Position Description
WWT is seeking a Chair to succeed Barnaby Briggs, whose term concludes later this year. The Chair will work closely with the Board and Chief Executive, Sarah Fowler, as they deliver an ambitious programme to align the organisation to strategy, growth and conservation impact.
WWT needs a Chair who is passionate about its work. Ideally, you will have either chaired before or held a significant non-executive role in complex organisations. Charity board experience is important.
The organisation has a strategic plan and a leadership team with real drive and ambition. What the board needs is someone who will help prioritise, hold a commercially rigorous lens and provide the executive with the support, challenge, confidence and space to deliver. The current accelerator programme of projects is genuinely exciting, which stretches the organisation. The Chair will play an important role in helping the team focus on what matters most and ensuring the governance framework is fit for the scale of the projects WWT is taking on. Whilst Sarah Fowler leads on advocacy, media and external representation, there will be moments when the Chair is asked to step forward to represent WWT.
Commercial acumen is key. It is central to what the Chair needs to bring. WWT’s sites are genuine visitor attractions competing with serious leisure and hospitality operators, and its financial sustainability depends on growing them. You will understand how organisations generate income, how to scale and grow, how to innovate business models, and how to ask the right questions constructively. A background in the commercial world, including but not limited to visitor attractions, FMCG, property, and financial services, would all be relevant; what matters more than sector is the quality of commercial thinking you bring.
Alongside that rigour, you will bring authentic passion for what WWT does. You do need to feel the pull of the mission: the idea that wetlands are a solution to some of the biggest problems we face, and that this charity is one of the most credible organisations in the world working on those solutions.
You will be a skilled relationship builder, able to operate with equal ease among scientists, conservationists, government officials, landowners, and commercial partners. You will be at home as a meeting chair, an orchestrator of diverse perspectives, a builder of consensus and a supportive yet stretching presence for the board and executive team.
We are actively seeking to improve the diversity of WWT’s board and warmly encourage applications from people who can bring a different perspective alongside the skills and experience described here. WWT is a charity for everyone, because wetlands are for everyone, and its leadership should reflect that.