Trustees

Aedán is Head of Policy and Advocacy for RSPB Scotland and a board member of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland. He is a chartered town planner and has worked on some of Scotland’s most high profile and contentious environmental planning cases. Aedán has particular experience of reconciling the wildlife and climate impacts of plans and projects and of working with governments and public and private sectors to further environmental objectives.

Alan is Head of Nature Restoration at Trees for Life and has worked in conservation in Scotland for twenty-five years, first with SNH on Islay and in Argyll and Stirlingshire. His role at Trees for Life sees him focusing on projects that can make rewilding work and for that to bring tangible benefits to people, while getting past the polarisations that divide land use interests and engage meaningfully across those divides. He has been Convener of LINK’s Woodland Group for the past four years.

Bruce has a background in land use policy and management and studied at the Scottish Agricultural College. He sits on numerous Scottish Environment LINK groups and also manages the secretariat functions for the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital and the coordination of the Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers. Bruce is particularly interested in ecological restoration within living landscapes which embrace social, economic and environmental function.

Dr Helen Senn was elected as a trustee in 2017. She is Head of Conservation and Science Programmes at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Dr Karen Blackport was nominated onto LINK Board as a co-opted trustee in 2020, and was re-elected in her capacity as CEO of Bright Green Nature in 2025.

She is a biologist by training, Karen is an ecosystem health scientist and eco entrepreneur. After twenty years in the UK and Australian life sciences sector, Karen established Bright Green Nature in 2022, a Scottish Borders based nature restoration charity, which restores and protects vulnerable and rare ecosystems, working with local communities and young people to train and support their development and connection with nature.

Karen is also a Director of her family run eco-estate, Faldonside Eco LLP, Co-Convenor of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance and holds a Trustee position at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.  Karen has been a Trustee at Scottish Environment Link since 2020.

Karen lives near Melrose with her husband and two children and a menagerie of animals!

Eric Baird was elected onto LINK Board in 2023. Eric is the LINK Representative for Scottish Countryside Rangers Association and Head Ranger at Glen Tanar Charitable Trust. He joins LINK’s Trustees with significant experience in conflict resolution, including with his work on the Cairngorms National Park Board. He also has experience with EDI (Equality, Diversity  and Inclusion) through his role as vice-chair of ‘Inclusive Cairngorms’, set up to represent the interests of minorities in the Cairngorms National Park.

James has a background in environmental science – particularly meteorology, oceanography and hydrology. Early in his career he designed and installed an automatic weather station on the summit of Cairngorm. Through various posts within government and agencies, he became Chief Executive of SEPA, retiring in 2015. For a while he also founded and ran an eco-store/cafe in Glasgow. He has been an honorary professor of Stirling University and has chaired the WWF Scotland advisory council and the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum. James has a long-standing concern about climate change, having been a UK government reviewer of IPCC reports, and served on the Scottish Government’s climate change delivery board. He was Chair of the James Hutton Institute, chaired Climate Ready Clyde, was on the Board of the Green Purposes Company, set up to oversee the privatised UK Green Investment Bank, and has prepared the climate change action plan for the Isle of Man Government. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Sustainable Development in the University of Strathclyde.

James was appointed as a co-opted Trustee in November 2022 and became LINK’s Treasurer in November 2023. James Woodhouse studied at Heriot Watt University from 2007 to 2011 and graduated 1^st class honours. He trained with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2011, whilst working for PriceWaterhouseCoopers James provided audit and assurance services to high profile clients. He currently works for NatWest Group and is Head of Retail Banking Forecasting & Insight, James is responsible for strategic planning, forecasting and performance management, supporting and challenging our franchises to drive sustainable and purpose-led value, providing insight and guidance to the bank’s executive team.

Kathy Wormald was elected trustee in 2021. Kathy is CEO of The Froglife Trust, which she joined in 2007. With an Accountancy, Economics and Political History background, Kathy has worked in various sectors within the charitable sector including Human Rights, Environment, International Development and Nature Conservation. Working for and being a trustee of smaller charities had developed an appreciation of how smaller charities operate and the pressures they face particularly with limited resources.