Defra names reappointed and extended tenure Natural England board members

Defra ministers have reappointed Kim Shillinglaw and Peter Unwin and extended the appointments of Rosamund Blomfield-Smith and Kerry ten Kate as Natural England board members.

Shillinglaw and Unwin have been reappointed for a second term of three years from 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2026. Blomfield-Smith and ten Kate’s appointments have been extended for nine months from 1 June 2023 to 29 February 2024.

Shillinglaw has been a director at Netherlands television programme producer EndemolShine, controller of BBC2 and BBC4, and head of science and natural history commissioning.

Unwin is an ex-civil servant with ten years’ board experience as director general at Defra and DCLG and a spell as acting Permanent Secretary at Defra. He worked across a wide range of policy areas, including the natural environment, climate change, agriculture, local government and planning. He was awarded a CB for services to the environment in 2011 and is a member of the Aldersgate Group.

Blomfield-Smith spent 30 years in the City, latterly as a director of Rothschilds and ING Barings, but since 2003 has been non-executive. She has served on a number of boards, including Thames Water and Hartpury Agricultural College and was until recently chairman of Museum of London Archaeology and a member of Ofgem’s Challenge Group. She is also a Trustee of the Jo Cox Foundation.

Ten Kate is an independent consultant, advising governments, companies, banks and civil society organisations on integrating the natural environment into economic decision-making. She is a trustee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, where she chairs the Conservation Committee and a non-executive board member at Finance Earth.