Our People
Change starts with people. We've got a small, agile team, a supportive and active board of trustees and a knowledgeable and influential advisory board.

Ben Rawlence
Chief Executive
Award winning writer, activist, former speech writer to Sir Menzies Campbell and Charles Kennedy and co-founder.

Dr. Libby Pearson
Partnerships Advisor
Libby was a former Director of Student Experience and Academic Quality at Navitas, where she designed and built the student experience of 10 European pathway colleges.

Emma Bald
Director of Communications
Former project director and health sector lead at Central Office of Information and marketing consultant for broad range of businesses.

Amanda Page
Community Training Coordinator
Founder of Community Interest Company, Gap Learning, delivering a programme of courses for all ages to over 1000 learners and winning an ‘Excellence Award’ from Cambridgeshire County Council.

Louise Grove-White
Development Officer
Experienced business development and project manager. Previously worked for Prince’s Trust Cymru, National Museum of Wales and ran the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition
Trustees

Chris Blake
Trustee
Director of Green Valleys CIC renewable energy company and energy entrepreneur.

Cllr. Emily Durrant
Trustee
Former activist, participatory research and corporate responsibility consultant and now Wales’ only Green Party County Councilor. Chair of the Policy Forum at Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.

David Isaac
Trustee
Chair of Governors of University of the Arts London and Provost-elect of Worcester College Oxford. Former Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and former chair of Stonewall and many other charities. Partner in law firm Pinsent Mason.

Dr. Bill Newton Smith
Trustee
Philosopher of science and for 20 years head of George Soros’s higher education programme, establishing over 20 universities around the world.

Elizabeth Passey
Trustee
Convener of Court (Chair) of the University of Glasgow, Chair of the Committee of Scottish University Chairs (CSC) and an Executive Committee member of the Committee of University Chairs (CUC), Chairman of the Agency Management Board of the Rural Payments Agency and trustee of the Wye and Usk Foundation, formerly a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley and of Investec Asset Management, and hailing from a corn merchant family on the Welsh borders.

Mari Fforde
Trustee
Film maker, arts consultant and Governor of Clyro Primary School.

Prof. Owen Sheers
Award winning writer, professor of creativity at Swansea University and co-founder.
Academic Advisory Panel

Dr. Andrew Bloodworth
Academic Advisory Panel
Senior Lecturer in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences in Swansea University.
His research interests are in the field of sports ethics and in particular the ethics of anti-doping policy. Andrew is on the editorial board of the journal; Performance Enhancement & Health. He currently teaches on the Erasmus Mundus Masters in Sports Ethics and Integrity and on the BSc in Sport and Exercise Sciences at Swansea University. He is an external examiner at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Dr. Natalia Eernsterman
Academic Advisory Panel
Senior Lecturer MA Creative Education : Making Learning at Plymouth College of Art.
Artist, researcher and educator specialising in community learning for sustainable development through artful and performative means. She has run a range of research projects and has been published in the field of environmental science, as well as education and the arts. Her projects have been in collaboration with organisations such as the National Trust, Tate Modern and the Environment Agency.

Ian Rappel (BSc, MSc Econ, MSc)
Academic Advisory Panel
A geographer and conservation ecologist by background, working in conservation for NGOs and in academia since 1993. He was CEO for Gwent Wildlife Trust for 5 years and is currently the Wales Development Manager for the National Association of AONBs, and holds advisory positions for the College for Real Farming and Bath Spa University’s emerging BSc in Wildlife Conservation. He lives in Talgarth on the northern fringes of the Black Mountains.

Kathy Hooper MA (Psychology)
Academic Advisory Panel
Kathy began her career teaching Home Economics and successfully engaged disaffected learners. She has advanced qualifications in Child Development and in Counselling. A senior inspector and examiner, her extensive experience of education in schools and colleges in the UK and abroad, led her to understand the potential barriers to young students’ educational success. She is noted for challenging and mentoring educational institutions to raise their game.

Kirstie Simson
Academic Advisory Panel
Kirstie Simson (UK) is an award-winning, captivating performer and a renowned teacher. Called “a force of nature” by the New York Times, who has “immeasurably enriched and expanded the boundaries of New Dance” according to Time Out Magazine, London. After thirteen years working as a professor of dance at the University of Illinois, in September 2020 Kirstie returns to her home in Wales, from where she will continue her work teaching and performing throughout the world.

Prof. Tom Sperlinger
Chair of Academic Advisory Panel
Tom Sperlinger is Professor of Literature and Engaged Pedagogy at the University of Bristol, author of Romeo and Juliet in Palestine and co-author of Who are universities for? He has set up a range of programmes aimed at students who have not followed a conventional route through education, and is currently academic lead for civic engagement at Bristol’s new Temple Quarter campus.
Advisors
Andrew Nairne OBE
Director of Kettles Yard gallery, Cambridge and former Executive Director, Arts, for Arts Council England.
Baroness Rosie Boycott
Writer, broadcaster and food and farming specialist.
Dr. Jane Davidson
Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Wales, Trinity St Davids and former Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing in the Welsh Government.
Edmund de Waal
Writer and artist.
Hugh Martineau
Sustainable Agriculture Consultant
Lord Chris Smith
Master of Pembroke College Cambridge, former Culture Secretary and former Chairman of the Environment Agency.
Peter T. Howe
Principal of UWC Atlantic College
Prof. Alan Lovell
Former Dean, University of Glamorgan, Business School.
Prof. Brigid Hogan
Chair of Cell Biology, Duke University, USA.
Prof. David Helfand
Chair, Astrophysics, Columbia University and President Emeritus, Quest University, Canada.
Robert Macfarlane
Writer and academic.
Sir Tim Smit
Entrepreneur and founder of the Eden Project.
Sophie Howe
Well-Being and Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.