Meet our trustees and staff

Tony Burton CBE

Chairman

Tony has extensive high-level experience as an environmental campaigner and Board member.  He chairs Power to Change, supporting community businesses, and TCV’s Chestnut Fund. He is also Vice Chair of HS2’s Independent Design Panel.  Tony is a former Chair of the National Lottery Community Fund and former Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth.

Tony is a member of CPRE’s national Policy Committee and became chair of CPRE London in 2019.  He founded Civic Voice in 2010 and was previously Director of Strategy and External Affairs at the National Trust, and Deputy Director of CPRE.

Tony is an experienced land use planner and a neighbourhood planning examiner. He convenes Neighbourhood Planners.London and is an active volunteer in his local community, including as Chair of the Wandle Valley Forum, Secretary of his local civic society and convener of the independent forum for Friends groups in Merton

Alena Kalashnikova,

Treasurer

Alena is a corporate finance and investment management professional, having completed her Master’s degree in Energy, Trade & Finance at Bayes Business School. She has broad international experience – most recently she worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers identifying new markets and export opportunities for companies from Russia and Kazakhstan.

Alena lives in Central London and is passionate about energy transition in general, and environmental challenges in urban environments.

Emma Bould

Trustee

Emma works for the Cabinet Office Disability Unit since February 2022 as Head of Comms and now Head of Cost of Living. Before that she worked at Government Office for Science and Alzheimer’s Society. She is a member of Network Rail’s Built Environment Accessibility Panel.

Emma is committed to the public health and wellbeing working with disadvantaged communities.

Tara-Jane Sutcliffe

Trustee

Tara works professionally in the charity sector and has held a range of leadership roles across the public and charity sectors: notably, as executive director of an international volunteering charity and of an overseas national trust organisation. She brings strong skills in strategic planning and business development, with a particular focus on strengthening good governance and financial accountability.

Passionate about the protection and promotion of the natural and historic environments, she also serves as a trustee of the Open Spaces Society and of the William Morris Society and is a member of the National Trust Council.

Catherine Irving-Johnstone

Trustee

Catherine has valuable experience in community, corporate and legacy fundraising and supporter engagement at two leading national charities, Cancer Research UK and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

As a born-and-bred Londoner, Catherine is committed to protecting green space for all in the city and has a particular interest in promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.

Justin Portess

Trustee

Justin works for a large global law firm in a senior management role. Previous roles include PR and his first career as a British Army officer. Justin has also served as an elected London Borough Councillor and a School Governor.

Justin’s motivation to be a Trustee comes from a deep love for the city’s green spaces and a commitment to our ability to enjoy them. This is borne out of his passion for the outdoors over the years; from military service and team expeditions, to solo long-distance walks.

As an Islington resident, Justin spends many hours walking and cycling the city and developing these interests in his family. He hasn’t owned a car for over 20 years.

Charlotte Ellis

Trustee

Charlotte is currently Director of Finance at Guardian Media Group, publisher of The Guardian newspaper and she joined as a trustee in November 2023.

She brings financial and risk management experience.

Charlotte lives in West London and loves the amenities and community that urban living can offer whilst still having nature on her doorstep,  with access to the Brent river where she has been excited to see kingfishers, jays and woodpeckers.  She strongly believes the outdoors is great for mental & physical health and should be accessible for all.

Ian Ashman

(Co-opted as a Trustee and Co-opted Honorary Secretary in 2023)

Ian is a former further education college principal in London, who now works as an executive coach and governance adviser to education organisations and charities.

He has a strong interest in the value of the outdoors for health and personal development, having previously served on a national outdoor education charity.  Ian is a regular user of green spaces in and around London, and lives in Hackney.

Chris Falconer

Trustee

Chris advises trusts, foundations and policy makers on social change issues spanning culture, environment, regeneration and devolution. Previously he led programme and partnership strategy, innovation and delivery at the charity Local Trust and managed environmental policy and grantmaking  at the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Chris is particularly interested in the role of nature in regeneration, and its importance to creating places that allow people to lead good, healthy lives. He lives in Walthamstow and regularly explores and enjoys Epping Forest and the surrounding countryside with his young family.

Anna Taylor

Director

Anna is an experienced charity director with a strong track record of devising strategy, diversifying income, and growing impact. She is a geographer with a strong interest in ecology.

She has been an enthusiastic nature watcher since childhood.  As a mum of two young children, she’s passionate about playing a role in mitigating and adapting to climate change – and in particular, empowering people to act locally.

Anna’s also interested in the value of green and blue spaces for mental well-being and community cohesion. While Chair of her local residents’ association she ran a community gardening group planting up local grot spots.

She currently volunteers with an art for well-being group based in Crystal Palace Park, where the value of being outdoors in the beauty of nature is very much part of the ethos.

Alice Roberts

Head of Campaigns

Alice joined CPRE London in 2015, having worked at the Local Government Association, Campaign for Better Transport, Defra, the National Lottery and the European Commission.

She has campaigned on parks, street scene, planning, transport, waste and recycling issues.

Alice lives in Hackney where she keeps a parklet and enjoys guerrilla gardening.

She tweets as @ClaptonAlice.

John Sadler

Campaigns and Planning

John has worked in operational, outreach and campaigning roles at environmental NGOs over the past 15 years.

At the Ramblers Association, he managed the Get Walking Keep Walking project in East London. He co-ordinated marine policy and campaigns for Wildlife and Countryside Link. And he was the Humane Society International’s Operations Manager before joining CPRE London in 2021.

John lives in Hampstead, loves walking and is passionate about protecting parks and green spaces in the capital.

Laura Collins

 GoParksLondon and London Friends of Greenspace Network Coordinator

Laura has many years of experience working in the charity sector and project management.

She started volunteering with local projects over 10 years ago and became really interested in green and blue spaces, which led to founding the Friends of Figge’s Marsh in Mitcham, London.

She is currently the chair of that group and co-chair of the Independent Merton Green Spaces Forum. She’s really excited to be working on GoParksLondon, and she relishes the chance to get more people excited about green and blue spaces and volunteering with friends groups.

CPRE London is also supported by volunteers:

Michael Lazarus – Green Defenders, legal support

Delia Ray – Comms

Rachel Dobson – Comms

Israel Ayanda – website

Mike Schilling – Comms

David Fletcher, Nick McDonald – Fundraising

Bill Boyd, Noah Cole – Tree Ring Project

Tom Pegrum – Events, Hedgerow Heroes

Annabel Rutherford – Policy and Advocacy