Steering Group
Our Steering Group’s role is to provide expert support, challenge, strategic direction and oversight to the Climate Ambassadors project.
Steering Group members offer their time on a voluntary basis and come from a wide range of sectors including education, early years, business and academia. The Climate Ambassadors Steering Group is in the process of appointing a Chair and meets quarterly.
- Gayle Boulton is Head of Climate Action at DfE. She played a key role in the development of the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy for the education system and is now responsible for providing support to education settings to embed sustainability in all they do and make evidence-based decisions. Gayle is a skilled strategist and experienced project and change practitioner, leading large-scale government change programmes ranging from corporate reform, customer improvement to digital delivery. She is a graduate of the University of Leeds and Civil Service Future Leader Scheme through Coventry University. Gayle is passionate about people and the planet.
- Kathryn Brown is Director of Climate Change and Evidence at The Wildlife Trusts. Her role focusses on how the dual threats of climate change and biodiversity loss can be addressed together, alongside overseeing the Wildlife Trusts’ wider research and evidence functions. She supports the Trusts, among the largest landholders in the UK, to implement nature-based solutions at scale. Kathryn has worked for 20 years in a range of climate change and evidence roles including as Head of Adaptation at the Climate Change Committee and in international and domestic roles on climate change mitigation and adaptation at Defra. She was awarded an OBE for services to climate change research in 2022.
- Emily is the senior sustainability lead at United Learning, the largest multi-academy trust in England. Her role involves driving school engagement and action to help reduce the environmental impact of their operations. She manages a network of champions in 104 schools, providing support to align their sustainability efforts with the overall strategy. This also extends to building capabilities across Estates, HR, Finance and Compliance departments which supports delivery in schools. United Learning are a key partner to the DfE commissioned Sustainability Support Hub, and Emily leads their work on this.
- Arta Dedaj-Salad is a Policy Specialist for Climate Change Education (Curriculum) at the National Education Union (NEU). The Union believes that there should be a review of the National Curriculum, asking for sustainability and environmental education to be embedded throughout the whole curriculum and not be limited to STEM subjects. In addition, climate education should be included in teacher training, to ensure that the young generation is equipped with the knowledge and skills they require for a sustainable future. In her role, Arta engages in regular discussions and works collaboratively with all stakeholders for a better environmental education and to influence policy making.
- Hannah Fitzpatrick is Senior Project Manager (Education) at Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK). A former school leader, she now works on a range of development and advocacy projects aimed at transforming the education system to deliver sustainability and climate justice through a student-led approach. Hannah’s role includes overall project management of SOS-UK’s Green Schools Revolution, which implements key parts of the Department for Education’s (DfE) Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy with pathfinder schools across the UK. She also supports the DfE Youth Focal Points, youth voice positions that feed into the implementation and evaluation of the strategy.
- Emma is ASCL’s Business Leadership Specialist in the policy team. She represents all ASCL’s business leader members in various government meetings and working groups on all business matters and is currently leading on ASCL’s inaugural sustainable futures conference. Emma was the Chief Operating Officer at a large Multi Academy Trust in the North East of England, serving three Local Authority areas. She was with the Trust since it was established, implemented the central services provision and has overseen the rapid trust growth from one to 30 schools.
- Following a career in finance which culminated in him chairing the Finance Industry Standards Association, Neil was asked to volunteer his skills to what was then the Pre-School Learning Alliance and in 2008, he was appointed as CEO. Neil has been a strident leader of the largest early years membership organisation in the country, overseeing its rebrand to the Early Years Alliance in 2019 – a change that reflected its ambition to give a united voice to all involved in caring for and educating young children. Neil has fronted numerous sector campaigns on fair funding and – notably – the mental health of the early years workforce, Minds Matter.
- Judy is a painter, poet, and environmentalist, probably best known as the Honorary President of Black Environment Network (BEN). She is recognised as a visionary advocate for diversity and equality, and a major voice on policy and practice towards social inclusion. She is included in the Forbes List of 100 Leading Environmentalists in the UK 2021. Awards include OBE for pioneering multicultural environmental participation in 2000; CBE for services to heritage in 2007; Vanity Fair International Women’s Day Challenger Award 2021; Earth Day Green Plaque Award 2021; RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honour 2023.
- Working for ITV News, Manali Lukha is head of their Millbank Studios based in the heart of Westminster. The studios support ITV’s political and weather output. Manali leads a team of political correspondents, weather presenters and broadcast engineers. Prior to her role at ITV, Manali worked for the Met Office, starting her career as a software programmer and progressing to Business Development Manager. Manali graduated from Keele University in 1996 with a degree in Geography & Geology, and completed a Master’s in Information Technology in 1997. She is also Chair of ITV’s International Ambassador Network, member of council for the Royal Meteorological Society and member of the Climate Ambassadors steering group.
- Sarah Lyons is Lead Officer for Health, Safety and Environment at the National Education Union (NEU). She has worked in health and safety for the NEU, and previously the NUT, for over 30 years and more recently her role has encompassed environmental and climate change issues. Our aim is for schools to be safe, healthy and sustainable – aspirations which of course overlap. Sarah’s role involves work on policy development, guidance for members/reps, delivering training, and supporting campaigns, with current big issues including the state of school buildings, stress, mental health, and Covid aftermath. We are currently developing a network of green reps and rolling out a new training programme. Sarah is also lead NEU negotiator for E-ACT multi-academy trust.
- Since mid-2023 Rachel has been Executive Director at the Aldersgate Group, a cross-sectoral alliance of businesses and other organisations championing a prosperous, environmentally sustainable economy. Rachel has 20+ years’ experience of working in environment and climate policy, as a civil servant (including as policy lead on the Climate Change Act) and in other sectors, with her most recent role being in KPMG’s energy transition team. She draws on this experience to work with Aldersgate Group members on developing robust policy recommendations and press the Government for change in vital areas, including climate skills and education.
- Kate is an experienced geography teacher and Head of Department currently working as Trust Lead for Geography for Future Academies. In this role, she works across 7 different secondary schools working to improve the geography provision. More broadly, Kate is involved with the geography education community through her blogging, writing and presenting. She is particularly interested in climate change education- both in geography classrooms and beyond and recently co-wrote a textbook titled ‘The Climate Crisis’.
- Dr Jessica Tipton is Head of the National Education Nature Park at the Natural History Museum, a project commissioned by the Department for Education as part of its Sustainability and Climate Strategy. In 2020 Jess founded the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN) as Head of Youth Networks at Global Action Plan alongside teaching secondary modern languages. With UKSSN she led a delegation of students to the COP26 global climate summit and instigated the annual online Youth Climate Summit. Previously Jess worked as a policy adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and has researched Russia and international climate policy.
- Alex joined the British Chambers of Commerce as Director of Policy and Insight in March 2022 and is responsible for the policy positions adopted by the Chamber network and for BCC’s research programme including the UK’s largest business survey. Prior to joining BCC, Alex was the Deputy Director – Public Policy at Logistics UK; worked as an industry secondee at HMRC/HMT; and spent several years in the rail industry in various roles in London, Paris and Brussels. Alex’s early career was in the environment sector in the US and UK. Alex is a Chartered Member of the CILT, IEMA and CMI.
- Will Wale is one of the two UK Department for Education Youth Focus Points for Sustainability and Climate Justice, where he works with the DfE to provide youth voice, listen to youth feedback, and promote engagement with their strategy for sustainability in education. He previously played a role in youth networks within the UK with the UK Schools Sustainability Network, where he focussed on engaging young people with empowerment programmes and overcoming climate anxiety and apathy. He is currently a government student at the London School of Economics, and also serves on the advisory board to the UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Climate and Sustainability Education.