Meet our Yorkshire & Humberside Regional Steering Group

Morag is a consultant at Polaris with expertise in logistics and freight strategy, focusing on environmental issues. She graduated with First Class Honours in Environmental Management and worked at Sainsbury’s as their Logistics Environmental Manager. After Sainsbury’s, Morag worked on freight policy and research with various consultancies, working with clients such as the Department for Transport and Transport Scotland. She helps clients develop freight strategies, including transport decarbonisation plans. Morag is the Chair of the Yorkshire & Humberside Steering group and has been involved in the regional activities for many years as a means to encourage sharing best practices, engaging in new ideas, and is a keen advocate of creating the right environment for constructive debate. In her free time, she enjoys walking her dog, Dave, training for triathlons, and maybe the occasional pint!

Elisa is an experienced sustainability professional having worked in both the private and public sector in sustainability consultancy and advisory roles since graduating from the University of York in 2015. As an environmental and sustainability consultant, Elisa worked on a wide range of new-build and refurbishment BREEAM sustainability assessments across the UK and Ireland, including universities, care homes, offices and distribution centres, as well as working in energy and utilities management and energy performance certification of commercial property. Since leaving consultancy Elisa has worked as a Project Manager for a local authority on a variety of sustainability-related projects including solar parks, district heat networks, and EV charging infrastructure, and more recently as a Sustainability Manager for one of the UK's largest vehicle salvage, dismantling and recycling companies, where she has been working hard on developing a strategy to achieve net zero and reduce the wider environmental impact of the business, alongside creating a carbon conscious culture by delivering Carbon Literacy Training for colleagues, clients and local businesses. Elisa joined the Yorkshire and Humberside Steering Group in early 2020 and is enjoying getting more involved in planning activities and events of interest to our regional members.

Dr Gordon Mitchell (MIEMA C. Env) is an Associate Professor in the School of Geography, University of Leeds. His research addresses environmental management, with applied experience in environmental planning, natural resource management and impact appraisal, often through development and/or application of numerical models. After early work on marine toxicology (Shell UK), he focussed on the dynamics and management of carbon loss from upland catchments before then developing diffuse loading models for urban catchments to identify pollutant hotspots to aid retrofit planning for sustainable drainage systems. This work was extended in national source apportionment work so as to provide a mechanism for evaluating programmes of measures to meet water quality objectives. His work has since broadened to address the environmental sustainability of urban-regions, including modelling on water resources, water quality, transport, energy, air quality, spatial planning and ecosystem services. He has experience in impact appraisal, including EIA and SEA, and in a range of other techniques, including multi-criteria appraisal. He has worked extensively on environmental justice issues, including for the Environment Agency, Scottish Executive, Deputy Chief Scientist, Chief Medical Officer, Treasury and NGOs. His sustainability indicators methodology PICABUE has been widely applied internationally. He has c. 250 publications, and has acted as reviewer for all the main UKRI councils, and ten overseas research councils. He also holds an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold medal for demonstrating how gardeners can implement sustainable drainage principles.

Colin, MIEMA, CEnv, is an experienced environmentalist and Manager of Sustainable Business at Yorkshire Water. As both an in-house professional and external advisor his career has spanned multiple sectors including built environment, food, drink and hospitality, utilities, and construction.

Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow Member of IEMA with 37 years' experience working in the UK construction sector with the last 20 years spent working full time in an environmental team latterly holding the role of Head of Environmental Compliance. Now working as a self-employed Sustainability Consultant. Ten years' experience as a CEEQUAL Verifier working with construction project teams undertaking CEEQUAL Assessments both in the UK and Scandinavia.

Chartered Environmentalist with 23 years sustainability experience in construction, rail and consultancy sectors. Highly motivated, passionate, disciplined, sustainability leader, experienced in stakeholder engagement and committed to environmental protection, climate change and leaving a lasting legacy within local communities. A team leader and mentor for colleagues, junior members of staff and students embarking on their career journey.

Chartered Environmentalist with over 25 years experience leading corporate sustainability, environmental and social governance (ESG), and risk management. Held senior management positions including in-house environmental and sustainability lead for the Yorkshire Building Society, CEO of Hong Kong's Business Environment Council, Senior Environmental Advisor for Hallliburton and Consultant with Hyder (now Arcadis).

Chris's background is in hospitality and craft brewing, and after 11 years in the industry, he took a career break in 2020 to study and MSc Sustainability and Consultancy at the University of Leeds. Chris is now a freelance sustainability researcher and consultant, and has supported environmental sustainable projects across Yorkshire and around the UK. Chris is Practitioner Member of IEMA, and particularly passionate about sharing best practice with SMEs.

Stephen Watson is an experienced QSHE and Risk Management professional. He knows the importance of corporate responsibility and implementing sound environmental and sustainable solutions in the interest of future generations. Stephen was driven to pursue a career in QSHE from his passion for helping others and having a positive influence at an operational level, with a keen interest in occupational health and wellbeing. He has been working in the QSHE sector for over 15 years, always seeking opportunities to learn and develop with National and International experience, having recently completed 8 years in the UAE. On reflection, Stephen’s proudest academic achievements are the NEBOSH Occupational Health and Safety Diploma and reaching Practitioner status with IEMA, environment and sustainability is a key focus of Stephen’s future development. An active member of IOSH and IIRSM, Stephen has provided support as an Executive Council Member, Pillar Champion, and Mentor, delivering on his passion to help others.

I have a long background focused on the triple bottom line and the formulation of Net Zero strategies, currently leading operational sustainability in the EMEA region. As a Fellow of IEMA, the Institute of Environmental Managers and Assessors, A Fellow of CIWM, the Chartered Waste Managers Institute, and a Fellow of CMI, The Chartered Management Institute ensures I keep at the sharp end of new practices and innovation. My designation as a Chartered Environmentalist further underscores their dedication to advancing environmental sustainability. I am proficient in delivering value and fostering a transformative business culture sets and have consistently led collaborative teams to achieve objectives that not only promote carbon reduction but also enhance organizational value. This dual focus on environmental impact and diversity and inclusion has become a golden thrd in the way I work, to ensure we take everyone on the journey with us. Beyond their immediate professional roles, I have actively contributed to various boards, shaping Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategies and policies. As a previous Climate Commissioner in Yorkshire and Humberside, they have spearheaded regional partnerships, driving collective environmental initiatives and fostering a culture of sustainability. Global Initiatives and Employee Well-being. My influence extends globally through their leadership of the Abilities Employee Resource Group and the mental health first aid program, benefiting 350,000 employees worldwide. This commitment to employee well-being and inclusion is a cornerstone of their leadership philosophy.

Clemens is currently delivering Low Carbon Fuels policy for the UK transport sector, ensuring the sustainability origins of such renewable transport fuels. Dedicated to sustainability in his career, he previously led a global ports operator in a headquarters capacity on the development and implementation of its first-ever corporate sustainability strategy and global cultural change campaign. Outside of his career, Clemens is also actively engaged in sustainability as a professional. Highlights include the development of a circular-economy campaign at his alma mater to reduce waste, and the creation of an academic collaboration between his alma mater and former company to provide learning opportunities for sustainability students. Having joined IEMA in 2023, Clemens is hoping to advocate for more sustainability change in businesses and the education system.

Diligent and meticulous programme management expert and procurement practitioner, with 20 years of specialism and leadership in the sustainable development arena. My time in the public sector has granted me strategic and operational influence over delivering transformational sustainability-centric change within organisations and districts. In a senior capacity, I have delivered multi-million pound projects and programmes from start-to-finish, having developed a broad range of skills, covering commercial and technical facets through to effective communication, strategic oversight, and stakeholder engagement. My primary motivation for becoming a vocational environmentalist was simple; I wanted to address and ultimately reverse the climatic and ecosystem damage that humanity has caused to our planet. Linked to this, finding pragmatic and innovative solutions to the issues and challenges facing both society and the environment is my passion.