you would expect from a FTSE CEO, along with a personal hands-on interest in building and engineering; this was particularly harnessed whilst in Africa (for instance, when he worked on drilling rigs in Malawi to improve water supplies in communities). Kay had previous significant experience as a volunteer across a number of community organisations in the UK and New Zealand, and - as a teacher of Physical Education and English as a foreign language - was well-placed to teach in Africa and work on community development projects; Kay is currently focusing her efforts to advocate about development education issues.

Richard and Kay used the Gap Year opportunity to gain substantial new learning and experiences. They were in the position to make the time available, meet the practical costs associated with it and - while on the gap year - made the most practical and relevant contribution possible that fitted with the existing priorities and plans of the people that they worked with. In a similar vein, on return to the UK they are contributing in practical ways in line with organisational priorities. Dr Ian Williams, Concern Universal’s Executive Director, believes that they: “are making a remarkable and substantial contribution to the organisation and to the wider sector” Their involvement with international development is subject to ongoing considerable international media coverage, especially from the business sector. This can be accessed, along with other information, via the home page of Concern Universal’s website. For instance, a substantial BBC documentary with Hugh Pym was aired on News 24 and BBC World – ‘Adventure Capitalist’ – in late 2007 and early 2008; a shorter piece was aired in mid 2008. Richard and Kay have been regular email updates to over 100 senior international business people; they have met with senior people in leadership positions to discuss development and advocate for greater change in several countries.

Richard is as yet undecided as to what particular roles he might engage with in the City. and is considering various possibilities. As well as his work with Concern Universal he is working with the IFC (International Finance Corporation), part of the World Bank; he is Chairing a Group that is endeavouring to launch an innovative Healthcare investment fund.

His main focus at the moment is working with Concern Universal to engage international business in efforts to contribute to reducing poverty and thus to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For example, with Mervyn Davies, then Chair of Standard Chartered Bank, he co-hosted an event for UK based business leaders on business contribution to development goals in October 2008.

At the invitation of Kofi Annan, Richard’s most pivotal engagement is currently Chairing a Business Advisory Group of international business leaders for the Africa Progress Panel; research for this is being carried out by colleagues at Concern Universal and the recommendations emerging will be presented to the World Economic Forum in Cape Town in June 2009. The focus on this advocacy initiative is on how business can increase its contribution to the Millennium Development Goals

Richard has attracted considerable attention as a speaker at a substantial number of public, business and non-profit events. For instance, he spoke at two major voluntary sector conferences in late 2008; ‘Charity Finance Live’ and Action Planning’s ‘Annual Philanthropy Conference’.

Concern Universal
Based in the UK, CU was established in 1976 and is an international relief and development charity. It was awarded the UK Charity Award for International Development in 2008. CU’s mission is to support practical actions that enable people to improve their lives and shape their own futures. CU has over 400 staff and volunteers that work with in-country partners to facilitate development and emergency work that reaches more than 1.5 million people per year in some of the world’s poorest countries. For details: www.concernuniversal.org Concern Universal is committed to a community led, integrated approach to sustainable development.

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