Chairman: David Jordan OBE Board level environmental consultant and advisor Expand David is the former Executive Director of Operations at the Environment Agency (2008-2015). Before taking on the role as Chairman he was already involved with Excellent Development, as a donor and a business mentor to former Executive Director, Simon Maddrell. He brings a strong track record in operational delivery, change management, strategic development and leadership from a variety of Executive and board-level roles. Read more about David here.
Trustee and Treasurer: Nigel Reader CBE Non-executive board member of the Marine Management Organisation and Natural England Expand Nigel has over 40 years experience as an accountant, most recently as the Director of Finance for the Environment Agency, a role he held for 14 years. He retired from full-time employment in 2009 and has developed a portfolio of non-executive roles on the boards of the Marine Management Organisation, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales. He chairs the audit and risk assurance committees of all three bodies, as well as being a member of the audit and risk assurance committee of the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee. Nigel was awarded a CBE in 2003 for his services to the environment. Read more about Nigel here.
Trustee: Mark Murphy Mark Murphy, Director, Oyster Luxury Travel & Diving Ltd Expand Mark has over 15 years domestic and international Marketing experience working with some of the UK's largest plc's. More recently Mark formed and now runs his own International travel company. Read more about Mark here.
Trustee: Alison Bell Broadcaster and media communications expert Expand Alison Bell specialises in television and radio. She has over 20 years experience from a career that has included presenting for ITV News, Sky News, CNN and LBC radio. In 2014, Alison presented our BBC Radio 4 Appeal. Alison first came across Excellent Development and sand dams in September 2006, when she travelled to rural Kenya to produce a film of our work. Watch that film here.
Trustee: Barbara Busby Organisation Development Consultant, NHS Wales Expand Barbara is passionate about organisation, team and individual development based on over 30 years experience across the public and private sectors, spanning defence, environment, utilities and latterly the NHS. She has been an Executive Director and Board member so understands the challenges of governance and leading organisations. Much of her work has been enabling and supporting Directors and senior managers in organisation design and development, shaping and implementing successful change, introducing leadership development and driving talent management initiatives as well as leading her own functional teams. Read more about Barbara here.
Trustee: Alex Day Director, The Big Give Expand The Big Give is a non-profit organisation which is responsible for the UK's biggest online match funding campaign, the Christmas Challenge. Prior to joining the Big Give, Alex spent eight years working in various roles in the international development and humanitarian response sector including two years as Director of the UK office of the international NGO, Medair and a stint as Grants & Institutions Manager at Excellent Development. He holds a BA in Business & Geography from Exeter University and completed an MA in Charity Management from St Mary's University in 2015 which included a thesis entitled ‘Impact Bonds: The future of disaster resilience funding?’. Read more about Alex here.
Trustee: Pam Gilder Communications, public policy and governance expert Expand Pam Gilder has worked in public policy and communications for over 30 years. Starting out as a field ecologist (advising farmers on how to combine productive farming with caring for the environment), she then moved from the field into public policy and advocacy working first for the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, helping to design and shape legislation that continues to protect the environment in the UK today. She led a number of ambitious initiatives including the New National Forest, a project in the Midlands which uses large-scale tree planting to improve the local environment and provide a place for millions of people to enjoy. More recently Pam was Director of Corporate Affairs at the Environment Agency where she was responsible for advising at Board level on corporate governance and communications. She led a number of campaigns and crisis communications during periods of drought, flooding and environmental pollution events. During her career Pam visited China on a Winston Churchill Fellowship to see their environmental programmes in action and visited North America to how the national forest estate was being managed for conservation and public benefit. Since finishing full-time work in 2016, Pam acts as a mentor for mid-career women and also volunteers with charities in Bristol. Read more about Pam here.