Meet our team

I am the founder and Executive Chair of Five Rivers. My passion for rivers started in my childhood when I was brought up on a water mill, a house I now live in myself. I have over 25 years practical experience and knowledge which lends it hand to finding the best working solutions for our clients, I have a ‘roll your sleeves up and get stuck in’ approach and I pride myself on being a doer. I am also a Fellow member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM).

In 1998 I was ranked 5th in the UK at the National UK Surf Ski Championships.

I joined Jason and FiveRivers in 2014 as Business Manager. This followed a career as an officer in the Royal Navy and a period starting my family, whilst also completing an LLB. Following the continued growth of 5R, I was appointed Director of People and Business in 2020 and am responsible for ensuring, through the management of 5R Central Services, that FiveRivers continues to provide a leading, innovative and accredited working environment and positive experience for our staff and client base alike. I am a People, Process, Safety and Wellbeing Champion and represent these interests at the Executive Level and throughout wider Company Strategy. It is my ambition to build a FiveRivers People and Process legacy to ensure that we remain synonymous with Quality, Fairness, Growth and Ambition.

I live in the Nadder Valley with my husband and young family, our Spaniel Bertie and my daughter’s horse Sattie. I love every aspect of country life and exploring, entertaining and socialising with friends but currently do spend a healthy amount of spare time touring the country for Pony Club competitions as my daughter’s groom!

I have been engaged in the construction and water industry in various management roles since 1985, gaining experience and knowledge on both the client (water sector companies) and contracting side with various Tier 1 and SME organisations. Starting out as a Junior Engineer, I have been fortunate enough to continually gain career progression throughout my time in this industry, with a diversity of roles culminating in running my own business which I sold in 2020. I am a firm, fair, values driven and passionate leader. I love to coach and mentor teams to succeed in delivering the strategic and business goals set out for the business.

A long-term music fan, I love to attend concerts and festivals throughout the summer and in the winter support my beloved Southampton FC.

I am an environmental professional whose focus for 15 years has been on the robust monitoring of UK water environment. Starting my career undertaking national monitoring for the Environment Agency, I developed my knowledge of best practice methodologies for the assessment of the biological, chemical and physical components waterbodies. Over the last 8 years as consultant I have broaden my knowledge, skills and expertise into management and direction of projects, including large scale, complex schemes for the water, infrastructure, and development industries. My lifelong intertest in rivers, wetlands and ecology drives my commitment to guarantee the quality and reliability of monitoring data required to inform environmental assessment, conservation and ecological mitigation.

I am at my happiest when on the water (kayak / boat), in water or under water (snorkelling & free diving), fish by name, fish by nature.

I originally started life working for a Gamekeeper which led me towards doing a National Diploma in Game & Wildlife Management at Sparsholt College. Through the skills learnt it introduced me to the fencing industry where I managed to develop and hone my skillset over the course of 15 years. I spent the last 6 years of this working as a Contracts Manager within the Highways/Civil Engineering sector, obtaining a wealth of knowledge being able to work on some fantastic projects across the country. My favorites were ones carried out for the EA as part of their Flood Defence works. I now join FiveRivers as the head of department for both our Design and Construction teams.

My passions are mountaineering and mountain biking.

I have worked for FiveRivers for 5 years; I entered the business in a support role giving me a great opportunity to get the know the team and how the business works before stepping into the HR role and helping the business create a dedicated HR function, before my progression into the Head of People and Culture.

I am CIPD Level 5 qualified in Human Resource Management and I hold my ILM L5 diploma in Coaching and Mentoring. These are valuable tools that support me in my role of looking after our people. I love the variety my role provides me with, including all elements of training and development, specifically supporting in the development of management and leadership skills. In my free time, I love to walk my dog, go for a run, or get away somewhere quiet and coastal.

I joined the business in May 2023, joining as the HSEQ Manager. At university I studied Biology and Drama (strange I know, but I wanted to be an animal trainer for films and theatre) as my undergraduate and Environmental Management as my postgraduate. From there I fell into the role of Health & Safety and got my NEBOSH General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety. As part of those roles I was able to travel to Norway to role out training of the company’s management system.
I then decided to further my H&S knowledge and achieved an NVQ Level six Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety. Because I love learning I also decided to bring my quality skills up to meet my HSE skills and am currently working towards my Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) course.

Outside of work, I love to go to the football with my dad, Bolton Wanderers fan through and through, as well as theatre trips. I love being around water, going swimming and to the beach are ways I unwind. Good job I went for a job working around water!

An interesting fact about me is at University I was the Level One Cheerleading coach for Bath Spa Rapids for the 15/16 academic year.