Our Board members
There are 11 trustees on the Keep Britain Tidy board. The members come from a diverse range of backgrounds, each with particular areas of experience which provides the organisation with an impressive level of expertise across all its operations.
Mike Phillips, Chairman
Mike’s previous roles as director of community services and acting chief executive at Allerdale Borough Council give him expertise in key areas including waste management, housing, regeneration, environmental health and leisure.
He also gained valuable experience for his present role while serving as a member of the Litter Advisory Group which helped establish the statutory Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse. Mike was appointed chairman in 2006 following several years on the board and combines his present role with working as an independent consultant specialising in regeneration projects.
He has long argued in favour of sustainable communities and believes in strengthening the links between environment, regeneration and housing initiatives as a key way of improving people’s quality of life.
Helen McCallum
Helen McCallum joined Which?, the independent consumer campaigning organisation in November 2007 with a remit to consolidate the policy underpinning its role as consumer champion. Her previous positions include over six years as director of corporate affairs at the Environment Agency where she helped transform its communications strategy.
Her experience also includes work with the NHS and then the Department of Health where she was director of communications. She has been credited with helping to establish communications as an essential, nationwide dimension of the NHS.
Sohail Husain PHD
Sohail is an expert in community safety, justice reform and urban renewal. He is director of Analytica Consulting, having previously held posts as deputy CEO of Crime Concern and lecturer in Geography at Southampton University.
In the UK, Sohail has contributed to government policy and programmes, and been involved in implementation of the 1998 Crime & Disorder Act and its subsequent reform. Through research and publications he has contributed to our understanding of effective practice and been a member of expert groups for the Home Office, National Audit Office and Audit Commission, and previously the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Social Exclusion Unit.
His expertise in his field has also seen him take part in a range of other national and international projects including work for the UN.
Dinah Nichols CB
Dinah was formerly director General Environment in Defra, where she was responsible for the UK’s sustainable development and environmental policy at home, in the European Union and worldwide - including sponsorship and funding of Keep Britain Tidy and its predecessor organisations.
Dinah is currently a Crown Estate Commissioner, a director of Pennon Group plc (a water and waste company) and a Director of a Scottish Investment Trust. Since 2005 she has been Chair of the National Forest Company, whose mission is to transform the despoiled landscape of a 200 square mile area in the Midlands through multi-purpose forestry.She is also a Board member of the Land Restoration Trust, and until recently was Chair of Groundwork North London and a Trustee of Groundwork London.
John Chadwick
John is a senior manager in Ofgem, responsible for cost reviews of the regulated gas distribution businesses in the UK. He previously held a number of senior financial roles within Thames Water, including full responsibility for business planning, budgeting, forecasting and financial performance of a business with a turnover of £1.4bn.
John has led financial input into five yearly price reviews, managed company wide processes for capital project approval, led benchmarking and efficiency programmes and been responsible for charging policy and tariff development. He also has widespread experience in the development of governance procedures, audit and Board management.
Alastair Singleton
Alastair Singleton is an experienced entrepreneur and voluntary sector trustee passionate about the environment, social and youth justice. His early career was as a diplomat, working largely in Africa and the Middle East, and he has held senior positions in the public, private and charitable sectors.
Alastair has a restless hunger to understand what makes communities and organisations work better, and a particular interest in the psychology that lies behind littering and other similar environmentally degrading actions, together with the dynamics of facilitating behaviour change to address them. He is committed to the values of an open, engaged and participative society, and firmly believes in sustainable and inclusive communities.
Daniel Ratchford
Daniel Ratchford is Strategic Director of Environment and Leisure at the London Borough of Sutton (www.sutton.gov.uk), and leads Sutton’s work on behaviour change, including the award-winning Smarter Travel Sutton programme (www.smartertravelsutton.org). He was previously Director of Capital Ambition, London’s Improvement and Efficiency Partnership, where he established the London Collaborative programme in partnership with the Young Foundation, the Office for Public Management, and Common Purpose.
Daniel was Assistant Chief Executive at Islington Council between 2002 and 2005, and has spent most of his career working in and around local government. He has held senior positions at the Audit Commission, at a Primary Care Trust, and at a national social care charity. He spent seven years working as a management consultant for PA Consulting, delivering a range of assignments in central and local government, and for the police.
Daniel sits on the Programme Board for the National Graduate Development Programme for Local Government, is a Board Member of the Public Management and Policy Association, and an Advisory Board member for Common Purpose in London.
Daniel’s current passions are around sustainability, behaviour change, and the use of social networking to engage better with communities. You can follow him on twitter (http://twitter.com/danielratchford).
Nick Mourant
Nick is the former Group Treasurer of Tesco PLC where he had responsibility for funding, cash management, banking relationships, foreign exchange and financial services for the worldwide Tesco Group. Nick is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
Nick brings a wide experience of delivering major funding and change programmes in a fast-growing and dynamic organisation. Nick has a keen interest in the protection of the environment and in raising awareness of green issues amongst the younger generation.
Paul Bettison
Born in Preston, Lancashire, 57 years ago, Paul has spent most of his life to date in the South of England. He is Leader of Bracknell Forest Unitary Authority. Having set up his own successful business in the mid 1980s supplying printing equipment to the UK newspaper and general printing industry, Paul turned to local politics in 1991. He was elected to Sandhurst Town Council in May of that year, and to Bracknell Forest Borough Council at a by-election in October 1991. Under Paul’s leadership, Bracknell Forest gained unitary status in 1998.
Paul firmly believes in local authorities’ power of community wellbeing. He is active within the Local Government Association (LGA), having held several Board chairmanships. From 2006 – 2009 he chaired the LGA Environment Board and is currently chair of Local Authority Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) and sits on the LGA Executive. Paul was the LGA e-Government Champion and is the Conservative Party’s National spokesman on local government ICT matters.
Paul has been married to Jean for 34 years, and they have two daughters, Clare (26) and Emily (25). Paul retired from his business activities in 2004, and now devotes himself full-time to Local Government.
Peter Kent
Peter is the Director of an executive coaching company working with leaders in both the private and public sectors. As well as one to one coaching he also works with teams on leadership, team performance and strategy development.
Previous positions include senior roles in ICI working in the UK and India. In his time in ICI in manufacturing he was responsible for transforming the environmental impact of a major part of ICI’s operations on the River Mersey. In India he was responsible for exporting and commissioning technology in the expansion of India’s industrial base.
As well as Board experience in industry, Peter was Chairman of the Board of a Further Education College, appointed by the Secretary of State for Education to lead the turnaround of a college in serious difficulty and its subsequent expansion.
Peter’s interests include reading, golf, sailing and walking.
Peter Styche OBE
Peter has been Chair of Salix Homes, Salford’s ALMO, since June 2007 and of Helena Partnerships, a registered housing provider based in St Helens, Merseyside, since September 2007. He is also a member of the board of management of the European Institute of Urban Affairs.
Before retiring, at the end of 2006, Peter spent most of his career working in planning, regeneration and housing for various arms of central government, based first in the West Midlands and later in the North West of England. During his time at Government Office North West he was influential in the development of policy for Housing Market Renewal and the decent homes programme. He led the creation of the Regional Housing Board and preparation of the region’s first Housing Strategy.
He was awarded the OBE in the 2007 New Years’ Honours List for services to Communities and Local Government.