The Executive Board comprises the Chief Executive and six Executive Directors, one of whom is the Chief Scientist. Its purpose is to assist the Chief Executive in discharging her responsibilities as delegated to her by the Board. The Executive Board therefore provides overall strategic leadership to the organisation, in setting plans, reviewing performance and ensuring resources are allocated accordingly. Executive Directors also each have a portfolio of particular responsibilities and these are described in the pen portraits below.
- Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive
- Jim Smyllie, Executive Director, Regional Delivery
- Tom Tew, Chief Scientist
- Guy Thompson, Executive Director, External Affairs
- Robin Tucker, Executive Director, National Delivery
- Dave Webster, Executive Director, Corporate Services
- Andrew Wood, Executive Director, Evidence and Policy
Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive
Helen was appointed Natural England’s first Chief Executive in February 2006 by the Secretary of State. She is also a member of Natural England’s Board and is the Accounting Officer of both Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. In leading the Executive, Helen has overall responsibility for the performance of Natural England.
Helen was appointed for her track record in leading organisational change, to create a high performing organisation where pursuit of efficiency programmes will deliver increased investment in the natural environment. Natural England aspires to be the environmental commentator of choice, Helen’s trenchant advocacy in her role as CEO will be key to achieving this.
A post doctoral graduate of University College Dublin in zoology, Helen’s career spans biology in academia to leadership roles in the National Rivers Authority and the Environment Agency. Before taking up her current appointment, she was the Director of Environment Agency, Wales.
Jim Smyllie, Executive Director, Regional Delivery
Jim was previously Transition Director for Natural England, having joined us from Defra in January 2006, where he founded and led the Delivery Strategy Team. This team created the framework for the department’s relationships with all its delivery bodies, and was responsible for the mergers of bodies such as the science regulatory agencies, and the creation of others including Animal Health. Before then he was Head of Planning at the then Lord Chancellor’s Department, and Director of Corporate Strategy in the MOD’s Defence Secondary Care Agency, where he led major programmes to transfer military hospitals into partnership with the NHS.
Jim’s earlier career included a decade in the NHS in a variety of senior service management and commissioning roles, several years in the independent sector, and work in the arts managing theatres. He is a published writer, and the founding Chair of Kaloko Trust UK, an NGO which has worked in community development, sustainable development and environmental improvement in Zambia for fifteen years.
Tom Tew, Chief Scientist
Tom is Natural England's Chief Scientist. His responsibilities include the provision of timely, accurate and well evidenced scientific advice to the Board, strategic leadership of science and scientists in Natural England, and leverage and influence for Natural England across the science sector. The Chief Scientist's Team has a particular brief to 'horizon scan with purpose' - providing the intellectual capital for Natural England's strategic direction.
Coming from an academic background, Tom researched farmland conservation for his PhD and post-doctoral studies. In fifteen years with JNCC and English Nature, Tom delivered scientific, managerial and project roles in Local, Regional, National and International teams - latterly as the Director of Protected Areas for English Nature and before that as the South East Regional Director.
Tom has a degree in Zoology from the University of East Anglia and a DPhil from Oxford.
Guy Thompson, Executive Director, External Affairs
Guy is a member of the Executive Board of Natural England. Guy joined us in June 2006 following a series of voluntary sector roles which put him at the heart of influencing environmental politics and policy over the last eight years. Guy is also responsible for the external advocacy and communications of Natural England.
Prior to joining Natural England, Guy was Director of Green Alliance, an environmental think tank with a mission to put the environment at the heart of decision-making. Guy has also worked as Principal Policy Advisor with Forum for the Future’s Business Programme and as both Head of Government Affairs and Parliamentary Officer at the RSPB.
Guy has a degree in Politics from the University of Sheffield and, as an alumni of the Forum for the Future Scholarship Programme, a Masters in Professional Studies (Sustainable Development). Guy has held other roles as a Board Member of the European Environmental Bureau and a member of the Executive Committee of SERA, the Labour Environment Campaign.
Robin Tucker, Executive Director, National Delivery
Robin joins Natural England as Executive Director, National Delivery on 15th September 2008. He is responsible for the National Delivery teams including Incentives, Regulation and Business Systems. He has a strong commercial business background having worked at mobile telecommunications company Vodafone for nine years in senior strategy, marketing and commercial roles. Before this he worked at Mercer Management Consulting for ten years developing business strategies across a wide range of industries.
Robin has a degree in Physics from the University of Oxford.
Dave Webster, Executive Director, Corporate Services
Dave is a member of the Executive Board of Natural England. He joined us in September 2006, building on a career spanning 25 years in financial and corporate services within the public sector. Dave is also responsible for delivery of finance and corporate services of Natural England.
Prior to joining Natural England, Dave worked as the Finance Manager for the Environment Agency, Wales, where he led the transformation of business delivery at both a national and regional level. Dave’s career includes leadership roles in District and County Councils as well as the National Rivers Authority and the Environment Agency. He holds a Certificate in Management and is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
Andrew Wood, Executive Director, Evidence and Policy
Over the past couple of years, Andrew has worked for the Countryside Agency, most recently as the Director for Landscape Access and Recreation. Prior to this he principally managed elements of the Countryside Agency’s change programme in relation to the Modernising Rural Delivery Programme. Throughout his career, Andrew has held a variety of policy development and implementation roles. In particular, he was responsible for the childcare policy in Wales for three years and was responsible for the Local Government reorganisation in Wales in the mid-1990s. Prior to joining the Countryside Agency, he worked with the Audit Commission; his last role there was Director of Policy.