RNRP - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Nenescape Interpretation & Community Engagement Officer
Alison Brand-Barker Nenescape Interpretation & Community Engagement Officer Ali came to the project in June 2016 after about 5 years with the National Trust in visitor experience roles. Having started working in heritage through a Heritage Lottery funded trainee-ship, she is enjoying the opportunity to give something back. While she is away from work, Ali is working on a Masters degree in Heritage and Interpretation by distance learning.
Job Titles:
- Nenescape Project Manager
Amanda Johnson Nenescape Project Manager Mandy came to her role in 2016 after a 20 year career in the public sector, latterly working on community regeneration and heritage projects for local government. Mandy oversees the delivery of Nenescape and works with Heritage Lottery to ensure our outcomes are met. While away from work Mandy is enjoying learning to kayak on the River Nene with her three sons.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Chartered Landscape Architect and a Fellow
Ben Smith is a Chartered Landscape Architect and a Fellow of the Landscape Institute. He is currently Mayor of Brightlingsea in Essex. He is also an Associate of the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE). Previously he was an IDeA/LGA Peer Member and Peer Mentor and has undertaken consultancy work at a number of councils in England and Wales as well as mentoring to Environment Cabinet Members. He was a County Councillor from 1987 to 2013 at Northamptonshire County Council. During this time he was the Deputy Leader of the Council from 2005 to 2009 and Chairman of the Development Control Committee from 2009 to 2010. He was also the Deputy Chair of the Northamptonshire Police Authority from 2007 to 2012 and a member of the Environment Agency's Anglian (Northern) Flood Defence Committee for over twenty years. From 2005 to 2010 he was appointed by DEFRA as a Board Member of the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation. After training as a landscape architect Ben returned to university to obtain an MSc in Environmental Resources. He was from 1985 to 2009 principal of Benjamin Smith Design Associates, a registered practice of the Landscape Institute. He has over thirty years experience in landscape planning and environment. In 2002 he attended the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and was the only councillor on the official UK delegation.
After 11 years in Local Government finance Clive took great interest in the introduction of personal computers in business and went on to spend the next 30+ years in IT, much of it at Hewlett Packard. He was an early member of HP's move into Network infrastructure which went on to become the No.2 vendor worldwide in this market. A great deal of Clive's work has been public sector based, developing partners as well as managing larger accounts, especially in Local Government and Healthcare. In addition to this he has an interest in boating and can be seen on his cruiser " Merlot" on the Nene or out to sea off the Norfolk coast and is a member of FOTRN so can give a boaters view of the Nene Valley and the work we do at RNRP. Clive is also a Councillor on The Borough Council of Wellingborough and as well as looking after his rural Ward in the North of the Borough has a focus on the development of the Nene Valley and was appointed BCW's representative on the board of RNRP in 2017
Job Titles:
- Senior Project Officer - Ise Initiative and Forest for Life
Corinne joined the company in 2020 after completing her PhD, which relates to biodiversity and amenity in urban parks and greenspaces. Before returning to university to undertake the PhD, Corinne worked in several UK cities as a ranger, carrying out environmental projects and engaging people in their local greenspaces. She also spent 2 years in Thailand working as an environmental education adviser. Corinne has a keen interest in wildlife and spends a lot of her spare time enjoying the great outdoors.
Job Titles:
- Business Manager
- Member of the Board
After working for Nenescape for the last 5 years, Denise has now taken over the RNRP Business Manager role. When she is not enjoying the Nene Valley either through work or leisure, Denise likes to sing, dances Bhangra and adores spending time with her granddaughter.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Company Secretary, Anthony Collins LLP
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Board
- OBSERVER - RNRP CEO
Kathryn started her career in the public sector working in catchment and river management in the South West of Australia. Moving into the private sector after a decade of government employment Kathryn then worked on innovative sustainability initiatives retaining a focus on water quality improvement, treatment and reuse. Throughout her working life Kathryn has had a passion for collaboration and partnership working and has highly developed skills as a negotiator and facilitator of stakeholder dialogues. Returning to England in 2008 it was this path that Kathryn chose to follow and has spent the last few years, prior to joining RNRP, working throughout the UK and the EU on public dialogue process for shared decision making around the natural environment.
Completing her BA (Hons) degree in British Sign Language and Deaf studies in June 2020, Lucy now joins RNRP under the kickstart scheme. Lucy has a keen interest in learning about the history and heritage in and around Northamptonshire. During her time at RNRP, hopes to gain valuable skills and experiences to apply to in the future.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Environmental Consultant
Marian is a self-employed environmental consultant, specialising in environmental impact assessment project management, with over 16 years of environmental consultancy experience in both the public and private sectors, having worked on major road and rail schemes, urban regeneration, mixed use development, retail, oil, gas, energy from waste and wind energy schemes within the UK. Her work over the last 10 years has led her to becoming knowledgeable on environmental issues and enthusiastic about creating enhancements to the Nene Valley particularly north of Rushden. In her spare time Marian is also a trustee of Lindfield Arts Festival and an education volunteer for the Sussex Wildlife Trust.
After university Mark worked overseas for the UK Aid programme in rural development including work on sugar cane and banana farming in the Caribbean and on the benefits of veterinary programmes aimed at nomadic cattle keeping in Nigeria and the Yemen. This period concluded with work at Edinburgh University in the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine teaching economics and statistics to post-graduate vets as well as working on short contracts for the Government including on the development of agriculture in the Falkland Islands and of the beef sector in Vanuatu.
Mark has worked for the Nature Conservancy Council based in Peterborough, initially as their first economist and the leading the work on integrating environmental issues into agriculture and forestry. This included chairing a partnership of similar organisations across Europe to pool resources for research to support changes in European policies for agriculture and the environment. My final role was leading the monitoring and development of the agri-environment schemes in England including special programmes such as Catchment Sensitive Farming.
Since retiring Mark was the Chair of Buglife for six years as well as following a range of interests locally.
Having worked for both the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts, Nicholas Hammond has been able to continue his boyhood passions for wildlife and art in a career that included being editor of Birds, head of publications and director of communications with the RSPB before becoming director of the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, where he was involved in getting the Great Fen Project underway. Subsequently he worked as a consultant with Wildlife Trusts in Wales and Birmingham & the Black Country. He has written more than 15 books and has travelled widely. Nick Hammond was one of the original members of the RNRP Board having joined in 2007 and Chair since 2016.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Head of Operations at Nene Park Trust
Oliver Burke is Head of Operations at Nene Park Trust, responsible for the day to day management of Nene Park, one of the most visited country parks in the country. Oliver joined the Board of River Nene Regional Park in 2013 while still working at the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire as Director of Living Landscapes, responsible for the management of over 120 nature reserves and nine Living Landscape projects including the Great Fen. Oliver is also chair of the Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area, having been part of the successful partnership behind achieving one of the first 15 Nature Improvement Areas awarded nationally by central government. He sits on the Local Nature Partnerships for Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. Oliver studied Marine Biology at the University of Liverpool and went on to do research on coral ecology with the Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University. Oliver has worked in the conservation, sustainability and environmental education sectors for over 20 years both within charities and public bodies. He is passionate about grassroots nature conservation and peoples connectedness with the natural environment.
Formerly a museum curator and Director at East Northamptonshire Council, The river Nene has flowed through Sharn's life for fifty years from attending school on its banks in Wisbech to more recent lockdown walks. Sharn has learnt so much about the history and ecology of the Nene Valley over this period. As Chair of RNRP, her mission to help current and future generations make it part of their lives
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Director, Prop - Search.Com
Simon started his commercial property career with commercial property consultants Wilson & Partners in 1986. He stayed with the company through its evolution into Connell Wilson, working in London Docklands between 1991 and 1993 and then later (as a Director) heading up the North Northamptonshire region for Lambert Smith Hampton. He joined Underwoods as a Partner in 1998 subsequently founding Prop-search in 2008.
Simon has Chaired the Wellingborough Town Centre Partnership for a number of years and was instrumental in establishing the Wellingborough Town Centre BID. He is a Director and former President of Wellingborough & East Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce, a Board Director of River Nene Regional Park CiC and an Envoy for SEMLEP.
Simon specialises in advising on commercial property development, renewable energy solutions, investment and agency.
Tris joined the team in August 2021 as Land Advisor. Previous to working for RNRP, with the exception of some time working within the sustainability sector, Tris has lived on the same Northamptonshire farm on which his family has farmed for the past 120 years. Tris took on the family farm in 2015 and brings with him a breadth experience working in the Agricultural sector. Tris oversees the LENs (Landscape Enterprise Networks), WEG (Water Environment Grant) and the Northants Flood Resilience project, helping to deliver environmental benefits to farmland and communities.
Job Titles:
- River Restoration Officer
Viktor first joined the RNRP on a university work placement in 2013 where he worked alongside the River Restoration Adviser for the Nene Valley NIA. After this Viktor was volunteering with us on and off for a couple of years before becoming a permanent member of staff in 2015. Viktor graduated Sparsholt College in 2013 with a BSc (Hons) degree in Aquaculture and Fisheries Management and is passionate about improving the habitat and water quality of the River Nene and seeing more focus on angling related projects within the catchment. Viktor was born and raised in Northamptonshire and is very keen to make a difference to the landscape he grew up with.