How we're run

River Fowey from Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Cabilla & Redrice Wood nature reserve. Image by Ben Watkins

River Fowey from Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Cabilla & Redrice Wood nature reserve. Image by Ben Watkins

How we're run

We are run by a group of elected Trustees, volunteers who hold the financial and legal responsibility for everything Cornwall Wildlife Trust does.

Our Trustees bring a wide range of knowledge, expertise and experience to the charity and are responsible for approving our strategic plans, annual budget and Annual Report & Accounts.  Trustees are appointed from our membership at the Annual General Meeting of the Trust each November. 

The Chief Executive and Senior Management Team report to the Trustees, and run the day-to-day operations of Cornwall Wildlife Trust with a team of expert conservationists and staff.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust Trustees 2022

Copyright: Suzanne Johnson Photography

Trustees

Gill Saunders, Secretary

Gill joined Cornwall Wildlife Trust recently when she moved back to the south west (she's originally from East Devon) and lives near Boyton.  She has around five acres here that she is developing as a wildlife-friendly garden, and is working with the Devon Wildlife Trust on the restoration of a meadow. She currently volunteers with Bude Sea Pool and takes part in various beach cleaning and cleaner seas activities in her local area. Although she was a career civil servant (with an OBE ) she always been interested in - and in one way or another involved in - activities around wildlife and conservation. Gill is an experienced trustee.  She is currently on the board of Phoenix Futures, a large charity working in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation field and with a strong record in conservation work under the 'recovery through nature' banner. She was also a trustee and the business manager of a London allotment site where she ran projects involving tenants and community groups in building and maintaining wildlife habitats around the site as well as raising awareness of wildlife-related issues in the locality.

Currently she's particularly interested in how future uncertainties around commercial farming post-Brexit will impact land use in Cornwall - and how responses to new regulatory and subsidy regimes may bring new challenges for habitat conservation and development. Gill is the Secretary and Chair of the People committee.

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Karen Burrows

Karen has a legal and commercial professional background and worked for BG Group Plc from 1985 to 2011 obtaining many years of management experience across a wide range of disciplines. Karen qualified as a lawyer with Linklaters and then practised there for several years as a commercial lawyer. In BG Group Karen worked on several major projects and became Deputy General Counsel in 1997. Subsequently she had commercial and country management roles for BG Group in Trinidad and Canada.

Karen was an Environment Agency Board Member for six years from 2012 and chaired the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee, taking a particular interest in the work of the Devon Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly area, as well as the Solent and South Downs area.

Currently Karen is a governor of Cornwall College and is Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee. Karen is a member of the Chairs’ Group (Remuneration), and the Search and Governance Committee. Married with two grown up daughters her interests include hiking, rowing, skiing, sailing and working with environment groups including the National Trust and the Roseland Environment Action Team.

Karen Burrows

Stafford Sumner

Stafford is an experienced business specialist with a keen interest in wildlife, nature and conservation. He has the experience of a number of executive and non-executive board positions under his belt and is well equipped to help guide or direct organisations, especially with regards to their commercial strategies.

He is well known as an experienced leader with a proven ability to identify opportunities, develop organisations and deliver significant results. His background includes business development, leadership, negotiation and resilience.

Career highlights include representing the UK digital media industry in Hong Kong; sitting on the Innovation, Research and Knowledge Strategy Board for Cornwall; and being part of the Strategic Management Board for Superfast Broadband in Cornwall. He has also carried out extensive international charity work, particularly in the field of disaster relief with ShelterBox as a Response Team member.

Originally from Hertfordshire, Stafford relocated to Cornwall in 2003 and can be often found walking through the Countryside accompanied by a four-legged friend, or more recently tending to some recently acquired woodland near his home in Falmouth.

Stafford Sumner

Oliver Blount, Chair of the Board

Oliver found a derelict farmhouse near Camelford in 1998 and has spent the years since then restoring it as a family home. The farm has been tenanted and farmed for beef cattle until this year. A new plan for the land will focus more on environmental and ecological aspects. Prior to being able to spend more time in Cornwall Oliver had an initial spell in the army serving in the Far East with a Gurkha regiment; and latterly a 35 year career in financial services principally in London and with time spent in New York, Milan, Istanbul and Eastern Europe.

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Raoul Humphreys, Interim Treasurer

Raoul is a keen amateur naturalist and loves spending time in the valleys and heaths of West Cornwall, bird watching, botanising, and mothing. Originally from St Ives he now lives in St Just with his wife and family.

Raoul has a broad professional background, working in both the public and private sector. His career has encompassed work in the Armed Forces; finance, accountancy, and corporate recovery (with KPMG); and in the education sector. A qualified chartered accountant, Raoul stepped down as the Principal and CEO of the Cornwall College Group in 2018 and now provides independent advisory services with a focus on leadership, organisational structure, and business development. Whilst at Cornwall College he was lucky enough to be involved in many innovative initiatives including the expansion of Duchy College; mergers with St Austell and Bicton Colleges; the creation of the Concorde Group and Cornwall College Business; and he played a key role in the growth in Higher education in Cornwall as part of the Combined Universities in Cornwall. Known for his work in initiating partnerships he believes in the power of collaborative action.

Raoul is passionate about providing a wider contribution to Cornwall and has served in a range of voluntary and community boards, including CPR Regeneration Company, Cornwall Food Foundation, Pool Academy and is currently a Director of the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce.

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Louise Thomas

Louise grew up on a farm near Penzance and spent much of her spare time helping with the cattle or with growing and harvesting the vegetable crops. The love of the land and of Cornwall was evident from the start!

After gaining a degree in Agriculture from Wye College, part of the University of London, she pursued a career in the horticulture industry, working closely with growers and the supermarkets to ensure standards were met at every stage of production. This included interesting experiences of food production in Europe and in New Zealand.

She found her way back to Penzance where she now lives, with her husband, on a farm rented from The Bolitho Estate. The family run business is made up of dairy and beef cattle as well as cereal crops and some agri-environment options. She has recently turned her part time job, making bespoke soft furnishings, into a new business venture which she hopes will give her some time away from muddy wellies.

Louise’s particular interest is in exploring how farmers can continue to produce food alongside developing wildlife habitats for a profitable and sustainable future.

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Merlin Hanbury Tenison

Merlin was born and raised on a farm made up of upland grazing and rare temperate rainforest in the heart of Bodmin Moor.  After a career in the British Army he spent a number of years working around the world as an operations consultant.  He returned to the farm to begin transforming it for the next epoch of environmental land management.  With his wife, Lizzie, he has embarked upon a multi-generational restoration programme that includes planting over 100,000 trees, reintroducing a range of absent native species whilst protecting and improving the mycelial network that connects the forest.  They have also founded Cabilla Cornwall, a forest bathing retreat, that brings people into the temperate rainforest to improve their mental health, learn and feel better.

Merlin Hanbury Tenison portrait

Paul Rice

Paul and his wife Sally live 500 feet up on Tregonning Hill where they overlook Mounts Bay and on a clear day can see Wolf Rock. They are formulating a plan to rid the area that they own of invasive species and replace them with native ones as well as restoring the Cornish hedges. They share a love of cetaceans and whenever possible take their small boat into Falmouth Bay and off the Lizard looking for these wonderful animals that grace our Cornish waters. They have been lucky enough to have had confirmed sightings of Minke whales and possible sightings of humpbacks.

Prior to moving to Cornwall Paul had a career as a solicitor working in both the public and private sector. Having qualified in Somerset and after a spell as a legal officer in the Army he has advised government departments, landowners and NGOs (including other wildlife trusts) on the implementation and applicability of schemes under the Common Agricultural Policy. He has also advised on land tenure and land management issues within a rural setting as well as prosecuting wildlife crimes. Towards the end of his legal career Paul took on responsibility for compliance with various regulatory regimes within his firm as well as taking a more prominent management role, eventually ending up as senior partner.

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Jo Coumbe

Jo is a communications powerhouse with a wealth of experience in communicating environmental and conservation issues. 

Having spent more than a decade in national and regional journalism she is now a Director at ocean conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation where she oversees communications, education and media. 

Through her work with the charity she has developed and managed many successful campaigns, including #BackTheBlueBelt which saw four million square kilometres of ocean protected in UK Overseas Territories.  She was also instrumental in the development of a Webby award winning immersive digital experience educating people about the role of marine biodiversity and habitat in regulating the climate. Narrated by Stephen Fry, TheSeaWeBreathe.com  has been seen by well over 1 million people across the world and enjoyed international acclaim. 

Jo lives with her husband and three children on the wild north coast of Cornwall and is a governor at Kernow Learning Trust, fuelling her passion for educating the next generation about the link between environmental health and climate health. She is frequently found with her family either on or in the ocean where points are scored for knowing the names and lifecycles of marine critters living in and around the rockpools.

 

Trustee

Dan Cooke

Dan Cooke – Manager, Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)                                                       

(Hosted within Cornwall Council’s Environmental Partnerships & Climate Change Team.)

Responsible for supporting the broad AONB Partnership and the Executive. Established and successfully allocated funding via Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme. Secured funding for Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund research project, and responsible for delivery of the £3.2m lottery-funded Tamara Landscapes Partnership scheme.

Leads the AONB team in the delivery of a wide range of effective projects and programmes – from landscape-scale to grassroots initiatives - designed to protect and enhance the natural beauty, biodiversity, and resilience of the Tamar Valley and its communities. Reset the governance framework during 2021.

Previous roles at: Pennon Group (Head of Sustainability); Viridor (Director of Communications, Director of Regulatory & External Affairs); Tidy Britain Group/Environmental Campaigns Ltd, and; Coventry City Council. 

Non-Exec roles: Trustee (recent Chair) and Senior Vice President of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management. Previously: Chair of the Waste Management Industry Training & Advisory Board (WAMITAB); Director of Viridor Credits Environmental Ltd (an independent grant-giving charity distributing £5-8m p.a. under the Landfill Communities Fund), and; Trustee of the Carymoor Environmental Trust.

 

Trustee

Rosie Woodroffe

Rosie Woodroffe is a Professor of Ecology and Conservation Biology. Born and raised in Falmouth, she left Cornwall to go to university, and went on to pursue an academic career focusing on ways to promote the coexistence of people and wildlife. She has worked extensively on the conservation of African carnivores, especially African wild dogs, but in the UK she is best known for her work on the management of badgers to control bovine tuberculosis. She has won multiple awards for her work, including the Marsh Awards for both Ecology and Conservation; she was specially commended by in the Maddox Prize for Standing up for Science, and placed on the BBC Wildlife Power List. A Professor at the Zoological Society of London, she moved back to Cornwall in 2007, and continues to lead the Cornwall Badger Project, promoting coexistence of people and wildlife in Cornwall.

Trustee