Members

Chair

Jill has over 20 years’ experience in investment banking, with her executive career spent working in corporate finance for SG Warburg & Co from 1985 to 1995, and senior positions in Group Strategy at UBS where she was a Managing Director from 2001 to 2012.

She was a Panel Member from 2013 to 2018 and a Non-Executive Director from 2013 to 2016 of the Competition and Markets Authority, and a Non-Executive Director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales from 2015 to 2019.

She was an External Member of the Prudential Regulation Committee at the Bank of England and a Non-Executive Director of abrdn Property Income Trust. 

Jill is currently Deputy Chair of the Financial Policy Council In Bermuda, advising the jurisdiction on risk and financial stability matters.

She is also a Non-Executive Board Member of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster and a Trustee of Tusk, a charity supporting progressive conservation initiatives across Africa.

Jill has family farming links in the West Country and a strong interest in environmental matters and climate change.

Chair, Scientific Advisory Group

Steve is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Group.  

Steve is Professor of Ecology and Co-Director of the Water Research Institute at Cardiff University. He brings over 40 years’ experience as an academic ecologist involved in the application of ecology to biodiversity conservation and environmental management in the face of global change, publishing over 300 scientific papers.  

Steve has an extensive track record in providing expert scientific advice on the natural environment, including being involved in the National Ecosystem Assessment, the first analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and continuing economic prosperity, and is a former Chief Editor of the Journal of Applied Ecology. 

Steve is currently Vice-President of the RSPB, of which he was Council Chair (2012-17), and also chairs the Strategic Implementation Group delivering the Welsh Government's responsibilities under 30 x 30 (Global Biodiversity Framework). Steve is also a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; CIEEM; the Learned Society of Wales; the British Ecological Society; the Royal Entomological Society and the Freshwater Biological Association.

Emily is a farmer and an independent rural policy and strategy advisor, with a particular interest in emerging natural capital influences on land, food and farming. She qualified as solicitor before undertaking an MSc in Sustainable Agriculture. She has spent her career working in farming, food and rural affairs, most recently as Head of Rural Research at property consultancy Savills. Emily holds various board positions, including as Chair of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Member of the Climate Change Committee, Non-Executive Director at Soil Association Exchange, Rural Committee Member at the Duchy of Lancaster, and as a trustee at the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association. Emily lives and farms in Norfolk. 

Gary is an ecologist by training and holds a PhD in the application of systems theory to fish farming. He held the position of Head of Urban Ecology at Greenwich University, before joining the UK2000 initiative chaired by Sir Richard Branson, which brought together the private and voluntary sector with the public sector, to tackle environmental problems.

After his appointment in 1990, Gary led the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust for 33 years, during which time land under management for nature increased to more than 1,200 hectares across more than 40 reserves, and oversaw a major expansion in the scope and scale of the Trust's activities.  

Gary is highly respected in the conservation community, both nationally and internationally, and has worked closely with other wildlife trusts and forging strong partnerships with many other charities, public organisations, and influential people to magnify the impact of the trust’s work.

Gary was also instrumental in helping to establish the partnership and secure the funding for the Bristol Avon Catchment Market.

Global Digital Services Lead at Arup

Will leads Arup’s work to be a digital leader in the built environment, harnessing the opportunity of digital technologies to shape a better world. He was previously Applied Strategy Lead at DeepMind, where he was responsible for taking the world-leading breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence and applying them for good in areas such as health and energy.

Prior to this, he was a senior civil servant, including roles as Director General for Innovation, Growth and Technology at the Department of Health, and head of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit - working directly for David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

His areas of interest include challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence, digital disruption and trends in the energy, construction, healthcare and aviation industries, and how digital executives can progress digital strategy into execution and implementation.

A civil engineer turned economist, Andy is a Chartered Director and Fellow of the Institute of Directors with more than 30 years’ experience in the water sector. He spent much of his career at Wessex Water, where he held a range of senior roles spanning engineering, economic regulation, finance and the management of the regulated business, and served on the Main Board from 2012 to 2026, including as Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director of the Regulated Business.

Andy has been involved with the EMB since its inception in 2023. He is now also Chair of water2business and an Associate with Frontier Economics. He has wider non-executive and governance experience across customer services, pensions and the charitable sector, including as Co-Chair and Non-Executive Director of Pelican Business Services, a Trustee of the Wessex Water Pension Scheme and Regional Chair of the international development charity WaterAid.