Our Members

 

Richard is the RSPB’s Regional Director in Eastern England, responsible for the work of the RSPB stretching from the mouth of the Humber in the North, to the Thames in the south.

Richard was a founding board member of the East of England Regional Development Agency (EEDA). Richard set up and chaired a renewable energy company called Renewables East, as well as being the lead for the Market Towns initiative, acting as Chair of the Regional Forum and the national link for RDAs and market towns.

In addition to chairing Sustainability East, Richard’s other appointments include chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund East of England.

Before working for the RSPB Richard Powell worked for 5 years with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) on coypu research, helping to set up the 10 year eradication scheme, then studied for a degree in Earth Sciences.

Richard was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2005 for services to the Environment and Sustainable Development.

 

Corinne is currently Regional Director of CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) East of England and is a Vice- Chair of Sustainability East and the nominated Sustainability East member to the Regional Assembly. Corinne is also a Board member of Renewables East.

Originally Corinne trained and worked as a microbiologist, moving into the Voluntary sector some 20 years ago as Regional Development Officer for the United Nations Association, raising awareness and understanding of global issues, including sustainable development to the wider public and within the formal education system. Corinne sits on various committees largely related to regional planning and environment including the Environment and Resources Panel and the Regional Planning Panel, where she is Stakeholder Group Leader.

 

John has worked for Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL) for 30 years and has managed scientific, engineering, strategic and operational functions. As Operations Director, John is responsible for all operational activities in the Suffolk and Essex areas of Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL), of which Essex & Suffolk Water (ESW) is part. John is also responsible for water resource planning and demand management activities for NWL, which is responsible for the supply of drinking water to 4.3 million people as well as water production in the north east region

Over the past few years the primary focus has been on driving the Company’s approach to resource efficiency and demand management. ESW is widely acknowledged as leading in the promotion of water efficiency and leakage management, and has won numerous awards as well as contributing to government and regulatory studies.

John led the promotion and delivery of the first (and still the only in UK) wastewater recycling plant at Langford, to enable reuse of waste water for potable purposes.

John is Chairman of Northumbrian Water’s Corporate Responsibility Committee leading up to NWL being awarded ‘platinum’ status and being top of the utilities sector in Business in the Community’s (BITC) “Companies that count”. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a Chartered Chemist, a

Fellow of the Institution of Water and Environmental Management, a Chartered Environmentalist and has an MBA.

 

Fiona leads for EEDA on all aspects of sustainable and rural development incorporating for example, climate change, environment, resource efficiency, sustainable procurement, rural affairs and food and drink throughout both EEDA’s organizational activity and its work with partners in the region.

Until June 08 Fiona also led England’s RDAs nationally across this agenda for 5 years in managing the RDA relationship with Defra but the growth in the arena has now led to an increase in EEDA’s resources within the national relationship team allowing Fiona to focus more closely on regional activity. Fiona continues as the National RDA Director, however, for the management of the RDAs’ responsibilities for the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

Outside of work Fiona and her husband farm near Cambridge and have 3 children. She is a Director of a company involved with farming, forestry, tourism, leisure, renewable energy and community interests in Scotland. In 2005 she also completed an MBA whilst working full-time to enhance her strategic management skills.

 

Jonathan Burney is an environmental economist and ecologist. He previously worked for the Department of Environment and HM Treasury for 6 years, and the NHS for 7 years. He has worked for Natural England, and previously English Nature, for 11 years. As English Nature's Economic Adviser, he developed the organisation's involvement in economic, social science and policy debates. He contributed to various Whitehall steering groups on environmental taxation, the water price reviews, the Water Framework Directive, the UK Sustainable Development strategy, etc. These contributions included revisions to the cost benefit procedures for transport and flood and coastal defence. When Natural England started, Jonathan managed the national Policy Development Team. He is now responsible for regional policy and partnership development in the East of England.

Jonathan is a member of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management and a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Socio-Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE), University of East Anglia.

 

Ila is the Chief Officer of MENTER, the Black / Minority Ethnic Network for the East of England region. She has twenty years managerial, financial and IT experience. At MENTER her role includes fundraising and organisational and partnership development. MENTER has a staff team of 11 with projects in economic development, equalities, capacity building, strategic engagement, initiatives for particular groups e.g. migrant workers, sports, housing and education. MENTER has formal partnership work with the East of England Development Agency, the East of England Regional Assembly and

GO-East among others and is currently the lead organisation for the regional voluntary community sector consortium. MENTER was one of the founding partners of Voice4Change England. Ila represents MENTER on the region’s cultural and sustainability fora.

Ila worked for eight years as a manager for Cambridge City Council’s Community Development Team managing voluntary sector support and equalities work. During that time she was successful in running several ESF funded employment projects – these helped BME community groups design and run employment and training programmes. She also set up several projects for people with disabilities.

She has worked for several years in a number of different voluntary organisations including the Cambridge Women’s Resources Centre, the Cambridgeshire Cooperative Development Agency (now the Social Enterprise People) and the Tenants’ Support Service. She is currently on the boards of the Black Training and Enterprise Group, Advice for Life East of England and Cambridgeshire Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Her experience includes work for a publishing co-operative, CIRCA Research and Reference Information Ltd., which provided research and editorial services to publishers in the field of international politics and current affairs. Her primary responsibilities were financial management and marketing. Ila is also one of the directors of Analytic Art Limited, an internet and software engineering company with expertise in websites that are accessible for people with disabilities.

 

Andrew joined Countryside Properties in 2000 having previously worked in the commercial, retail, healthcare and residential sectors, with AMEC Construction and a number of private architectural practices. He is currently Director of Sustainability and the Head of Group’s Business Efficiency Support Team, whose remit is to provide technical support to the business in areas such as sustainability, quality management, business processes and efficiency.

Andrew is a member of the New Build Group of the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes, the Greening the Gateway Kent and Medway - Strategy Group and the newly formed NHBC Sustainability Group. By invitation he recently contributed to ‘The Callcutt Review of Housing Delivery’.

Andrew’s membership of the South East England Development Agency’s Sustainability Checklist Steering Group facilitated the creation of a sustainability model for the development industry. He was a member (and the only developer) of WWF-UK’s ‘One Million Sustainable Homes Task Force’ and also participated in the BREEAM EcoHomes' Steering Group.

He reports directly to the Group’s Chief Executive and sits on a number of internal committees, advisory groups and forums including the Health, Safety, Environment and Quality Committee, Design, Sustainability and Technical Fora.

 

Chris Dunabin is a writer and consultant, specialising in sustainable development and urban and rural policy.

Chris worked for most of his career as a civil servant, for many years in the Department of the Environment, then as Director, Housing, Regeneration and Environment in the Government Office for the East of England (GO-East), and latterly in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). In GO-East he played a major role in the changes to regional governance following the 1997 election, including the setting up of EEDA and EERA; he was GO-East’s first representative on the Sustainable Development Round Table for the East of England (now Sustainability East), and led production of the region’s first Sustainable Development Framework in 1999 – 2000. In Defra he led the reopening of the countryside and the programme of support for rural tourism and other businesses after the major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001, then led the Government’s initiatives to support rural communities and enhance services in rural areas.

Since leaving Defra he has completed major consultancy projects on rights-of-way registration and helping establish the New Forest National Park, besides pursuing other research interests and spending more time travelling and playing cricket. He has worked as a consultant for Sustainability East helping develop responses to a range of regional and national policy initiatives.

 

Caroline joined the Learning LSC in 2002. In her role as National Director of Policy and Development and Director of the Learning Group, she focused on driving up participation and attainment - the number of 16-18 year-olds taking part in education and training in England is now at its highest ever level. Caroline took up her role as Regional Director, LSC East of England in January 2006 and she has forged strong partnerships with EEDA, Job Centre Plus, the Association of Colleges in the region (ACER), local government partners and other key public and private agencies.

Leading the quality theme of the LSC agenda for change, her work on the quality theme focused on working closely with the sector and key partners to champion the highest standards of quality and delivery throughou t.

Caroline is a well-respected figure in the Further Education sector with over twenty years experience. She was Principal of Norwich City College for nine years between 1993 and 2002. While in this role, she was also a regional Pro-Vice Chancellor and Governor of Anglia Polytechnic University.

Prior to joining the LSC, Caroline was a board member of the Association of Colleges in the Eastern Region, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and a range of associated consultative / task groups. She has also contributed to the work of the Dearing HE Review, the Foundation Degree Group and served on the Joint Forum of the Qualifications Curriculum Authority / Quality Assurance Agency.

Caroline is currently chair of the East of England Skills & Competitiveness Partnership (EESCP). EESCP was established in September 2005 to lead a step change in the regions skills base by better coordinating resources and activity between key organizations concerned with jobs, skills and training.

Caroline is also a co-opted governor of the University of Northampton.

 

Tim is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia.

He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County and Norfolk, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He holds an MA in Geography from the University of Edinburgh, an MS in Water Resources Engineering from Cornell University, and a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge.

He has edited a number of key books on the institutional aspects of global environmental change, policy and practice, led two international research projects on the transition to sustainability in the European Union (1995-2002) and edited two editions of the text book, Environmental Science for Environmental Management.

Tim is a member of the UK Sustainable Development Commission and Sustainability East. His research deals with the themes associated with better governance for sustainability. He is also active in the evolution of sustainability science partnerships. His direct work relates to designing future coastlines in East Anglia in England so that they are ready for sea level rise and the creation of sound economies and societies for a sustainable future.

He is a core member of the Prince of Wales' seminar on Business and the Environment. He has many contacts with the business world. He is an assessor for the Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability project. He sits on the Corporate Responsibility Body for Asda plc, and also on the Growth and Climate Change Panel for Anglian Water Group.

Professor O’Riordan is also Executive Editor of Environment Magazine

His other research interests cover interdisciplinary approaches to pursuing the transition to sustainability, risk perception and communication, business and social virtue.

Tim plays classical double bass in a Norwich orchestra which he has managed for over 25 years.

Prior to joining Sustainability East, Chrissie worked as as a Senior Policy Officer for the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) where she led policy development in the areas of sustainable infrastructure, transport and maritime engineering. During her time at ICE she developed a sustainable development strategy and action plan for the civil engineering sector. This united major civil engineering bodies in a commitment to take practical action on sustainable development.

A long term champion for the equalities agenda, Chrissie has also worked as a policy officer for the Equality Challenge Unit, advising higher education institutions on promoting equality for both staff and students. Chrissie is also an experienced researcher having gained a social sciences PhD from Loughborough University in 2005. She also holds a BSc in Social Policy from Loughborough University.