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Our team

Our team

Meet the people who lead UKGBC's mission for a more sustainable built environment.

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Team

Simon McWhirter

Chief Executive Officer Get in touch for: Organisational Strategy, Advocacy, International

simon.mcwhirter@ukgbc.org

With over 29 years’ experience, Simon has had roles spanning across the construction, finance and not-for-profit sectors. Before UKGBC, he was Head of Engagement at the Active Building Centre, spent six years at HAB Housing as a sales director and five years at WWF. Prior to this, Simon was an international tax consultant, and spent several years at a newspaper.

Elfrida Hamilton-Russell

Chief Impact Officer Get in touch for: Impact and Leadership

elfrida.hamilton-russell@ukgbc.org

Elfrida is responsible for the design and delivery of UKGBC’s leadership and learning programmes which aim to achieve impact across the built environment. Before UKGBC, Elfrida worked for over 20 years in Oil and Gas for Shell in various roles including Sustainability and Non-Technical Risk, Leadership, Learning and Development, and Finance. Elfrida has worked and lived in Africa and Brazil.

Yetunde Abdul

Director of Industry Transformation Get in touch for: Industry, Climate Mitigation, Solutions & Innovations, Circular Economy

yetunde.abdul@ukgbc.org

Yetunde, brings 20 years’ experience having worked for UK and International engineering and environmental consultancies, certification and property investment organisations and for the UK government. Beginning as UKGBC’s Head of Climate action she now spearheads UKGBC’s efforts in accelerating changes supporting industry tackle the climate and nature crises.

Alex Benstead

Senior Partnerships and Programmes Manager Get in touch for: Programme Partnerships, Operations

Email Alex

Philippa Birch-Wood

Head of Climate Action Get in touch for: Advancing Net Zero & Resilience, Resource Use, and Nature

Email Philippa

Paul Cahalan

Head of Marketing, Communications, and Brand Identity Get in touch for: Media, Policy Comms, Comms Strategy

Email Paul Cahalan

Siobhan Canniffe

Senior People & Culture Manager Get in touch for: People, Culture, HR

Email Siobhan

Macarena Cárdenas

Resilience and Nature Senior Advisor Get in touch for: Resilience, Resource Use & Nature Programme

Email Macarena

Tosca Herson

Team Administrator: Policy and Places Get in touch for: Policy & Public Affairs coordination, Regenerative Places

Email Tosca Herson

Marta Cerdá Martínez

Marketing Officer Get in touch for: Marketing for Membership, Learning & Events, Paid Marketing

Email Marta Cerdá Martínez

Kirsten Fletcher

Sustainability Coordinator Get in touch for: Coordination for Advancing Net Zero, Solutions & Innovations, Learning, Systems Change

Email Kirsten

Emily-Rose Garnett

Solutions and Innovation Senior Advisor Get in touch for: Solutions and innovation

Email Emily-Rose

Kirsty Girvan

Policy and Public Affairs Senior Advisor Get in touch for: Policy at UKGBC

Email Kirsty

Anushka Gupta

Activity Operations and Impact Coordinator Get in touch for: Programme management and operations

Email Anushka

Anna Hollyman

Co-Head of Policy and Places Get in touch for: Regenerative Places, Commercial Retrofit

Email Anna

Binta Suleiman

Membership Coordinator Get in touch for: Membership enquiries, membership support

Email Binta Suleiman

Marianne Juca

Digital Content and Media Officer Get in touch for: Content Strategy, Website Management, Media, Articles/Blogs

Email Marianne

Gesine Kippenberg

Senior Sustainability Advisor Get in touch for: Bespoke Learning and Leadership

Email Gesine

Abram Mansaray

Finance Officer Get in touch for: Accounting, Operations

Email Abram

Simon Matthews

Advisor – Advancing Net Zero Get in touch for: Advancing Net Zero, Industry Transformation

Email Simon

Alexandra Menego

Senior Activity Operations and Impact Manager Get in touch for: Programme management & opportunities, Strategy,

Email Alexandra

Ceri Mugford

Senior Membership Engagement Manager Get in touch for: Membership Opportunities

Email Ceri

Joe Pitts-Cunningham

Senior Experiential Learning and Events Manager Get in touch for: Learning and Events

Email Joe

Jaime Rebelo

Finance and Operations Manager Get in touch for: Accounting, reporting & operations

Email Jaime

Lucy Rees

Head of Transformative Change Get in touch for: Leadership, Systems Change, Organisational Strategy & Change Management

Email Lucy

Reanna Reilly

Event Coordinator Get in touch for: Events and Opportunities

Email Reanna

Maria Rozanova

Marketing and Communications Manager Get in touch for: Advancing Net Zero Marketing and Communications

Email Maria

Shruti Sawant

Sustainability Leadership Advisor Get in touch for: Learning & Leadership

Email Shruti

David Steen

Policy & Places Senior Advisor Get in touch for: Policy and Public Affairs, UKGBC Scotland

Email David

Cath Walford

Member Services CRM Manager Get in touch for: UKGBC’s database

Email Cath

Joanne Wheeler

Co-Head of Policy and Places Get in touch for: Regenerative Places, Local Policy & Retrofit

Email Joanne

Clare Wilde

Sustainability Officer Get in touch for: Resilience, Resource Use, and Nature

Email Clare

Want to join our team?

At UKGBC we’re always looking for passionate individuals to join us as we strive for a sustainable built environment.

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Trustees

Judith Everett (Chair)

Chief of Staff – Arup

Judith Everett became the Chief of Staff at Arup in 2025. Previously, she worked at The Crown Estate, and sat on the Group Leadership Team as Executive Director of Purpose, Sustainability and Stakeholder. In this role, Judith focused on driving forward The Crown Estate’s commitments on Net Zero and biodiversity, its role as a purposeful business, committed to creating lasting…

Sunand Prasad

Principal – Perkins & Will

Sunand Prasad is a Principal of Perkins&Will and co-founder of the highly regarded architects, Penoyre & Prasad which became a studio of Perkins& Will in 2019. Sunand is one of the London Mayor’s Design Advocates and Chairs the Editorial Board of the Journal of Architecture. He holds multiple advisory roles across industry and government.

Victoria Quinlan

President – Europe – Cortland

Victoria is responsible for Cortland’s strategic vision and growth in the UK and Europe. She brings a wealth of experience in the real estate and construction sectors, having held positions spanning investment, development, business operations, finance and capital markets transactions.

Lorna Walker

Co-founder – Camion

Lorna is an entrepreneur who cofounded Camion, a startup at the intersection of real estate and clean energy. Lorna was previously part of the cofounding team of Modomo, a modular housing startup tackling the housing crisis in a sustainable way. This followed a highly successful corporate career at CBRE for 12+ years.

Miles Lewis

Director of Sustainability – Clarion Housing Group

Miles is responsible for co-creating and delivering the sustainability strategy for the UK’s largest housing association, Clarion Housing Group. This includes the establishment of the organisation’s strategic approaches to reach Net Zero Carbon, enabling the recovery of nature and building resilience to climate-related risks. Miles sits on steering groups across the housing industry including the Future Homes Hub. Prior to…

Eva MacNamara

Director – Expedition Engineering

Eva MacNamara is an executive board director at the Useful Simple Trust and director at Expedition Engineering. She is a leader in regenerative design and systems thinking. Her experience is broad and diverse, ranging from her work on the Royal Academy’s National Engineering Policy Centre for Ageing Infrastructure, to her R&D initiatives, and hands on projects such as the Eden…

Estelle Bailey MBE

Chief Executive – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT)

Estelle joined BBOWT as Chief Executive in January 2014 after 16 years working in executive roles with other Wildlife Trusts. Working closely with the Board of Trustees and Directors, Estelle is responsible for the strategic leadership and direction of the Trust to deliver a wilder Berks, Bucks & Oxon.

Basil Demeroutis

Managing Partner – FORE Partnership

Founder of FORE Partnership, the purpose-driven real estate investment management firm and formerly Partner at Capricorn Investment Group and Managing Partner Jargonnant Partners real estate platform in Germany. He also has a background in investment banking (ING Barings, Bear Stearns, Bankers Trust) and a BSc in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

Tara Gbolade

Co-Founding Director – Gbolade Design Studios

Tara is Co-Founding Director of the practice and a Mayor’s Design Advocate. She is an RIBAJ Rising Star winner and co-founder of the Paradigm Network. She sits on the steering group of Architects Declare, a network addressing how architects respond to our climate emergency.

Mark Robinson

Group Chief Executive – SCAPE

Mark started his career as a YTS apprentice and progressed into roles in construction operations, strategic planning and corporate procurement. In 2009, Mark was appointed CEO of SCAPE which has over 1,600 live projects and commissions. He works with some of the UK’s biggest construction companies and leading industry bodies to help improve the built environment across the public estate.

Sam Ewuosho

Founding Director – The Next Lighthouse

Sam is a trusted adviser to policy makers, investors and start-up founders on the long term structural opportunities and risks they face. As an impact strategist and infrastructure financing expert, he is helping clients seize strategic opportunities in an uncertain future.

Clifford Ellis

Associate – BGO

Clifford is an Associate at BGO joining the team in 2022 as an Analyst after 4 years at Legal & General Capital. He is responsible for underwriting acquisitions and disposals for WELPUT as well as ad-hoc financial analysis, and the asset management of a mixed use separately managed account in East London.

Members Advisory Group

Stuart Burrows

Programme Director

Seiju Desai

Head of Technical Excellence

Clare Harrison

Project Director

Rachel Hoolahan

Architect and Sustainability Coordinator

Richard Jackson

Director

Ólöf Jónsdóttir

Head of Public Affairs

Katia Martin

Director of Corporate Responsibility

Rebecca Pearce

Director

Lucy Pedler

Director

Duncan Price

Partner (Sustainability)

Tom Randall

Associate Director – Building Performance and Systems

David Willock

Managing Director

Simon Wyatt

Associate Director