CPRE Oxfordshire welcomes new Director

Having bid farewell to Lisa Warne at the end of May, we are delighted to welcome Marcus Gilleard as the new Director of CPRE Oxfordshire.

Marcus brings a wealth of experience from his 30-year environmental career. Following a Master’s degree in Environmental Technologuy at Imperial College, he joined the Oxford-based management consultancy ERM working on environmental law for the European Commission and supporting corporate clients in their transition to sustainability. He switched his focus to the charitable sector in 2004 when he joined the RSPB to lead BirdLife’s rural development policy work across the EU, including helping partners build a stronger voice in Central and Eastern Europe.

He later led the corporate partnerships team at Earthwatch in Oxford and, most recently, led the National Trust’s policy and advocacy work on agriculture, where he was one of six senior stakeholders advising the UK Government on post-Brexit farming and environmental land management schemes in England. He also brings valuable experience as a former Trustee of Wildlife and Countryside Link, supporting the charity over a nine-year period of political uncertainty and challenge.

His passion for the environment began in early childhood, going on to spend a lot of his time exploring the quintessentially English countryside across Oxfordshire. Some of his most memorable experiences have included cycling and walking along the Ridgeway and rowing a Thames skiff from Oxford to London – an immersive experience in nature he fully recommends!