OUR TEAM
Heather Hilburn
Chief Executive
For the past 25 years, Heather has worked in the UK and Europe championing the revitalisation of deprived urban areas by bringing together people, nature, culture and heritage.
​Heather has shaped and influenced national policies that empower communities to shape their local areas while valuing nature and heritage, including the National Policy Planning Framework, Neighbourhood Plans and new nature recovery policies under the Environment Act.
​Over the last six years, Heather has championed mission-led partnership working, bringing together government agencies, the private sector and civil society to tackle the risk of climate change and to make environment and heritage more relevant to diverse audiences.
​In 2022 the Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Heather an Honorary Fellowship, recognising her decades of work at the centre of urban place-making, climate action and heritage conservation, as well as her stewardship of some of the UK's most iconic national treasures that are form part of the unique setting of the Thames Estuary and its tributaries, including Tate Modern, the Tower of London, and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London.
Amy Pryor
Technical Director
Amy has a background in marine and aquatic science and over 25 years of experience in the field of marine and coastal management, stakeholder engagement and system level strategic project design. Amy has a BSc in Marine Biology and an MSc in Aquatic Science. Before joining TEP, she undertook a variety of roles all of which developed her skills in stakeholder engagement, resource management, multi-partner project design and collaborative processes. Amy started out as a Fisheries Observer on board deep sea fishing vessels monitoring fish catches for the EU in the North Atlantic and CCAMLR in the South Atlantic, spending 7 years at sea.
​
As Technical Director, Amy leads on development of our programme of work, fundraising, overseeing the project teams and supporting the CE and Board. She Chaired the Coastal Partnerships Network and led this previously volunteer-led Network through strategic development to achieve charity status between 2018-2024 and is now the Executive Lead of the CPN hosted from within TEP. Amy is now working with the CPN Board to establish its governance, ways of working and activating its business plan. She excels at designing integrated, multi-benefit projects focused on healthy marine and estuarine environments, believing in the power of partnerships for human and nature-centric outcomes. Her passion for the ocean and supporting people in meeting the dual climate and nature crisis drives her work.
Maryam Ali Abdalla
Finance Manageer
Maryam is responsible for overseeing organisational financial health, transparency through the audit process, financial stability and managing funds to maximise the impact of our programs. For more than six years in the role, she has supported TEP to deliver on its mission efficiently and sustainably, guiding us towards financial security.
She assists with funding bids, ensuring that they are viable and aligned with organisational goals through financial forecasting, budget preparation, cost analysis, compliance assurance and clear financial reporting.
​
Maryam's career spans 20 years in financial management, including specific relevant experience, working with non-profits, managing grants, and handling donor funding. A qualified accountant with a university degree and massive experience specialising in financial planning, reporting, budgeting, and compliance. She navigates the unique challenges of non-profit finance, ensuring donor funds are allocated responsibly while meeting regulatory requirements.
​​
Maryam believes in the power of financial stewardship to drive positive change and has built trust with TEP donors, the board of trustees, auditors, management and staff.
Jesse Seaward
Communications & Development
Jesse comes to us from Band Agency, where as partner and co-founder he leads on communication strategy. He is driving us to take our work to broader audiences and develop new and existing relationships with our partners, stakeholders and members. As well as communications, he supports us with project and business development, adding commercial experience and clear thinking.
Jesse has undertaken various leadership roles during the last 25 years. His passion for innovation means he is always looking for ways to push and challenge himself, his projects and the brief. Hard work and transparency have led him to build trust along with outstanding results for many well-known organisations in government, pharmaceuticals, sports and technology, to name a few. Strategy, production and nurturing stakeholder relationships are where he excels.
The last five years have seen Jesse immerse himself in the Coastal and Marine sector where he has found a natural place to channel his expertise.
Yomi Odunlami
Programme Coordinator
As the Programme Coordinator at TEP, Yomi plays a key role in project planning, implementation, and monitoring across multiple initiatives. In addition to her core role, Yomi oversees TEP’s office infrastructure, produces our newsletter Estuary Echoes and coordinates our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Yomi has a background in construction, housing development, and real estate management, with over two decades of experience working across Europe, Asia, and Africa. She specialises in project planning, implementation, and monitoring.
​
Before joining TEP, Yomi held various roles that developed her expertise in stakeholder collaboration, infrastructure systems, and sustainable development. Her professional experience spans industries that intersect with environmental resilience, shaping her interest in the role of built and natural environments in mitigating climate change and supporting sustainable communities.
​
Yomi is an alumna of the University of Westminster, London. Her passion for sustainability, education, and digital systems underpins her work in ensuring the Thames Estuary remains a thriving and accessible space for both nature and people.
Alice Watts
Learning & Development Manager
Alice is an Urban and Spatial Development Practitioner with an MSc Building and Urban Design in Development from The Bartlett, University College London.
​
As the Coastal Partnerships Officer for the Coastal Partnerships Network, she works to strengthen the network, seeking to offer increased opportunities for learning, collaboration and influence on a national level through encouraging an exchange of information and debate between Partnerships and establishing closer links with key coastal stakeholders. Central to this work is embedding the importance of an integrated, cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary approach to coastal management.
​
She develops and delivers training for Coastal, Marine & Estuary Partnerships - with a focus on both upskilling partnerships in self-identified areas and translating learning from academic research projects into practical tools for coastal practitioners. She co-designed and delivers the Marine CoLAB Compass course on applying systems and values based approaches to increase the impact of work in the coastal and marine space.
She is interested in people-centred, collaborative approaches to design and development, with an emphasis on creating just and sustainable environments through co-design and management processes. She has worked on development projects both in London and abroad, with experience of developing multi-stakeholder learning networks in the context of collective settlement upgrading in Yangon, Myanmar.
Wanda Bodnar
Project Manager
Wanda is a Chartered Marine Scientist with extensive expertise across academia, industry, and the charity sector. She holds a master’s degree in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and has worked as a research assistant at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and as a marine environmental consultant in offshore and coastal waters.
From January 2018 to March 2022, Wanda led the development of the Fish Migration Roadmap. Since April 2022, she has contributed to several projects, including Roadmap to Climate Resilience and Estuary Edges.
Currently, Wanda is pursuing a PhD focusing on the Thames Estuary as part of the London Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership programme. She balances her doctoral research with her role at TEP, where she continues to drive forward estuarine conservation and research efforts in the region.
Cem Gulacar
GIS & Data Manager
Cem has a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Remote Sensing and GIS. He has worked in various industries in a geospatial context, including geospatial consulting, renewable energy asset management, and offshore unexploded ordnance risk mitigation. Cem works towards our aim to address the growing need for evidence-based and strategic decision making in the context of climate resilience and is developing our GIS and data management capabilities to provide environmental, social, planning, and climate change data context for decision-makers.
​
He is passionate about deriving meaningful insights about our environment and society through harnessing GIS and remote sensing. Cem has a wide breadth of interdisciplinary knowledge and is adept at designing geospatial solutions to a wide variety of problems. His environmental background in zoology and master’s in GIS and remote sensing has given him the necessary skills to tackle spatial problems through an environmental lens.
Benedita Moniz Baroseiro
Project Manager, Joint Thames Strategies
With an MSc in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social sustainability from Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and a BA in Politics and International Relations from SOAS University of London, Benedita combines academic expertise with practical experience in project management and stakeholder engagement.
​
Before joining TEP, Benedita managed public sector decarbonisation schemes, working closely with local authorities to advance sustainability initiatives. This experience has deepened her understanding of how effective collaboration and tailored solutions can address complex environmental challenges.
Chloe Russell
Digital Content Producer
Chloe produces of the ‘Talk of the Thames’ podcast, capturing the essence of the Thames Estuary’s community, environment, and cultural heritage. Her work is driven by a passion for hearing and sharing people’s stories, always seeking to highlight the unique aspects of each narrative with a focus on the natural world at its core. Alongside her main role, she manages the digital content across social media platforms, effectively broadening the dissemination of local environmental news, project and team updates, and serving as the voice of the Thames Estuary Partnership.
Chloe holds an MSc in Science Communication and a BA (Hons) in Marine and Natural History Photography. She adeptly combines her academic knowledge with her creative skills to produce impactful results that convey complex environmental and natural subjects. Outside of Thames Estuary Partnership, she is a dynamic presenter, dedicated to sharing compelling narratives at the intersection of art, science, and nature through various radio shows and podcasts.
Yarema Ronish
Natural Capital Lead
With a background in architecture and law, Yarema creates workable approaches to investment in nature recovery - on land, sea, coast and estuaries. He works with policymakers, landowners and coastal partnerships on blue and green finance mechanisms. Yarema represents TEP in a partnership of environmental NGOs working to establish high-integrity markets in marine natural capital.
Yarema grew up on a rewilded farm in Canada, and is an Essex Climate Action Commissioner, contributing to a roadmap for nature recovery and net zero.