The Conservative Environment Network brings together thought-leaders from business, politics and civil society to advance conservative environmentalism.

Sam Hall

director

Sam joined CEN after having served as a Policy Adviser to Michael Gove when he was Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He was also the Head of Research at the liberal conservative think tank Bright Blue, leading their work on energy and the environment and authoring several policy reports. Before that, Sam was a Parliamentary Researcher for Graham Stuart MP.

John Flesher

Head of International Programme

John joined CEN after working as Policy Adviser to Zac Goldsmith MP, where he managed his environmental campaigns including supporting work related to the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018. Prior to that he worked in Parliament for several years for different MPs.

Lois Toole

international Programme Manager

Lois joined CEN from the European Parliament, where she worked as a trainee in the Conservative Delegation press office and supported the organisation of large events such as the ECR Africa Summit. She has previously worked at Citizens Advice and has a Masters in History.

Jack richardson

SENIOR Climate programme manager

Energy, trade, security

Jack joined CEN after eighteen months working as a researcher in the House of Commons for three Conservative MPs, including a Foreign Office minister and a Defra minister. He’s also an Associate Fellow at the Council on Geostrategy and is studying for his Masters in International Political Economy, alongside his work at CEN.

lynsey jones

Climate Programme Manager

Transport, finance

Lynsey joined CEN after working in Parliament for several years for two Transport Secretaries. Prior to that she worked for Conservative Associations and in the voluntary sector. Lynsey has a degree in International Relations and Political Science.

James Cullimore

SENIOR nature programme manager

James joined CEN from the Electoral Commission where he was a political analyst. He has previously interned for an MEP at the European Parliament and worked as a staff writer providing online political commentary. He has volunteered on a conservation management programme and has a Masters in Politics and Contemporary History.

CAITIE GILLETT

Clean Air Programme MANAGER

Caitie joined CEN after previously interning for an MP in Parliament, and in the civil service with a placement at Defra. She has also previously worked on a mayoral campaign and has a degree in Politics and International Relations.

KITTY THOMPSON

outreach manager

JONAS KING

operations manager

Jonas joined CEN while serving as a Cambridgeshire County Councillor and sitting on the county's Environment & Green Investment Committee and also is a member of the county council's Environment Advisory Group. Jonas founded the Love Huntingdon Community Clean-Up Campaign which aims to encourage environmentalism through community projects and educational workshops for children.

Fin McCarron

International Programme OFFICER

Fin joined CEN after completing her degree in History and Politics, and interning at the Centre of Excellence in Slovenia. Whilst at Glasgow University, Fin was vice-president of the university food co-op and the outreach officer at the university Conservative association.

OUR BOARD

Ben Goldsmith

ChaiR

Ben Goldsmith is CEO of Menhaden Capital and co-founder of specialist long-term investment group WHEB. He is also a non-executive Board member of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the co-founder of the UK Environmental Funders’ Network, and an Advisory Council member for the Oxford Martin School.

Benet northcote

deputy Chair

Benet Northcote was the Director of Corporate Responsibility at the John Lewis Partnership for seven years, having also previously been Deputy Private Secretary to The Prince of Wales, where he was responsible for The Prince’s work on the Sustainability and Responsible Business.

dr Ben caldecott

Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. At the University of Oxford, he is the inaugural Lombard Odier Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow of Sustainable Finance, the first ever endowed professorship of sustainable finance, and a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College. Ben is also the founding Director and Principal Investigator of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment (CGFI), seed funded by UK Research and Innovation in 2021 as the national centre to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally. Since 2019, he has also been seconded to the UK Cabinet Office as the COP26 Strategy Advisor for Finance.

dorothée irving

Dorothée Irving is Head of Grants at the John Ellerman Foundation where she oversees the Foundation’s grant-making operation across its three funding categories: Arts, Environment and Social Action. Previously she looked after arts and cultural heritage grant portfolios at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe.

luke graham

treasurer

Luke Graham served as MP for Ochil & South Perthshire 2017-2019, during which time he was a champion of CEN. He sat on the Public Accounts Committee and was promoted to PPS for the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Prior to this he embarked on an 11-year career in finance which saw him work at start-ups and corporates in the UK, Asia and the USA as well as qualifying as a Chartered Management Accountant.

anna firth

Anna Firth is a District Councillor for Sevenoaks, currently serving on the Council’s “Net Zero Taskforce”. She stood as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Canterbury at the 2019 general election where she championed conservative environmentalism. Anna previously spent four years as the Cabinet member for Legal, Governance and Democratic Services in Sevenoaks where she also founded and Co-Chaired two local healthcare charities. She previously had a 12 year career as a Barrister.

OUR STEERING COMMITTEE

Stanley Johnson is also CEN’s International Ambassador. He is a former Conservative MEP and Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment and Public Health, a former senior official at the European Commission, and a long-standing environmental campaigner. He has had ten books published dealing with environmental issues, including the Politics of the Environment, the Earth Summit and the Environmental Policy of the European Communities. He has been awarded the Greenpeace Prize for Outstanding Services to the Environment, the RSPCA Richard Martin award for services to animal welfare, the RSPB's Medal for Services to Nature Conservation, and the WWF Leaders for the Living Planet Award.

Rachel Wolf is a Founding Partner at Public First. Previously education and innovation adviser to the Prime Minister, she co-authored of the Conservatives 2019 General Election manifesto. Rachel has also been the Senior Vice President for technology company Amplify and founded and ran the New Schools Network.

Adrian Gahan is Director of Policy at Blue Marine Foundation. He was previously Managing Director of international sustainability consultancy, Sancroft. Before that he spent three years as an Energy and Climate Change Policy Adviser to the Conservative Party, before which he worked at BP Alternative Energy and with the Delegation of the European Commission to the US.

Resham Kotecha works with the private, public and third sector to embed responsible leadership practices and tackle societal issues such as climate change and sustainability. She stood as a Parliamentary candidate in the 2015 and 2017 elections, is the Head of Engagement for Women2Win, the Founder of the Conservative Policy Network and the co-founder of the Conservative Friends of Tech.

Isabella Gornall is MD of Seahorse Environmental Communications. Her former roles include Head of Maitland Green, Policy Adviser to Zac Goldsmith MP and EU Environmental Policy Consultant in Brussels. Isabella is also Chair of UK100, the ambitious network of UK Cities committing to 100% clean energy.

Rosa Stewart is an energy and climate change policy expert. She is currently a Non-Executive Director at the Retail Energy Code Company and Publica Group, a local authority company where she is responsible for their climate emergency work. She is also an Energy Policy Panel member at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a founder of energy related start-ups and an advisor on climate campaigns. Previously, she was Head of External Relations at the energy supplier SSE, and a Deputy Director at BEIS.

Joe Porter is a District Councillor in the Staffordshire Moorlands, currently serving as the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Biodiversity. He is a member of DEFRA's Local Adaptation Advisory Panel and a member of the Canal & River Trust Council.