Senior Leadership Team

Rachael moved to Yorkshire in 2019 from Cornwall to lead the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust team. She brings 20 years of experience across the public sector, mainly focussed on strategic change through partnership and policy development. 

She has a deep passion for personal growth, our relationship with animals and the environment, and seeks out the wild whenever she can, now often in the Dales and North York Moors. These passions are reflected in her academic studies of Land Economy, Equine Science and Anthrozoology, and a desire to create mainstream ideas from eco-psychology and deep-ecology.

She is an RSA Fellow and a member of Homeward Bound, an international leadership network for women seeking to create a more sustainable world.

Martin has had a varied career with technical and leadership roles in the private, NGO and public sector. He began his career as a contaminated land scientist working for a consultancy engaged in an innovative project to remediate a redundant gas works site in Blackburn, Lancashire using bioremediation techniques. After completing a Masters in Environmental Science he then moved to Lincolnshire where he helped establish an environmental charity specialising in professional regulation for the burgeoning environmental sector. This later became the world renowned Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. Martin then returned to the consultancy sector where he worked as an environmental scientist for an engineering consultancy based in Glasgow undertaking environmental impacts assessments for a wide range of infrastructure projects across Scotland, Wales and England.

Most recently Martin has worked for the Environment Agency for 23 years in a variety of management roles in Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire. His time in the Cambridgeshire Fens opened his eyes to the potential for reversing biodiversity decline through landscape scale nature restoration through his involvement in the Great Fen project with The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, the Wicken Fen expansion with the National Trust and the Ouse Fen Nature Reserve project with the RSPB and Hansons. In Yorkshire he led a number of catchment scale restoration initiatives including ambitious projects to restore wild Atlantic salmon to Yorkshire’s rivers. Working for over a decade with many dedicated organisations and individuals this culminated in the return of salmon to the River Don in south Yorkshire after an absence of around 200 years.

“I am so excited to be joining Yorkshire Wildlife Trust at this pivotal period for nature conservation in Yorkshire and across the globe. It is no exaggeration to say that this decade is the one where we as individuals and as a society must turn the corner on climate change and biodiversity decline. The future will belong to those organisations that not only conserve our wildlife on land and at sea but vigorously restore and expand habitats and natural processes so all of us in town and country can experience wildlife and wilderness at close range. This is what I want Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to do'.

Amanda has worked as a fundraising and marketing specialist within the charity sector for a little over 25 years. Her career began in community fundraising with the NSPCC and Scope, before moving into national events, grants management and individual giving at Deafblind UK, The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and Robinson College, Cambridge. More recently, she has enjoyed senior management roles with the RSPB, Environment Agency and The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. 

Darren joined Yorkshire Wildlife Trust in 2021 as Director of Finance and Central Services and is responsible for the Trust's finances and central support functions that ensure that the Trust operates smoothly.

A qualified chartered accountant with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Darren has enjoyed a variety of diverse careers to date including managing a group of UK Art Galleries, Head of Finance at a BAME focussed Arts Charity and most recently Head of Finance at UK and International Property Development company.  Alongside this, Darren has contributed to several local charities as Honorary Treasurer.

Darren has extensive experience with change management programmes, financial systems restructuring, risk management and charity governance.  Outside of work, Darren is a reluctant gym attender, occasional half marathon runner, avid Artist and frequently disappointed supporter of Middlesbrough FC.

"I am thrilled to be able to contribute to this important charity at a key moment in its history.  The climate and diminishing species challenge we all face both on a local, National and International level requires participation, enthusiasm, desire and hard work on every level, and I am looking forward to playing a small part on that process

With 25 years working in HR and across all HR disciplines, my background is in both public sector and voluntary sector management. During this time I’ve seen the profession develop from a traditional personnel department into a modern human resources function, and I care passionately about an organisation being a great place to work and in improving the way HR supports the organisation and its staff to do their best work. I joined the Trust because I also care passionately about our wildlife and protecting and enhancing our natural environment, and I like to think that what I do helps wildlife, albeit indirectly.

Outside of work, my interests are music and singing (in a rock, pop and blues cover band), as well as gardening and getting out and about to visit beautiful spaces.