Associates
Clare Barden
Clare has a background in international forest conservation.
She studied Forestry and Land Use at the University of Oxford and then went
on to work for WWF.
She has worked on a wide range of projects including
the verification of sustainability claims, the reduction of illegal
practices in the timber trade and the establishment of the Forest Stewardship
Council. She also has considerable experience intergovernmental international
meetings, and has also worked in corporate leadership development.
Clare
is also a trained journalist and has experience in the broadcast industry,
and has designed and run training courses on a wide range of commercial,
social and environmental issues.
Jenefer Bobbin
Jenefer has worked in tourism for 10 years with executive roles in London, Nepal and New York.
In 2007 she gave up her role as a web developer for a lead UK travel agency
to complete a Masters in Responsible Tourism Management. The research for her
final report led to the development of the Responsible Tourism Reporting (RTR)
Initiative. This is a new initiative with the aim of encouraging small businesses
to measure themselves against their own goals and publicly report their annual
achievements.
Alongside setting up RTR she has been involved with consultancy
work for the International Centre for Responsible Tourism and the Travel Foundation.
Matilda Bradshaw
Matilda Bradshaw is an experienced communications consultant and editor with 25 years’ experience. She provides communications support for governmental and international non-governmental organisations with a focus on environmental and sustainable development issues.
Matilda has developed and implemented communications strategies for a wide range of projects covering climate, water availability, ocean and forest issues, as well as chemical regulation. Her services include providing strategic communications advice; coordinating the production of communications assets; content and message framing/development; writing and editing; developing news stories from technical or scientific information; and commissioning/overseeing website development.
Recently, she has produced communications packages for a series of blue papers commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy; produced communications packages related to water availability and climate change for IMPREX, an EU Horizon 2020 project; and written a series of case studies on WASH and FNS civil society programmes for a project under the Directorate General for International Cooperation, The Netherlands. Matilda holds a Joint Honours degree in English Language and Literature (University of Leeds, BA Joint Hons).
Emily Bullock
Emily studied Science and Engineering of Metals and Materials at University of Sheffield, after which she worked in Manufacturing Industry for six years. Subsequently she completed a Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Since 2001 she has gained a broad experience in sustainable energy, climate change and waste management and has been involved in developing and implementing policy for the NHS and Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole.
Emily has also worked in Nigeria preparing papers for the Nigerian negotiating team at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and supporting final reporting on Nigeria's national adaptation project, Building Nigeria's Response to Climate Change.
Andrea Forbes
Andrea has over twenty years' experience of working with troubled young people. She has worked with those excluded from school, those with special needs and those in other difficult circumstances and with troubled backgrounds. Andrea has engaged successfully with young people who have run away from home, are involved with drugs, abused or leaving care, has won their trust, raised their aspirations and moved them on in life, to training courses or other positive directions. Her perspective on evaluation of 'soft outcomes', social and emotional skills and character strengths is particularly valuable.
Andrea is skilled in establishing trust, motivating, advising and supporting young people with the goal of assisting them to make positive decisions, improve their attitude, aptitude and aspiration. Andrea is based in Northamptonshire, where she presently spends much of her time helping the Connexions programme in helping young people achieve their learning and career aspirations.
Lindsey Harris
Lindsey has over twenty years' experience in web design & development and search engine
optimisation, having trained in Bristol in 1998.
Lindsey works with Mike Read Associates, but also has her own website design
company based in Poole, Dorset, offering website design, updates, e-commerce solutions,
search engine optimisation (SEO), Google Ads setup &
management, professional blogging services, WordPress development and maintenance, logo design, banner and brochure design, digital manipulation or enhancement
of existing photos or artwork, photography services, copy writing, domain
name registrations / management, and website hosting.
Lindsey built this website.
Rachel Hembery
Rachel has worked in the environmental sector for nearly 30 years on diverse responsible trade issues. These include investigating the illegal importation of flower bulbs, the environmental impacts of salmon farming and using reptile skins for handbags. She has worked with governments encouraging the use of responsibly sourced timber, managed WWF UK’s Local Authority Project, and their Forest & Trade Network.
During the summer, Rachel coordinates Green & Away, an outdoor eco venue near Worcester.
Rachel currently works for FSC UK, where she develops and delivers training and supports businesses in navigating the requirements of FSC certification.
Kate Jackson
Kate has been involved in environmental management for over 10 years. Having initially completed a BSc in Environmental Science in 2002, Kate progressed into working within the UK water sector involved in strategic asset management, environmental compliance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and environmental policy analysis. This entailed facilitation of workshops, giving presentations, project management and business report writing. Subsequently, Kate completed a MSc (Eng) in sustainable waste management in 2006, through which she completed a study into the technical and economic appraisal of autoclave technology and composting to treat Municipal Solid Waste. The continuation of her interest into business and environmental management led to the recent completion of an Engineering Doctorate. This involved inter-disciplinary research into strategic decision support development to analyse EU environmental legislation to inform organisational adaptation and investment requirements within the UK water sector.
In her spare time Kate also has a keen interest in arts and crafts, playing tennis, and gardening.
Karen Nimmo-Scott
After secretarial training and service in the WRNS, mainly as an Administration Officer, Karen qualified as a primary school teacher and taught for ten years. Following this she did administrative work for a dental practice for another ten years and during that time also held the post of Parish Clerk for seven years.
Karen has also acted as Honorary Secretary for local branches of Riding for the Disabled, and the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies. All these occupations have required professional secretarial, administrative and IT abilities. She prides herself on having an eye for detail and has excellent editing and narration skills.
Karen and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, and in her spare time she enjoys life in the country, genealogy, local and social history.
Liz Read
Liz Read has a wide range of experience in the voluntary and environmental sector. Following a degree in Environmental Science, Liz worked with communities to reduce their environmental footprint through awareness raising about climate change, individual behaviour change and collective action. Later, through working as an associate with MRA for the last 18 years, Liz has been providing monitoring and evaluation services to large NGOs and a consortium of charities, and research and stakeholder consultation services to global certification organisations.
Liz is a friendly, positive person who in her spare time runs, gardens and builds dens in the woods with her daughters.
Liz is a friendly, positive person and a committed environmentalist. In her spare time, she runs, gardens and builds dens in the woods with her daughters.
Mike Read
Mike Read studied botany and environmental technology at the University of London and then established Mike Read Associates in 1987.
Mike's work has included environmental and social programme development, management, evaluation and certification, in sectors spanning poverty alleviation, responsible tourism, forestry, agriculture, fisheries, water efficiency, wildlife conservation, climate change, and waste prevention.
Clients have included major international NGOs, national governments and the commercial sector. He also has considerable experience of project fundraising.
Mike also has many years' experience of establishing sustainable livelihoods projects, often in challenging locations.
He is an independent Impacts Code Evaluator for ISEAL, and a member of ASI's Accreditation Committee.
Şemsi Toprak
Şemsi has over 15 years’ experience in the agriculture sector. He studied international relations, and also has a degree in media and communication systems. In 2001 he set up a company which specialised in production and export of agricultural products. In 2012, he started consulting with the Travel Foundation, a UK based organisation specialized in sustainable tourism, and was appointed as the local co-ordinator for the Foundation’s Fethiye Agricultural Livelihoods and Tourism (Taste of Fethiye) Project. Currently he holds the role of Programme Coordinator for the Travel Foundation and manages several projects for the Travel Foundation in Turkey.
Şemsi has conducted evaluation, impact assessment and baseline data collection projects in Turkey and has solid experience in partnership building and stakeholder management issues.
James Sullivan
James Sullivan is a recognised leader and sustainability innovator. In over 20 years of work in certification he has worked to create, manage and improve the effectiveness of new and existing certification and labelling systems. His passion is to support new and growing initiatives designed to achieve economic, social and environmental goals.
James understands that achieving sustainability is about innovation, creating changes in our lives, institutions and broader society in order to live in balance with the ecological limits of our world.
Some of his accomplishments include the following.
- Founding chair of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Canada.
- Board member and Deputy Executive Director of FSC International.
- Executive Director of Two Countries, One Forest.
- A founding member of the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance.
- Currently serving on the Boards of Greenpeace Canada and Sustainability Network.
He is a respected leader in accreditation, certification, and labelling now serving on the Accreditation Committee of Accreditation Services International (ASI) and a member of the Standards Council of Canada's Canadian Advisory Committee on Social Responsibility. He was an early leader in the development of corporate environmental and sustainability reporting, the design of environmental management systems, and the innovation of environmental performance evaluation. James is also a dynamic speaker and workshop presenter. He has worked with small groups and presented to conferences of thousands.
James can be reached through his website at www.certificationkitbag.com or by email at
Richard Watson
Richard Watson qualified in Countryside Management from the University of London. Richard worked in agriculture before training as a teacher and working in environmental education for Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. He set up two education centres, using funding from the Heritage Lottery and set up a number of community engagement programmes.
Since 2008 Richard has worked for the National Trust in diverse community involvement and volunteering roles, initially in the south-west and latterly at a national level. He is experienced in writing and delivering funding bids for youth volunteering, environmental education and community engagement. Richard is also trained in project management and has successfully delivered heritage projects and national training events.
In his spare time Richard is a passionate photographer and current Chair of Devizes Camera Club. He also sits on the local Partnership Board for the Canal and Rivers Trust.
Patrick Williams
Patrick has over 12 years' experience in multimedia production and 6 years' in education. He has produced websites, branding, print material, advertising, magazine design and video for a number of schools, charities, community organisations and small businesses.
As the course leader for a Creative Digital Media degree for 5 years, Patrick led a wide range of student projects including print design, film and music video production, TV studio production, 3D animation and app development.
Patrick uses his experience to manage and produce multiplatform content and design, covering print, web, mobile, video and audio. As a trained musician, he has also recently been combining his multimedia production skills with choral music, creating virtual choir performances with singers from across the globe.
