UKOTCF Council
Helena Bennett
Helena is a born and raised St Helenian or “Saint” as the people of St Helena refers to themselves. Growing up on St Helena island surrounded by the ocean, marine conservation was Helena’s first love and spent most of her earlier years volunteering in marine protection.
Helena is a qualified Internal Audit Practitioner and played a key role in St Helena’s auditing arena. Helena was pinnacle in setting up St Helena Government’s Internal Audit Office, introducing governance and ethnical assessments, and the initial risk management framework. However, the ocean which is St Helena’s biggest tourist attraction remained a priority to Helena, and after 11 years of auditing, she joined the Economic Development Agency as its tourism manager and later the Director of Tourism. Here Helena was able to work with the government and private sector in developing tourism industry best practices and had developed tourism products focused on St Helena’s natural, built and cultural heritage. When the economic development project came to an end, Helena was successful for the position as Director within the St Helena National Trust, an organisation that Helena spent over 10 years volunteering as a council member. With the remit of the St Helena National Trust being to promote, conserve, educate and advocate for St Helena’s natural, built and cultural heritage, Helena is focusing on ensuring longevity of project outputs, increasing the importance of the built and cultural heritage and developing a forum youth advocacy in conservation.
Helena is also the Chairperson for the Liberated African Advisory Committee, who are working on interpreting the island’s role in slavery and the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. She sits as a member of the St Helena Heritage Society Board, a member St Helena Research Council whose purpose is to authorise and oversee research on St Helena, and a member of the St Helena Cloud Forest Project Strategic Board, a CSSF funded project, whose role is to ensure the multi partner project adheres to the goals to improve the water security and wildlife for St Helena. With a current Darwin Plus project combating plastic pollution in the South Atlantic, Helena also supports the UKOT plastics pollution network.
Dr Keith Bensusan
Keith is from Gibraltar. He is General Secretary of the Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society (GONHS) and Director of the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens, as well as an environmental consultant through Wildlife (Gibraltar) Ltd. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of Gibraltar and a member of a number of statutory bodies in Gibraltar including the Nature Conservancy Council and CITES Scientific Authority.
Keith has had a lifelong interest in birds. He began birding at a very early age and his interests eventually diversified to other aspects of natural history. This led him to read Zoology, take an MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation, and finally a PhD on the ecology of migrant and resident birds around the Strait of Gibraltar. Apart from bird migration and ecology, Keith also has an interest in plants and is a keen entomologist, having worked on on a range of groups. He has published on all of these subjects.
Keith has a keen interest in the wildlife of the UK Overseas Territories and its conservation. He finds the parallels and differences between the territories fascinating and believes that interchange of views, ideas and experiences via the Forum is an ideal way of tackling conservation problems effectively. He has been Chair of the UKOTCF’s Europe Territoies Working Group since 2014.
Myles Darrell
The Head of Natural Heritage at the Bermuda National Trust, Myles is a horticultural enthusiast and environmentalist with a commitment to environmental protection and conservation. He also has a keen interest in the traditions of agriculture, gardening, and growth and a passion for his island home.
Most recently Myles’ primary focus has been on the conservation of Bermuda’s native and endemic flora, including advocacy for their unique habitats. Engagement of the community in conservation work is also a key part of his role, and in this capacity he regularly leads field work for corporate volunteer groups, community groups and students of all ages. His hope is that promoting knowledge of the environment will translate into caring for our natural heritage to protect it for future generations.
Myles was voted a Bermudian of the Year in 2023 for these works and his dedication to the community. In 2024, he was honoured as the Bermude College Roche Science Week Speaker.
His BSc degree in biology – with a strong focus on co-constructed, contextualized environmental science learning – was followed by a graduate diploma of teaching secondary science from Waikato University in New Zealand.
When he is not working in the community, Myles spends time in the garden and enjoying his family, wife Sara and their two teenage daughters, who he says are his greatest source of motivation.
Sarita Francis OBE
Sarita holds a BA in Geography and Linguistics and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of the West Indies.
Sarita Francis took up the position of Director of the Montserrat National Trust in 2013 after retiring as Deputy Governor in the Montserrat Public Service. Her career in the Public Service spans some forty years during which she worked in Education as a Geography Teacher and Deputy Principal until 1993. She served as Director of Housing from 1999 to 2001, and was appointed Permanent Secretary to the Chief Minister in 2001. She was promoted to Chief Establishment Officer/Deputy Governor in 2007 and was instrumental in delivering the Public Service Reform Programme across Government. Mrs Francis played a pivotal role in the implementation of the changes brought about by the New Montserrat Constitution in 2010.
Sarita Francis became involved with the Montserrat National Trust in 1985, and headed the Environmental Education Committee. She was transferred to the Trust to work as Environmental Education in 1994. She was President of the Trust during the height of the volcanic crisis and had to assume management of the organisation and was instrumental in relocating the Trust Office and Museum from Plymouth to its new headquarters in Olveston.
Apart from her years of voluntary service to the Trust, Sarita has served on many Boards including the Montserrat Tourist Board, the Bank of Montserrat and Credit Union Boards, and the University of the West Inies Guild of Graduates. She is a member of the Cultural Centre Committee and the Montserrat’s Arts Council. Sarita has one son, Dion, who is a Civil Engineer and Director of his Company, Engineering Design and Construction (EDC) Ltd, in Montserrat.
Sarita was awarded the Order of Excellence (OE) by the Government of Montserrat in March 2024 for outstanding work in Public Service, Environment, Cultural and Heritage. This entitles her to the title of Right Honourable, but she does not normally use it.
Kathleen McNary, Treasurer
Kathleen McNary has worked extensively within environment-related fields for more than 25 years. Kathleen’s expertise encompasses a transdisciplinary range of biological, physical, and human sociocultural and economic environmental disciplines. With specific expertise in environmental impact assessment and multicriteria evaluation, she is an environmental systems analyst, specializing in tropical and subtropical ecosystems. Her work area covers the West Indies and United States and includes conducting baseline ecological assessments, classifying and mapping terrestrial, wetland, coastal, and marine habitats, preparing and overseeing comprehensive environmental impact assessments, conducting socio-economic and cultural analyses, designing and facilitating stakeholder meetings and workshops, developing environmental educational programmes, advising on environmentally sustainable development, and working in association with private and public sector entities to develop environmental partnerships, legislation, and policy.
Kathleen’s credentials include a Bachelor of Science (Magna cum Laude) in Environmental Studies from Florida International University and a Master of Liberal Arts in Sustainability and Environmental Management from Harvard University. Kathleen is currently working as a Teaching Assistant and towards a PhD in Transformative Studies, a transdisciplinary qualification grounded in psychological, sociological, environmental, and other disciplines, at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her academic research focuses on developing relational ontologies to foster reciprocal relationships between people and the more-than-human world. Kathleen has also authored several publications including The Flowers of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands (Macmillan Caribbean)
Kathleen’s work experience includes management positions across public, non-profit, and private spheres. She served as the Director of the Turks and Caicos Islands’ (TCI) Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs, the TCI government agency charged with the management, oversight, and enforcement of the natural resources within 35 protected areas, a marine exclusive economic zone of 91,025 km2, and 430 km2 of upland, coastal, and wetland habitats. She currently serves as the Research Director at the Turks and Caicos Reef Fund, TCI’s only non-profit environmental advocacy organization, and as the Principal at SWA Environmental, a Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) based company, specializing in transformative environmental management through cooperative scientific research, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural impact assessment, environmental advocacy, and policy development. Kathleen is a U.S. Citizen and naturalized TCI Citizen.
Leigh Morris
Leigh is the Director – International for The Wildlife Trusts, a role he commenced in June 2025. This new role for The Wildlife Trusts aims to make the international conservation and climate change agendas far more relevant across their federation, enhancing the link between their work in a more ‘Local to Global’ context.
Leigh’s career started a horticulturist, he holds an MSc in International Horticulture, and worked in plant nurseries, then moving to education in land-based colleges, before 10 years leading education and engagement at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Here he was involved in international botanical conservation projects, including a prolonged period in Oman, and delivering a placement for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Ethiopia. Leigh is a former President of the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, and chaired the Grow Careers Initiative for its first 8 years.
Leigh’s career developed a wider conservation focus as one of the Directors at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, and then spent 2018-25 living on islands. Two years on St Helena, delivering a training needs analysis of the island’s agriculture and subsequent up-skilling for the St Helena Government (SHG), and served on the Council of St Helena National Trust as Vice-President. While in the South Atlantic, he also delivered consultancy for the Blue Marine Foundation on Ascension Island, supporting the roll out of their waste management plan, and reviewed their hydroponic farm to support local food production.
Leigh became CEO of Manx Wildlife Trust in the Isle of Man in January 2020, joining the UKOTCF European Working Group, and attending the annual Inter Island Environment Meetings held in the Crown Dependencies. He made trips to Montserrat in 2023 and 2024 to deliver horticultural upskilling to support Darwin Plus Projects (DPLUS155 and DPLUS192), and has recently visited conservation projects in Akrotiri (Cyprus) and Gibraltar. Leigh champions green financing to maximise the opportunities for nature and innovated the UKOTCF Eco-Match platform to showcase and link conservation projects with potential funders.
Leigh loves the sea, he is a Trustee of the charity Sea-Changers, and when not at work, he will often be found scuba diving, ideally carrying out a Seasearch survey dive!
Andy Pearce CBE
Dr Michael Pienkowski, Chairman
Mike served previously as UKOTCF Chairman 1995-2009, 2016- and Honorary Executive Director 2009-16. He believes that the Forum’s main challenges are: to help its territory partners both to secure local understanding of the value of wildlife and heritage and to conserve this; to raise awareness in UK and achieve a proper level of funding from UK Government for conservation in UK territories; and to secure adequate resourcing for the work of UKOTCF and its partners. Tremendous progress has been made in these areas but much remains to be done. He considers that, to achieve this, UKOTCF needs to remain engaged with its member organisations at all levels from policy to on-the-ground projects. To this end, Mike donates most of his time to running the organisation on a voluntary basis.
He has been involved in research and conservation for over 50 years, and in UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies for some 25 years. Early research and conservation work was on waders (shorebirds): organiser and leader of the Cambridge-London Iceland Expedition 1970, the University of East Anglia (UEA) Expedition to Morocco 1971, and the UEA Expedition to Tarfaya 1972, to study migration systems and conservation requirements of coastal birds; joint organiser, scientific co-ordinator and leader of advance party and base-camp team for Joint Biological Expedition to NE Greenland 1974; Chairman of international conference in Ukraine in 1992, resulting in the Odessa Protocol on international co-operation on migratory flyway research and conservation.
He has worked in: applied research (e.g. Durham University 1973-1984; Executive Editor of the Journal of Applied Ecology 1994-9); governmental conservation (e.g. Head of Ornithology Department and Assistant Chief Scientist of the Nature Conservancy Council 1984-91; Head of the Implementation Team (1990-1) and first Director of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee 1991-5; amongst other initiatives: established and managed the first decade of the Red Kite Reintroduction programme, recently described by the Chair of UK Government’s statutory advisor as “the biggest species success story in UK conservation history.”
Co-Chairman of international conference on lead-poisoning in wetlands, Brussels 1991; and Chairman of UK Government’s group to end the use of gunshot lead in wetlands); and the voluntary sector (e.g. Head of International Legislation & Funding Department, RSPB 1995-1997; Director, European Forum on Nature Conservation & Pastoralism 1998-2001; and voluntary roles as Vice-President & Council Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union (1991-2003), WWF-UK, Member of Programme Committee (1992-2002), Council of the British Ecological Society (1993-1999), Council of Wetlands International (1988-1998), member of Environment Committee of the Institute of Petroleum (1994-5), Vice-President, Advisory Committee on Agriculture & Environment to Directorate-General Agriculture of the European Commission (1999-2001); Member the UK Executive Committee of IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) (2006-present); Member of Expert Panel advising the Minister in the UK Department of Culture, Media & Sport on UK’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites (2010-11).
He has managed projects and programmes in support of several of the UKOTs (currently Save Our Special Nature of Montserrat) as well as cross-territory ones, e.g. facilitator to the Governments of the Turks & Caicos Islands and of St Helena on the development of pilot strategies to implement the Environment Charters, with advice given in this regard also to the Falkland Islands, Ascension, Pitcairn, Alderney and others; and undertaken some commissions, for example for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Consultant to UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to review actual and potential Ramsar Convention Wetlands of International Importance in UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies (2004-5); Expert consultant to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (e.g. Ramsar Advisory Mission report 46: https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/ram46e_germany_muhlenberger.pdf) (2001-2). External Examiner, University of Durham BSc degrees in Environmental Sciences (1995-1999); higher degree examiner or consultant for the Universities of Simon Fraser (Vancouver), Cape Town, Durham, Anglia and Wales.
Sarah Puntan-Galea
Sarah is the current Director of the Chagos Conservation Trust (CCT), a role she has held since 2022. During this period, CCT has published two books, increased its membership, launched online members’ talks and events, started an internship scheme and annual Speaker Event showcasing the best research work happening in the Chagos Archipelago by CCT and other scientists, turned its e-newsletter Chagos News into an e-publication available at the British Library, helped the Chagossian community launch a website, become a United Nations’ Partner in their Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, plus secured £1million in Darwin funding to action CCT’s key rewilding programme ‘Healthy Islands, Healthy Reefs’ which, if successful, will create the longest chain of islands free of introduced predators in the Indian Ocean.
Sarah’s first degree was in Political Science at Liverpool University, before studying journalism, teaching, economics and international relations at postgraduate level, including being awarded a ‘Distinction’ in her Masters in Business Administration with a thesis on the benefits of nature connection in the workplace. She has worked in various roles around the world, from Japan to Australia, and China to Morocco. In Malta, she worked in diplomacy, for both the British and Maltese governments, including being Head of International Media for a Prime Minister and Cabinet, as a SPAD for a Foreign Minister, and communications lead for the late monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, during her last overseas engagement: the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. She was also the Deputy Director of the US-UK policy-focused think tank, The Ditchley Foundation, and an award-winning journalist in both the UK and Malta, winning ‘Columnist of the Year’ in 2009.
A dual Maltese-British citizen, she currently lives in the Welsh mountains with her dog Digby, and is a dedicated Trustee of the Gwent Wildlife Trust. She is also a member of the Ramblers and a keen hiker; a competitive sailor, she raced across the Atlantic Ocean in the Clipper Race as part of Team Great Ormond Street Hospital in summer 2026; and an avid birder, having starred in BirdLife Malta campaign to stop illegal bird hunting, and a current active member of the Gower Ornithological Society, having spent time seabird monitoring on Skomer Island off the coast of west Wales. She is particularly passionate about seabirds, with her favourite being shearwaters due to finding the largest colony of Manx in Wales, and one of the largest colonies of Scopoli shearwaters in Malta – her two home countries!
Lord (John) Randall
John Randall (Rt. Hon. the Lord Randall of Uxbridge PC) is a member of the House of Lords. He graduated from University College London in 1979 with a degree in Serbo-Croat Language and Literature, before joining and running the family retail business in Uxbridge. He was elected in 1997 as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Uxbridge.
In 1999 he was appointed Opposition Whip, and at the end of 2005 he was promoted to Conservative Assistant Chief Whip. In 2010 he was appointed the Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of Her Majesty’s Household in the Coalition Government.
He stepped down from his ministerial position in 2013 in order to give more time to issues such as the environment, conservation and modern slavery. During his political career he firmly opposed the UK’s involvement in the Iraq War (he was the first Conservative MP to resign over it), worked to tackle modern slavery, championed marine conservation and fought to end the wild bird trade. He is Chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation, the Task Force Trust and Working with the Wild (formerly the Thin Green Line, a charity enabling local people and rangers worldwide to conserve wildlife. In 2016 was appointed Special Envoy on Modern Slavery to the Mayor of London. From 2017 until June 2019 he was Special Adviser on the environment to the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, working in No.10 Downing Street. John joined the House of Lords in June 2018.
John is a life-long birdwatcher. He was also an ornithological tour leader for many years and served twice as a member of the RSPB Council, and a trustee of the Bat Conservation Trust. He has always been passionate about wildlife and he works to help young birders and conservationists gain access to the ‘corridors of power’ He has developed a particular interest in the flora and fauna of the UK Overseas Territories and their conservation.
John is a life-long birdwatcher. He was also an ornithological tour leader for many years and is a member of the RSPB Council, Bat Conservation Trust and is Chair of Trustees of the Thin Green Line (UK) a charity dedicated to assist wildlife rangers worldwide. He has always been passionate about wildlife and he works to help young birders and conservationists gain access to the ‘corridors of power’ He has developed a particular interest in the flora and fauna of the UK Overseas Territories and their conservation.
Vice Admiral Sir David Steel KBE KStJ DL
David Steel joined the Royal Navy in 1979 as a Logistics Officer. During his early career he served at sea as a Supply Officer in frigates and destroyers, and then specialised in law, qualified as a barrister and later as a Judge Advocate in Courts-Martial. As a Commander, he was Supply Officer of the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible, seeing service in the Arabian Gulf during action against Iraq, and off Kosovo, for which he was recognised in the award of the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service. Later, he served in various roles in the Fleet Headquarters, both as a lawyer and as Director of Royal Navy Logistics, and in the Ministry of Defence, including as Secretary and principal adviser to the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff.
As a Commodore he served three years as the Naval Base Commander in Portsmouth, being appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his work in leading the Naval Base during the 2007 Naval Base Review. On promotion to Rear Admiral, he was appointed as Naval Secretary and Head of Personnel. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in 2012 and became the Second Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel, Training and Infrastructure, in which role he was directly responsible for the management and output of all the United Kingdom’s Naval Bases, including the facilities supporting the nuclear deterrent. He retired from the Royal Navy in 2015, having also served as the Chief Naval Supply and Logistics Officer for eight years, being the longest holder of the office since the Second World War.
Between 2015 and 2020 he served as Chief Executive of a major heritage charity and then, between June 2020 and June 2024, was the Monarch’s Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar.
Amongst other activities and in addition to being a non-executive director of several companies, he is a Lay Member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Conduct. He is the Chair or a trustee of a wide range of charities, a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire and a Freeman of the City of London. He retains close links with Gibraltar as Patron of Loreto School, Patron of the National Theatre of Gibraltar Foundation and the Chair of the Commonwealth Investment and Enterprise Council.
Joan Walley DL
Joan Walley DL is based in Staffordshire. Locally educated, and with an honorary degree from Staffordshire University and membership of the Council of Fellows at Keele University, she studied at Hull University and University College of Wales in Swansea. She went on to represent her home city of Stoke on Trent and Kidsgrove in parliament from 1987 to 2015. She was a member of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee from 1997 to 2015. She chaired this influential Environmental Audit Select Committee from 2010 until her retirement in 2015, when she gave a Speaker’s Lecture to hand over the environmental ‘baton’ to the next parliament. Public health and the environment were and remain constant threads running throughout her work .
She was recognised by the Isle of Man Government for her role in securing protected status for the basking shark. Now retired, she remains active with various environmental and local commitments and is as focused as ever on the need for local and global action to protect our planet. She serves currently as patron of Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and is a deputy lieutenant of Staffordshire and freeman of the City of Stoke on Trent and also of Kidsgrove.
