Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund conference - speakers

Ann Carruthers
ADEPT President / Director of Environment and Transport, Leicestershire County Council

Ann Carruthers is Director of Environment and Transport for Leicestershire County Council responsible for all highways, transport, environment and waste services. Before joining Leicestershire CC, Ann worked with a number of local authorities across Scotland and England covering the highways, transport, environment and growth agendas. Ann also spent a number of years as National Travel Demand Manager with Transit New Zealand responsible for introducing sustainable transport options and new ways of working across New Zealand’s state highway system. Ann is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, a member of the Highways Sector Council and Chair of Midlands Highway Alliance+, a collaboration of 36 local highway authorities providing routes to market, sharing best practice and driving up standards across our highways work.

Karen Farquharson
Director, Proving Services Ltd
 

Karen is a chartered accountant and a founding director of Proving Services Ltd, a research-led consultancy formed in 2003, based at Cranfield University. Proving has developed tools and processes for the evaluation of strategic options, business change projects and the delivery of value for money. Karen has worked extensively within both local and central government and has undertaken a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) role for several large project portfolios, including Live Labs 1, Criminal Justice Joined-Up IT and the ONS business change portfolio. Karen is responsible for the M&E of the WCAF.

Sandra Squire
Local Partnership Advisor, Forestry Commission

Sandra has been with the Forestry Commission for just over 18 months, in the Forest Services East & East Midlands Area Team, where she undertakes a mixture of partnership work, particularly with Local Authorities and provides planning advice where trees and woodlands are affected.

She has also been a Borough Councillor with King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council for the past 9 years, where she is their current Cabinet member for the Environment & Coast. Sandra has previously served 4 years as a County Councillor at Norfolk County Council and was the councillor responsible for the motion that resulted in Norfolk County Council’s 1 Million Trees Project. 

Jim Smith
Forestry Advisor, Forestry Commission

Jim Smith has been an urban forester for over 35 years. He first worked for the Forestry Commission on leaving school and returned to London to work as an arborist in the Royal Parks in the early eighties.

He is a Chartered Member of the ICF and has twice been Chair of the London Tree Officer’s Association. Jim is author of local authority guidance for producing a comprehensive tree and woodland strategy, main contributor on the urban tree content of the Biodiversity Net Gain Metric and is also a member of the British Standards Institute committee on standards for trees.

He was appointed the London Tree and Woodland Framework Manager in 2006 and is now the Forestry Commission’s National Urban Forestry Adviser. 
 

Naomi Proudlove
Senior Woodland Creation Officer, Buckinghamshire Council

Naomi joined Buckinghamshire Council tree-planting team in January 2024, following a complete career pivot to find a role working positively against the climate crisis. Naomi’s background is largely delivering big band-building campaigns in marketing and communications, but as a confirmed treehugger she has always been passionate about trees and woods. In addition to numerous LATF partnerships, Buckinghamshire Council has already established four new woodlands. The team is currently working through both WCPG and EWCO planning processes with the ambition of establishing five further woodlands this winter.

David Johnson
Climate Response Team Leader, Buckinghamshire Council

David is the Climate Response Team Leader at Buckinghamshire Council, where he manages a small team working on climate change mitigation and adaptation activities. This includes managing a large scale tree planting project across Buckinghamshire with the ambition to plant over half a million trees within a decade. David’s background is in engineering; after studying Mechanical Engineering with a specialism in Aeronautics at Durham University he worked at Siemens Energy in Newcastle on the design and production of Steam Turbines for thermal and nuclear power generation in Newcastle. This was followed by 7 years working as a design engineer in Siemens Gas Turbine Division in Berlin, Germany. David returned to the UK in 2019 to study an MSc in Renewable Energy Engineering at the Penryn Campus of Exeter University and joined Buckinghamshire Council’s Climate Response Team in 2020.

Jo Williams
Senior Community Engagement Officer, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Jo is the Community Engagement Officer for the Planting Our Future campaign, which aims to encourage schools, residents, businesses, and community groups to participate in tree planting projects. In this role Jo works closely with local stakeholders to develop and deliver projects and events that inform and inspire people to value, protect, and enhance tree, hedgerow, and woodland provision in Solihull.

Jo has successfully found homes for over 50,000 trees, organised 30 community events with the support of 450 volunteers, and visited and planted within 10 schools to raise environmental awareness and highlight the benefits of trees.

Rich Cobb
Local Partnership Adviser, Forestry Commission

Rich cultivates partnerships and works on projects to drive the expansion, protection and sustainable management of trees and woodlands for nature recovery, climate action and benefits to local communities and economies. As part of this, he leads on the engagement with the planning system across the southeast and London to seek the best possible outcomes for trees and woodland. Rich has a BSc in Environmental Science, over six years' experience working in research and implementation of certified sustainable building design and construction (BREEAM) plus over 3 years of experience working in environmental and forestry regulations, advice and planning policy at Natural England and for the Forestry Commission. Rich is a passionate advocate for making sustainable action happen for people, nature’s recovery, and tackling climate change, and spends much of his personal time volunteering with his local community on grassroots nature recovery projects.

William Tyson
Senior Surveyor, Forestry England

William is a Chartered Rural Surveyor in Forestry England’s Woodland Creation Team working alongside a team of foresters, project managers, landscape architects and other professionals to create 2,000 hectares of new woodland by 2027.

Steve Beddows
Learning Project Officer, Forestry Commission

Steve works as a Learning Project Officer with an external focus at the Forestry Commission. His day-to-day role involves working to support external learning for stakeholders navigating tree and woodland considerations. Steve is a familiar face within the Woodland Creation Accelerator Fund learning and training space, he has outlined and coordinated the delivery the Introduction to Woodland Creation Webinar Series and launched the Trees and Woodland Learning Hub. Steve has also worked with FC Area Teams to help promote local support and networking with the aim of closer working between local authorities and the FC.

Seb Tighe
Field Manager – Woodland Creation, Forestry Commission

Seb Tighe, Field Manager for Woodland Creation in the East and East Midlands region, has worked for The Forestry Commission for 11 years. Starting out as a ranger he spent 8 years working on the community woodlands around Sherwood before moving into recreation management in the Central District. He has been part of the East and East Midlands Forest Services delivery team for 3 years starting out as a Woodland Creation Officer before becoming an FM in 2023.

Donna Tavernor
North West & West Midlands Operations Manager, Forestry Commission

Donna Tavernor, North West and West Midlands Operations Manager, is a dedicated Forestry Specialist with the Forestry Commission, bringing a decade of experience in sustainable forest management and conservation. Donna holds a degree in Countryside Stewardship and a Master's in Rural Enterprise and Land Management. Collaborating with Field Managers and Woodland Officers, she works to expand, protect, improve and connect woodlands by building on team members’ strengths. Additionally, Donna undertakes external partnerships in the area, engaging with public, private, and voluntary sectors to build relationships and share best practices for woodland protection and enhancement. 

Carly Harper
WCAF Project Co-ordinator, City of Trees

With a background in community engagement and stakeholder management within the NHS and national agencies, Carly leads a dedicated team in collaborating with Local Authorities, Anchor Institutions, and private landowners to unlock land for planting opportunities across Greater Manchester. Her expertise lies in facilitating partnerships and driving initiatives that contribute to environmental sustainability and community well-being. Carly's leadership has been instrumental in advancing urban green infrastructure projects, fostering resilience, and enhancing biodiversity in the region.