Three New Members Join Nature Conservation Board

Defra Ministers have appointed Daniel Ebanks, Rachael Garrett and Marsha Ramroop as Board Members of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).

The appointments were made in conjunction with the devolved administrations and are for a three-year term from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2028.

The new appointments have all been made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Biographical details

Daniel Ebanks

• Dan Ebanks is the founder of the Social Value Exchange, a tech for good business. He leads software development, product, and marketing teams at the Social Value Exchange, whose digital tools are used by hundreds of public, private, and community sector organisations across the UK to create more Social Value from public procurement and generate more resources for local community organisations.
• Dan also recently became a trustee for the Lewisham Youth Theatre. In 2024, he was recognized as a Big Issue Changemaker and served as a mentor on the F100 Investment Fund, which supports Black business founders. Additionally, Dan is a Future Vision alumni.

Rachael Garrett

• Rachael Garrett is the Moran Professor of Conservation and Development at the University of Cambridge Department of Geography and the Director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute. Within the broad fields of conservation and sustainable development, Prof Garrett conducts research on the drivers of land use change, agricultural sustainability and resilience, conservation policy effectiveness and equity, and just and transformative sustainability transitions.
• She is the co-chair of the Global Land Program Science Steering Committee. She is a board member for several organisations, including the UN Science Panel on Sustainability Standards, UN Science Panel for the Amazon, Cambridge Conservation Initiative Council, Cambridge Global Food Security Steering Committee, and Cambridge Zero Advisory Board.

Marsha Ramroop

• Marsha is an award-winning Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategist, Founder Director of Unheard Voice Consultancy Ltd and the author of Building Inclusion: A Practical Guide to EDI in the Built Environment, published in 2024.
• She works part time as the Executive Director of EDI for Building People CIC. She is also Vice Chair of the Institute of Equality and Diversity Professionals, a member of the International Advisory Council for the Institute of Business Ethics, and a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA).
• Marsha had a 30-year career in broadcasting, including 20 years at the BBC, and was the inaugural Director of Inclusion and Diversity at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Notes

• The JNCC was established in 1991 and reconstituted in the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (2006) as a non-departmental public body. The JNCC advises the UK Government and Devolved Administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on UK-wide and international nature conservation.
• Appointments are made on merit, and political activity plays no part in the selection process.