Trustees
John Leigh Pemberton, Chair of Trustees
Torry Hill Chestnut fencing
As the owner of the UK’s largest chestnut products company at Torry Hill, Kent, John brings extensive commercial and forestry experience to the role of Chair.
Alice Snowden
Nursery Business Manager at Cheviot Trees
14 years forest nursery experience, specialising in seed and selecting suitable seed sources. Production of best quality trees from the best quality seed is important to me for so many reasons; ensuring the sustainability of timber as a resource being the main driver behind my involve ment with Future Trees Trust.
Andrew Stafford
Ex Director of The Dulverton Trust
Andrew has a wealth of charity development and governance experience.
Dr Christine Cahalan
Senior Lecturer in Forestry at Bangor University, retired
Spent most of her career teaching forestry and doing forestry-related research at Bangor University, and is now a member of several forestry trusts and advisory panels.
Dr Jason Hubert
Head of Business Development at Forestry and Land Scotland
Currently responsible for policy advice and expertise on all aspects of commercial forestry at Scottish Forestry. Jason has also worked on broadleaf tree breeding at Forest Research and represented the UK at the European Forest Genetics Programme (EUFORGEN).
Roger Coppock
Head of Analysts at Forestry Commission, retired
Previously Head of Corporate and Forestry Support at the Forestry Commission. As well as research and plant health, Roger’s responsibilities covered international forest policy, communications, economics and statistics.
Our Staff
John McLaughlin
CEO of Future Trees Trust
John spent his early career working in the NHS and for the past 18 years has been CEO of one of the largest Mental Health and Housing Charities in the Thames Valley. He has also been Executive Chair of the RAW Workshop- a wood recycling charity that provides employment for vulnerable adults.
John will be supporting Future Trees Trusts’ vision for all productive woodlands in the UK to contain a proportion of genetically-improved trees whose wood is used in the construction of net zero carbon social housing and public buildings, contributing to the delivery of the UK Government’s net zero carbon strategy.
PhD
Ryan McClory
based at University of Reading
Ryan is investigating Drivers of Masting in Oak – a three and a half year PhD with the University of Reading.
Eamonn Cooper
based at Trinity College Dublin
Eamonn is a Phd Student looking at variation in oak, and the genetic diversity in the Future Trees Trust Oak Programme
Patsy Wood Trust Scholar
Ruaridh joined the Trust as a Forestry Technician in 2023 as our Patsy Wood Scholar in a role split between Future Trees Trust and the National Trust following achieving a HND from the Scottish School of Forestry at UHI Inverness and a background in practical forestry work – tree planting, felling and nursery production working for various environmental and forestry organisations in the Scottish Highlands including Trees for Life, the RSPB, Highlands Rewilding and Forestry Land Scotland (FLS).
Marketing & Communications
Georgina Thomas
Marketing & Communications Manager
Georgina has 15 years’ experience of marketing across various organisations and has an MSc in Sustainable Development. She supports and manages Future Trees Trust’s marketing and communications strategy including PR, social media, newsletters, content creation and the Annual Supporters’ Day sharing the charity’s key messages, research and achievement updates.
Researchers
Dr Jo Clark
Head of Research
Jo joined Future Trees Trust in October 2018 as Head of Research, after being seconded to us a day a week for the previous ten years. She started her forestry career as a genetic resources technician for the US Forest Service, working in the Pacific Northwest on production conifers. She spent 15 years at the charity Earth Trust, where she managed the UK’s largest collection of broadleaved genetic trials, known as Paradise Wood. Her doctoral research investigated the adaptation of ash to climate change.
Sarah Wild
Researcher
Sarah has a background in geography and medical anthroplogy, and is midway through studying the MSc Forestry at Bangor University as a part-time distance learner. In her role as Researcher Sarah is responsible for designing, maintaining and assessing field trials, analysing data and communicating the findings.
Forestry Technician
Ollie Stock
Forestry Technician
Ollie has come on board in 2023 to help deliver and identify plus trees for the Beech and Hornbeam improvement project. He has an MSc in environmental forestry from Bangor University, and has recently been working on Pan-European forest monitoring.