LONDON – Chanel is building the leadership team at its Fondation, an independent charity that focuses on empowering women and girls worldwide to shape their destinies.

Annika Freyer has been named president of Fondation Chanel, while Elizabeth Broderick will become an independent chair of the board.

The changes come in the wake of the Fondation’s rapid expansion over the past 15 years. Founded in 2011, the Fondation has become one of the largest organizations in the world dedicated to promoting females’ safety and social and economic autonomy, according to Chanel.

Freyer will join on Sept. 8 and report to Leena Nair, Chanel’s global chief executive officer. She will work in close partnership with the Fondation Chanel board and its teams. 

The role of president and chair is currently held by Kate Wylie, Chanel’s global chief sustainability officer. Chanel said that, from September, Wylie will be exclusively dedicated to Chanel’s “sustainability transformation” while continuing to serve on Fondation Chanel’s board of trustees.

Freyer was the inaugural CEO of Champions of Change Coalition, which engages leaders in accelerating progress on gender equality. Prior to that, she spent 20 years working in both the public and private sectors.

She has held policy and program leadership roles for the U.S. government, the United Nations Development Program, The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and many international NGOs.

Broderick, an existing trustee of the board, became chair of the Fondation on July 1.  

Chanel said she is a “globally acknowledged leader in driving cultural change,” and has led more than 35 independent reviews of national and global institutions.

A human rights lawyer, Broderick has served as a UN Special Rapporteur, as co-lead of the UN Global Compact’s Leadership Group on Women’s Empowerment Principles, and on the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development.

The company said it was “deeply grateful” for the progress that Wylie made as president and chair of Fondation Chanel over the past four years.

It said that under Wylie’s leadership, the foundation has grown to support more than 250 partners in 60 countries, while positively impacting more than 9 million women and girls. Chanel also recently expanded its funding to $125 million a year.

Earlier this year, Wylie spoke extensively to WWD about her work at the Fondation, saying “women are at the heart of Chanel, and where women thrive, the world thrives.”

During her tenure, she also put a focus on women’s contributions to fighting climate change. To date, Chanel has committed more than $50 million to partners focused on women-led climate resilience.

As reported, the Fondation works with the Nature Environment & Wildlife Society, an NGO that has helped women plant 16 million mangroves since 2011. The robust mangroves, with their thick, tangled roots, help to boost biodiversity; reduce erosion and flood risks, and enhance economic and climate resilience.

As part of that effort, at group of women called the Green Brigade has successfully restored more than 1,000 hectares of mangrove forests in the Sundarbans, in eastern India.

“Women are leading this work. They are having an impact on the climate and on their communities and also creating a source of income,” said Wylie.