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.
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), 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.
Ruth Kelly
Ruth worked in the heritage sector from 1986, starting as a research assistant at the Science Museum (fusing engineering with archaeology) before being appointed as Curator of the London Transport Museum. In 2020 she moved to the British Film Institute, and took charge of 130 staff at the BFI National Archive.
As well as implementing major organisational change she led on multi-million projects including the creation of the new Master Film Store, the BFI Reuben National Library, film digitisation and restoration and the Collections & Information Database—all requiring business cases to HM Treasury green book standards.
With a BSc in Marine Engineering from Plymouth and MSc in History of Technology from Imperial College, Ruth is comfortable with analysis and testing of complex systems and structures, which has found application in surveys for small commercial boats, vehicle restoration and software development. She also worked as a volunteer for ten years with Professor Barry Cunliffe on numerous excavations of iron age and Roman sites in southern Britain.
Emily Malcolm
Emily has been working in arts education and participation for over 20 years. She has worked in the public, private and third sector, but always with the aim to improve access to culture and creativity.
She is the Founder and Creative Director of Yesterday’s Story CIC, an organisation who bring to life stories from the past through arts and events. When she is not doing this you can find her working as a freelance producer and project manager.
In her spare time she enjoys introducing her twins to the world of theatre, museums and community events.
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, environmental and heritage sectors. Following a degree in Environmental Science and work on climate change and energy efficiency, Liz has worked as an associate with MRA since 2007. Liz has been providing monitoring and evaluation, research and consultation to large NGOs, a consortium of charities, heritage organisations and global certification organisations.
Liz is a friendly, positive person who in her spare time cycles, gardens and reads.
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.
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
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.
