Our people
A solicitor by profession, Dame Glenys Stacey has a wealth of CEO and regulatory experience, having led the start-up or development of a number of public-sector organisations responsible for legal or regulatory services. She has previously served as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Probation, Chief Executive at Animal Health (now part of the Animal and Plant Health Agency), chair of the Professional Standards Authority and Chief Regulator at Ofqual.
In 2019, she chaired an independent review of farm regulation at the request of the then Secretary of State for Defra.
Dame Glenys was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire in the New Year’s honours list in 2016 recognising her services to education. She was appointed Chair-designate of the OEP in December 2020 and appointed Chair on legal creation of the OEP.
Natalie Prosser is a solicitor by background, with fifteen years in government, specialising in public and regulatory law, regulatory operations and governance. Her previous roles have included General Counsel at the Gambling Commission, Director of Operations, Vocational and Technical Qualifications and Director of Legal at Ofqual and regulatory and policy lead on the independent Farm Inspection and Regulation Review.
Natalie started her role as Interim CEO in February 2021 and was appointed to the role permanently in April the following year. The CEO leads all the work of the OEP including work to establish the OEP, develop its strategy and undertake its functions.
OEP Board
Julie Hill MBE
Julie Hill has had a career in environmental policy and politics, working primarily in the UK. She is presently an inaugural Non-executive Board Member of England and Northern Ireland’s Office for Environmental Protection (OEP); Chair of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) and Chair of the Advisory Committee for Social Science (ACSS) for the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Former roles include Chair of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), board member of the Eden Project, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Consumer Council for Water (CCW). She has written and presented widely, including a popular science book ‘The Secret Life of Stuff’.
Dr Paul Leinster CBE
Dr Paul Leinster CBE has over 40 years of practical experience in environmental management, science, policy and regulatory development and implementation in the private and public sectors.
He is Chair of Water Resources East, the Bedfordshire Local Nature Partnership, the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, and bpha (a housing association), and is a Board Member of both Flood Re and Delphic HSE.
He also provides strategic environmental consultancy advice to public and private sector organisations. From October 2015 to December 2020 he was Professor of Environmental Assessment at Cranfield University and a Member of the Government’s Natural Capital Committee.
Immediately prior to this, he was Chief Executive of the Environment Agency for more than seven years. Prior to joining the EA in 1998 he worked for more than 20 years in the private sector.
Malcolm Beatty OBE
Malcolm Beatty is a Chartered Forester and Chartered Public Finance Accountant, and worked for many years in the Northern Ireland Civil Service, retiring from DAERA in 2018. Amongst other posts in the agricultural sector Malcolm was Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of the Northern Ireland Forest Service, and the NI Chief Plant Health Officer. In 2019 he was awarded an OBE for services to the environment in Northern Ireland.
Malcolm is a Trustee, Company Director and Honorary Treasurer of the Field Studies Council (FSC), a UK environmental and educational charity. He is a Trustee and Company Director of Centre Ministries, a faith charity operating in England and NI. Malcolm is also a school governor for St. Colman’s High School and Sixth Form College.
Professor Richard Macrory CBE
Professor Richard Macrory is currently an emeritus professor of environmental law at University College, London, where he set up and was first director of the Centre for Law and the Environment.
He has also practised as a barrister at Brick Court Chambers London. Professor Macrory served as a board member of the Environment Agency England and Wales between 1999 and 2004, and was a long-standing member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Environmental Law and was chairman of Merchant Ivory Film Productions between 1988 and 2004.
In 2006, Professor Macrory led the Cabinet Office Review on Regulatory Sanctions and his recommendations were reflected in Part 3 Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008.
Professor Macrory was the first chair of UK Environmental Law Association, and in 2016-2018 was co-chair of UKELA’s Brexit Task Force.
Professor Dan Laffoley
Professor Dan Laffoley is a scientist, communicator, explorer and marine biologist, with over three decades of experience in the UK, Europe and around the world. He is a UK and international expert on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and conservation.
He is currently Marine Vice Chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Commission on Protected Areas responsible for global targets and guidance on ocean protection.
Prior to that he led the development and scale-up of the marine conservation work of Natural England and English Nature. He has been responsible for the creation of many global, European and UK public and private sector partnerships, alliances and frameworks that underpin modern-day marine conservation.
This work includes creating the concept behind Blue Carbon, scaling up knowledge and action on ocean warming, acidification and deoxygenation, scaling-up work on marine World Heritage and conservation of the High Seas, and various global guidance on implementing MPAs and marine spatial planning.
The Office for Environmental Protection (The OEP) is a new public body.
We protect and improve the environment by holding government and public bodies to account.