Financier Rupert Adams becomes an ambassador for Alzheimer's Society

Financier Rupert Adams has pledged to step up his efforts to champion the rights of people with dementia after his appointment as an Alzheimer’s Society Ambassador, formally signalling his determination to support the nation’s leading dementia charity on its mission to enable people with dementia to live the lives they want and be included in society.

Having a personal connection to dementia, Rupert has already provided vital support to the nation’s leading dementia charity in its quest to help anyone affected by dementia.

Drawing on his wealth of professional knowledge from managing the London office of the Toronto-based investment group, Alignvest, Rupert has been the driving force behind fundraising campaigns that have helped to fund key research projects. 

Commenting on his new Alzheimer’s Society role, Rupert said:

'My mother has been living with Alzheimer’s disease for the last 15 years and was diagnosed at the young age of 60. 

She is an amazing woman, who was always vivacious, vibrant and kind, and I have seen first-hand both the physical and mental deterioration that comes with this devastating disease. 

It is deeply upsetting for family members to see somebody they love affected by this terrible illness, but also to witness the amazing job that carers for people with Alzheimer’s do. 

It is vital that we recognise the overall impact that dementia will have on our society in the future, that we draw attention to the cause and that we speak up and raise awareness, not just for people who are currently affected by dementia but also for future generations. 

Despite good progress, there is still so much that can be done in care, research into care and biomedical research and it is our duty to ensure that we help raise substantial funds to facilitate this.

It is an illness that is very close to my heart and I am honoured to be a part of this broader fight against dementia.'

Alzheimer’s Society is funding eight Centres of Excellence to improve dementia care in areas that are most important to people affected by dementia.  

Decades of underfunding means dementia research lags about 20 years behind the progress made on cancer – the UK only invests £74 million in dementia research each year, that’s only £90 a year for each person with dementia.

Our Ambassadors

Rupert is among several high-profile figures to have recently joined Alzheimer’s Society’s Ambassadors Programme including: 

• Actor Vicky McClure
• Former Government Minister Hazel Blears
• Former Lloyds Banking Group strategist Dr Kamel Hothi OBE
• Hotelier Laurence Geller CBE
• Executive Director, Continental Europe at QBE Europe Chris Wallace
• Iceland Foods founder Sir Malcolm Walker

They are united with Alzheimer’s Society in aiming to create a world without dementia and support the charity’s mission to transform the landscape of dementia forever.

Welcoming Rupert and the new ambassadors, Jeremy Hughes, Alzheimer’s Society Chief Executive Officer, said:

'I’m very grateful to Rupert for the enormous support he has already given to Alzheimer’s Society which enables us to achieve so much, from bolstering campaigns and driving forward fundraising projects to improving the support we provide for people with dementia and carers, and helping us to fund valuable research projects.

As a leading financier, Rupert will use considerable energy, influence and business acumen, to help us to get the message out there that things must change for people with dementia.

Sharing his own personal experience of dementia in the media alone shows the impact he can make. Everyone knows someone whose life has been affected but yet too many people face it alone, without adequate support.

With one person developing dementia every three minutes in the UK, we are delighted to have Rupert on our side as a much-valued Ambassador. Together we will power the growing dementia movement for change and we are urging everyone else to follow Rupert’s lead and to get involved and pledge their support.'

Dementia Action Week

Rupert’s announcement follows on from the first ever Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Action Week, renamed from Dementia Awareness Week, in recognition that it is action that is urgently needed to help people with dementia and their carers get the support they need and feel included and not abandoned in their communities. 

A year on from the largest ever survey of people with dementia ‘Turning up the Volume’, to gather a full picture of living with dementia today, Alzheimer’s Society talked to more than 500 people affected by dementia and those working with them, as part of Dementia Action Week. Alarmingly, people reported the loss of their friends and social life post-diagnosis, facing isolation caused by public stigma, fear and misunderstandings of dementia, and of how to interact with people living with the condition. 

Dementia Friends initiative

While much progress has been made to becoming a dementia friendly UK, including 2.4 million Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends and over 350 dementia friendly communities across the UK, people with dementia insist more urgently needs to be done.