To promote the conservation, protection and enhancement of nature
Dr. Robin Bidwell
Professor Bill Adams
Alasdair Poore
Andrew Powell
Idunn Eidheim
Charlotte Wolff-Bye
Jim Sloane
Dr Mette Løyche-Wilkie
Suraya Mailvaganam
Saleha Williams
Seth Rogers
Professor Bhaskar Vira
Kate Jones
The Articles of Association is a formal document that contains information about what we do and how will we do it, our governance, and the process for amendment. It also contains information on how our trustees will run the charity and the arrangements for meetings, voting and financial administration here.
Robin joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in 2016.
Robin Bidwell CBE built and led the global environmental consultancy firm, Environmental Resources Management (ERM). He currently chairs LOC (a London based global marine engineering consultancy), the investment committee of Insitor (an Asia focused social impact fund) and is on the board of two Kenya based charities.
His previous positions include chair of the Green Alliance, member of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (OFGEM) and chair of their smart grids R&D funds and adviser to ZSL Conservation Programmes. He received a CBE for services to the environment in 1999.
He built and led the global environmental advisory firm, Environmental Resources Management (ERM) and currently chairs LOC, a global marine and engineering consultancy.
Bill joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in 2013.
He has been at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge since 1984 and is a Fellow of Downing College. Bill is Moran Professor of Conservation and Development and convenes the Political Ecology group, whose members work on political and social issues in biodiversity conservation and natural resource governance.
His research concerns relations between society and nature, particularly the choices and conflicts between development and conservation. He is particularly interested in the history of nature conservation in the context of wider environmental concern, particularly about sustainability.
Bill has been closely involved in the development of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a unique collaboration between the University of Cambridge and leading internationally-focussed biodiversity conservation organizations clustered in and around Cambridge, including founder partner, UNEP-WCMC.
Robin joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in January 2013.
Robin Mortimer joined the Port of London Authority as Chief Executive Officer on 31 March 2014.
Robin worked in the UK civil service from 1994, having gained a degree in Modern History from Oxford and MSc in Development Studies from SOAS, London University. In the early part of his civil service career he held roles including Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Transport, in which he led on maritime, aviation, transport security and London transport issues.
Joining the Department for Food Environment and Rural Affairs in 2004 as a deputy director, Robin led the Rural Strategy Division for three years. In 2006, he moved to the Office of Climate Change, where he designed the UK’s Climate Change Bill. In 2007, he was appointed as director of the Adapting to Climate Change programme, and subsequently was director for farming, biodiversity and sustainable land use. In this role he led the project to establish the Canal & River Trust and directed the Government’s Major Infrastructure and Environment Unit.
Alasdair joined the Centre’s Board of Trustees in 2001.
After qualifying as a barrister Alasdair worked for seven years on patents and licensing within Shell UK. He was a partner in a City of London law firm specialising in intellectual property before returning to Cambridge to join Mills & Reeve. Alasdair has substantial experience on the exploitation of and protection of ideas and research emanating from both public institutions and private companies.
Alasdair is President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and is a registered trade mark attorney as well as a European design attorney. He is a member of the Licensing Executives Society and the International Trade Mark Association. He has experience of dealing with a wide range of issues; from patents to brand protection, computer systems to pharmaceutical products, and from special issues in higher education to the commercial drivers in the biotechnology industry.
Alasdair read law and natural sciences at Cambridge.
Andrew joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in 2015.
Recently retired after 11 years as the Bursar of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, Andrew previously had a long and varied career in branch and large corporate banking, project and risk management at Barclays Bank. Major projects included the implementation of the Euro as a new currency, and the introduction of Basel II, the international system for regulating capital in banks. Andrew has also worked with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, conducting a review of the UN-sponsored ‘International Assessment of Agriculture Science and Technology for Development’.
A graduate Pembroke College, Cambridge, Andrew read Natural Sciences at leading to Part II in Zoology specialising in Vertebrate Palaeontology.
Andrew is chair of the Wicken Fen community user group and a trustee of the Jean Grove Trust.
Idunn joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in 2017.
Idunn has had a long career in the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment and has been involved in internatioal work on environment and development for more than 25 years.
A graduate from the University of Oslo, Idunn has a Masters in nutrition/biochemistry and human physiology. The first decade of her career focused on nutrition and public health, first working for a major Norwegian NGO - The Nationalo Association for Public Health - and thereafter the Norwegian Directorate of Health. Her responsibility as a desk officer for the World Health Organisation spurred her interest in international affairs. Idunn joined the Ministry of Environment prior to the Rio 1992 Earth Summit, and has since been a chief negotiator, chair and bureau member at many summits and international processes and conferences related to environment and development. Idunn was head of the Global section in the Ministry and responsible for environmental matters in the UN, as well as bilateral cooperation with China, South Africa and Indonesia. UN Environment has been a part of her portfolio for many years.
Her experience as a civil servant working with international environment matters has given her substantial knowledge in foreign policy and development assistance, as well as an overview of different national policies of relevance to the environment.
As a civil servant, Idunn has over the years been in a position to advance many science-policy related initiatives and processes related to environment and development, such as the Global Environment Outlooks, Chemical Outlook and others. In addition to her involvement in the establishment of the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the IPBES report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, she has in recent years had a focus on ocean pollutioon. The nexus between public health and environment as always been a foundation for her interest in international politics and commitment to multilateralism and was instrumental in her endeavours to bring ocean pollution and micro plastics in particular, onto the international agenda through UN Environment.
Charlotte joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in 2018.
Charlotte serves as the Chief Sustainability Officer of PETRONAS, Malaysia’s leading Fortune 500 company. Since joining in 2021, she has turned the company’s Net Zero Carbon Emission aspiration into strategy and plans to drive decarbonization and social progress. She engages directly in venture capital investment, digitalization and capability development to accelerate a sustainable energy transition.
Previously Charlotte worked for the Norwegian energy company Equinor in the role of Vice President Sustainability. At Equinor she delivered the company’s first sustainability strategy that laid the foundation for the company’s low carbon focus. She was also the company’s representative on the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Initiative (GGFR) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). From 2007-14, Charlotteheld the position of General Manager Corporate Responsibility for the global steel and mining company ArcelorMittal.
Charlotte’s earlier experiences include a decade in the telecommunications sector, most notably working for Telefonica and O2, multilateral lending at the Nordic Development Fund, music marketing and diplomatic affairs.
Jim Sloane joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in 2019.
Jim has over 30 years’ experience in business consultancy, working for a number of multinational and UK-based organisations. He was a partner at Deloitte for almost 20 years and has also held the position of Vice Chairman and a variety of senior national and international management roles. Prior to Deloitte, he worked for the consultancies Robson Rhodes and Arthur Andersen.
Since 2011, Jim has combined an ongoing advisory role with Deloitte with a variety of interests in the environment, education and charity sectors both in the UK and internationally. Jim also serves as a senior advisor to Conservation Capital’s leadership team, an organisation that develops financial and business-driven solutions to support the world’s most important conservation areas.
Mette joined the WCMC Board of Trustees in January 2022.
Mette recently retired from the position of Director of the Forestry Division within the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), where she lead the forestry programme and co-lead the planning and implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. She has a background in Forestry and in Environmental Management and over 35 years of experience in providing scientific evidence and policy advice to governments, partner organizations and international conventions on issues related to the environment and development nexus with a focus on the sustainable management of forests and other natural resources. She commenced her career in Africa and Asia before joining FAO in Rome, Italy in 1998. She held several different positions in FAO over the next 16 years before moving to Kenya where she was Director of the Ecosystems Division for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for four years. She returned to FAO in 2018 and retired at the end of 2021.
Suraya is a Director at Google, the multinational technology company, whose mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Suraya is Google’s Head of Employment Legal for the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region. Prior to joining Google in January 2023, Suraya was Managing Director and Associate General Counsel for JPMorgan Chase, the leading US multinational financial institution. Suraya worked for JPMorgan for 15 years, and was the Global Head of Employment Law for the Corporate & Investment Bank, and Employment Law for the EMEA, LatAm and Canada regions. Suraya was also JPMorgan’s Global Employment Law lead for Mergers & Acquisitions and prior to that was their Global Head of Corporate and Regulatory HR Law.
Previously, Suraya worked as an employment lawyer at the international law firm DAC Beachcroft advising on all aspects of employment law for a wide range of clients across both private and public sectors. Suraya qualified as a solicitor in 2001 having read Law at Cardiff University and studied at the University of Law, Guildford.
Saleha Williams is CEO and Founder of SW Inc., a strategic technology advisory company based in the UK, advising Tech CEOs, CTOs and CPOs across EMEA, APAC and the USA. She has over 30 years of digital business experience, leading global strategy, marketing, thought leadership and client engagements with Fortune/FT 100 companies, including Google, Cognizant, BT, Siemens, BBC, the London 2012 Olympics and UK Government.
A multi-award-winning thought leader and tech evangelist, she has delivered over 100 live talks, webinars, panels, debates and interviews, including Talks at Google, Spotify, BBC, Royal Television Society, Cambridge University, INSEAD, IBC Show Amsterdam, and with leading industry analysts Gartner, Forrester, HFS, Everest and ISG world-wide. She is a passionate ESG thought leader and minority advocate, ally, and champion and was named in the Financial Times' Top 100 Most Influential Technology Leaders Driving Change in the UK Tech sector.
Educated at Harvard, Henley and Cambridge, Saleha has an MBA specialising in Digital Transformation & Innovation and a Master of Science in Applied Psychology specialising in Neuroscience & Inclusive Leadership: she was awarded Harvard’s Disruptive Innovation & Strategy Certification and Global Sustainable Business Certifications in 20022/2023.
Born in the UK, Saleha has lived and worked across the globe, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, New York, Boston, San Francisco, LA, Washington DC, Singapore, Sao Paulo, and Mumbai. She currently lives in the UK with her husband and 3 year old Hungarian Vizsla ‘Banffy’!
With over 30 years in finance and technology consultancy at multinational and UK-based organisations such as KPMG, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Citi, UBS, BT, BP, HSBC, NatWest Group, Morgan Stanley, Google, Apple, Meta, and OpenAI, Seth brings extensive experience in finance and technology.
Since 2023, Seth has combined his advisory role at OpenAI with diverse interests in the environment, open source, open data and charity sectors, both in the UK and internationally. He also serves as a senior advisor in various technical roles: Open Data, Cybersecurity, AI, Open Source.