JNCC - Key Persons


Dave Stone

Job Titles:
  • Chief Scientist

David Collins

Job Titles:
  • Director of Finance and Resources

Dr Chris Tuckett

Job Titles:
  • Chief Officer Strategy and Impact

Dr Gemma Harper - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive
  • Interim CEO
Dr Gemma Harper - Joined JNCC as interim CEO in April 2021 then appointed as the permanent Chief Executive of JNCC in August 2021.

Dr John Goold

Job Titles:
  • Director of Marine Evidence and Advice

Dr Steve Wilkinson

Job Titles:
  • Director of Ecosystem Evidence and Advice

Karen Balmer - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer

Lord Blencathra

Job Titles:
  • Deputy Chair
  • Member of the House of Lords
Lord Blencathra is a Member of the House of Lords where he chairs a Select Committee and has been appointed to the Council of Europe.

Ms Aoife Martin - COO

Job Titles:
  • Deputy Chair
  • Director of Operations
  • Deputy Chair of NatureScot
  • Director of Operations at Seafish
Aoife Martin is currently Director of Operations at Seafish - the Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) responsible for supporting the UK seafood sector. Aoife is an experienced resource management professional who returned to Scotland after spending 12 years working for the New Zealand Government in fisheries, forestry and land management. During her career, she has worked across the public and private sector in the UK and New Zealand. Aoife served as a Board member of NatureScot between April 2021 and 31 March 2022, and took up the appointment as Deputy Chair of NatureScot in April 2022. She holds no other ministerial appointments.

Ms Cath Denholm

Job Titles:
  • Executive Director
  • Independent Member
  • Independent Member ( Equality and Human Rights Commission )
  • Independent Member of the Joint Committee
Cath Denholm joined the Equality and Human Rights Commission as Executive Director of Corporate Services in June 2020. Prior to that she worked for more than 20 years in NHS Scotland management and strategic roles in primary care, GP appraisal and public health. She is a member of the Institute of Directors and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She joined the Board of NatureScot in 2016 and was Deputy Chair between 2019 and March 2022. She is also Vice Chair of Impact Arts. Her overarching professional interests are human rights, public service leadership, partnership working across sectors in order to achieve fair access for all and a nature-rich future. Prior to becoming an independent member of the Joint Committee, Cath represented NatureScot on the Joint Committee between April 2018 and March 2022, in her role as Deputy Chair of NatureScot. She was appointed as an independent member on 4 April 2022.

Natalie Askew

Job Titles:
  • Beth Stoker - Director of International Evidence and Advice

Nigel Reader

Job Titles:
  • Executive Advisor

Steve Ormerod

Steve Ormerod is one of the world's leading applied freshwater ecologists whose research focuses on the effects of global change on rivers, lakes and wetlands. Lately Chairman of the RSPB and Welsh Water's Environment Advisory Panel, he currently chairs the Invertebrate Charity 'Buglife'. He is Professor of Ecology at Cardiff University where he co-directs the University's Water Research Institute.

Tom Meagher

Job Titles:
  • Professor of Plant Biology at the University of St Andrews
Tom Meagher is a botanist and Professor of Plant Biology at the University of St Andrews. Tom is a former Trustee of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh and was previously a member of the Natural Environment Research Council and the Defra Science Advisory Committee.