Senior Management Team
Kathy Wormald, Chief Executive Officer
Kathy joined Froglife in 2007, after nearly 20 years in the NGO sector. She has a background in accountancy and management and her broad range of experience includes poverty relief, human rights, environment and conservation; Kathy has been a trustee for the Pesticides Action Network Europe, the Women’s Environment Network and the Bhopal Medical Appeal.
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Jenny Tse-Leon, Head of Conservation & Impact
Jenny joined Froglife in 2014 and works as the Head of Conservation & Impact. She is responsible for our reserves, citizen science projects (such as Toads on Roads and Garden Wildlife Health), the work we do to evaluate the impact of our projects and representing Froglife on policy matters at a Westminster level. She also leads Froglife’s Communications. Her expertise is in engaging people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, with nature conservation.
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She feels that engaging people from all walks of life, especially those that wouldn’t normally take part, is critical for conservation in the long-term.
Sheila Gundry, Head of Operations
Sheila joined Froglife in September 2017 as Development Manager for Education, Learning and Communications and in 2021 took over as Head of Operations.
Reporting to the CEO she oversees Froglife’s projects and manages the majority of the staff across the organisation.
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She is a qualified secondary school teacher and is particularly interested in active, hands on learning techniques. Outside work she is often to be found exploring wild places and having adventures in the natural world.
Andrew Smart, Head of Science & Research
Andrew joined us in May 2023 after 25 years of working in Higher Education, teaching zoology and conservation. He worked on the conservation of loggerhead and green turtles in the Mediterranean in the 1980s and great crested newts and common toads on the Avon levels in the ‘90s.
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Moving to Cornwall has limited his work on great crested newts, but Andrew has carried on working on palmate newts and freshwater invasive species and has been involved in lizard surveys on the Cornwall Coast Path.
Peterborough Team
Clare Middleton, Reserve Warden & Learning Officer
Clare joined Froglife in 2022 as the Learning Officer for the Green Pathways Project in Peterborough and was successful in getting the Reserve Warden and Transforming Lives Trainer role from July 2023.
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The best places to find Clare in her spare time are out and about nature spotting, in her garden growing veg or on the riverbank fishing.
Hannah Keeley, Project Manager
Hannah joined Froglife in June 2025 to project manage the delivery of Peterborough’s ‘Green Talent’ project.
She has a background in project management, community engagement, outdoor education, and volunteer management and development. Most recently, she managed Heritage Fund projects at Nene Park, including Moments with Trees and the development phase of Your Community Greenspace.
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Outside of work, Hannah enjoys exploring woodlands with her border collie, growing vegetables, and cooking healthy dishes with home-grown produce. She also loves attending live music events across a variety of genres.
Hannah enjoys meeting new people, experiencing new cultures, and travelling both within and outside the UK.
Peter Rosbrook, Placement
Peter Joined Froglife in September 2026 as one of the Green Talent Placements in Peterborough.
Before attending university, Peter was a volunteer youth worker with a charity called CROPS, and worked in retail.
After completing his BSc in palaeontology, he has since been a regular volunteer at Hampton Nature Reserve, often keen to get into waders and cut back reeds in the ponds. He also leads other volunteers around transects A and B on reptile surveys.
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He is particularly interested in the adders and has compiled a simple database recoding 32 individuals and has plotted each sighting on a map.
Outside of work Peter enjoys paddle boarding, wildlife photography and playing electric guitar.
Bexley Prosser, Placement
Bexley recently joined Froglife as a part of our Peterborough Green Talent project.
He previously spent 2 years working with an exotic pet refuge where he expanded his skills and worked with UK native species.
Bexley has had a passion for wildlife since he was a child and has been reading about, and exploring nature for the past 10 years, collecting natural history books, nature gear and cool specimens on his nature journeys.
He currently studies animal care at college and still likes to learn something new every day. He lives for his music, friends and loves a good hedgehog!
Jade Roe, Placement
Jade is an enthusiastic nature and animal lover. Being an artist, Jade often looks to nature for inspiration for their paintings and thinks art and environmentalism can be closely intertwined.
They bird watch and go for nature walks solo and with friends in their spare time, and they often find fun in photographing the creatures they experience. Bat surveying has been one of their biggest enjoyments with wildlife, and they love to share this with their peers.
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Having grown up with a single parent, Jade wants to encourage disadvantaged people to learn and experience wildlife for themselves and make sure nature is accessible to those that would benefit from it most.
Jade is looking forward to developing their knowledge of amphibians and reptiles and supporting these habitats with everybody in the Green Talent Placements team.
Ashleigh Marais, Placement
Ashleigh has a passion for the outdoors and can often be found at National Parks, green spaces and woodland with her two dogs, Winston and Jock. She also enjoys trekking, kayaking and camping.
Ashleigh has always been an animal lover and especially likes birds. She runs a dog walking and pet sitting business around her Froglife commitments and has looked after a range of pets including spiders, rats and tortoises.
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Ashleigh volunteers at a dog rescue one day a week where she walks the dogs in the surrounding woodland, Bedford Perlieus, and loves to spot different types of mushrooms and wildlife. She has also volunteered at Nene Park helping with conservation efforts.
She loves to travel and has been to many places in Europe and also volunteered at a dog shelter in Crete which housed over 200 dogs.
London Team
Harry Forshaw, Project Manager
Harry joined Froglife in February 2024 to project manage delivery of the London Blue Chain. His previous experience sits within community engagement and youth work, volunteer management, and project management. Most recently, Harry worked for an East London youth service called Spotlight, as their Empowerment Lead, where his role helped to create opportunities for young people and older community members across Tower Hamlets.
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Outside of work, Harry enjoys running, cycling, birdwatching, collecting records and DJing.
Beany Ashley-Norman, Trainee
Beany joined Froglife in September 2026 as a Trainee on the London Blue Chain project.
After studying MSci Biology and Marine Biology, they worked at a primary school and a forest school nursery, encouraging kids to engage with nature and learn through exploration. During this time, Beany regularly volunteered for local conservation groups and a community garden.
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They are especially interested in ecosystem function and how the conservation sector can adapt with climate change. They are excited to learn more about reptiles and amphibians whilst gaining hand-on experience in the community.
Outside of work, you can find Beany wild swimming, growing veg at home, embroidering lavender pouches, or exploring London’s green spaces.
Jess Walker, Trainee
Jess joined Froglife in September 2026 as a Project Trainee for the London Blue Chain Project.
Jess has had a passion for animal welfare and fascination with wildlife since childhood. This led her across the globe from her home in Jamaica to an academic career consisting of a BSc in Animal Biology at the University of Guelph in Canada, and an MSc in Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation, at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK.
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Her previous volunteer and work experiences include veterinary assistance across Jamaica and Canada, project management at Subway Sandwiches Jamaica, animal husbandry and presentations about reptiles at events at Sciensational Snakes, and copyediting for the Journal of Reptiles and Amphibians.
Jess loves engaging with people of different cultures, getting outdoors and making a difference through pond creation. In her free time, Jess enjoys taking long walks, birding, and gardening.
Scotland Team
Louise Smith, Project Manager
Louise joined the Froglife team in January 2017 and currently manages our Coalface to Wildspace: Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire & The Lothians project.
Louise has a BSc in Marine Biology and an MSc in Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology. Louise joined Froglife in 2017 initially as a Learning Officer delivering the Glasgow Green Pathways project and has worked across the central belt since then delivering projects to improve habitats for amphibians and reptiles. Her favourite amphibian at the moment is the Palmate Newt.
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Samantha Bolan, Trainee
As of August 2026, Samantha is one of our trainees for the Coalface to Wildspace: Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire & The Lothians project.
She comes to us with a background in marketing and communications. She has volunteered with other nature-based organisations, including Conservation Careers, Scottish Wildlife Trust, East Ayrshire Coalfield Environment Initiative, and Cleaner and Greener Communities – East Ayrshire.
She is looking forward to being more involved in outdoor work and learning new skills!
El Perkins, Trainee
El joined Froglife in August of 2026 as a Trainee on the Coalface to Wildspace: Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire & The Lothians project.
A lifelong passion for nature lead her to study BSc Ecological and Environmental Sciences at The University of Edinburgh. Since then she has gained experience in research, forestry, community work, gardening and social media management.
She has a particular interest in habitat restoration, ecology and getting people into nature. Outside of Froglife El runs a birdwatching group, loves boardgames and volunteers as a youth group leader.
Chris Crawford, Development Officer
Chris joined Froglife in the summer of 2026 as the Development Officer for the Scottish Green Pathways project.
Having spent the majority of his career working with children and families in various roles, he returned to education to gain a qualification in Wildlife and Conservation Management.
A nature restoration enthusiast, Chris has spent many years volunteering and working to continually increase his knowledge and experience to best support nature recovery from the ground up, with a particular focus on amphibians, reptiles and the places they live.
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The Scottish Green Pathways project allows him to do so while at the same time educating and engaging young people that wouldn’t normally have the chance to be involved.
Outside of work, Chris loves to go trail running with his border collie Cusco, hiking and camping, usually with an I.D guide of some description in his pocket.
Somerset Team
Zak Mather-Gratton, Project Officer
Zak joined Froglife in January 2020 as Project Officer on the Somerset Green Pathways for Life project. He has a BSc in Ecological Science from Edinburgh University, and an MSc in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management from Copenhagen University.
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Yorkshire Team
Darren Starkey, Operations Manager
Darren joined Froglife in February 2021 to manage the Yorkshire Tails Of Amphibian Discovery Project. In 2022 he took on the role of Operations Manager for our smaller projects.
Darren previously worked for the RSPB managing two large nature reserves in Yorkshire and before that, he worked for the Environment Agency in several conservation and project management roles. Darren is a graduate of York St John’s University where he gained a BSc Honours in Environmental Science.
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Boston Team
Rachel Burton, Project Manager
Rachel joined Froglife in July 2025 to lead the delivery of the Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridor: Boston & Beyond project. With a background in business management and a strong foundation in community engagement, she blends strategic thinking with a genuine love for the natural world.
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Rachel is passionate about connecting people with wildlife and believes that empowering the next generation is key to long-term environmental change.
Abby Simpson-Tunnard, Trainee
Abby joined Froglife in January of 2026 and works as a Trainee for the Neighbourhood Wildlife Corridor: Boston & Beyond project.
While studying Environmental Science at the University of York she developed a strong passion for the environment, and having grown up on a farm, she has a keen interest in how conservation and agriculture can coexist and benefit one another.
Outside of work Abby enjoys embroidery and going on mushroom ID walks.
Finance and Office Team
Marie Homewood, Finance Manager
Marie started her working career in the pub trade until she had her children and decided to hang up the party shoes. Not knowing what she really wanted to do she went into the travel industry where she worked within Finance Departments and Aviation Admin.
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Ashlea Mawby, Communications Manager & Toads on Roads Coordinator
Ash was first involved with Froglife back in 2011 as a participant in the ‘Wildlife Ambassadors’ project and had been an enthusiastic volunteer thereafter, being awarded various accolades for her commitment. She joined the Froglife staff team in June 2016 as the Conservation Youth Worker Trainee for the Green Pathways project in Peterborough.
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Froglife Ecological Services
Kathy Wormald, Director
Further details in Senior Management Team section above.
James McAdie, Head of Operations
James joined Froglife in 2010 and managed many of our Peterborough-based projects. He is now our Head of Operations at Froglife Ecological Services’ (FES), working nation-wide creating and improving habitats for our species and educating budding ecologists through our popular great crested newt training courses.
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He enjoys being outside and getting his hands dirty and his role within Froglife enables him to do this on a daily basis. He loves the variety of his role within Froglife – working outdoors with people!
James is unsure which of our species is his favourite – he likes the natterjack toad, but then… he likes the adder too. But which is best? There’s only one way to find out…FIGHT!!!
Research Students, Interns & Volunteers
Josie McPherson, Intern
Josie is a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, funded by the E4 Doctoral Training Partnership through the Natural Research Council.
Her research focuses on individual behaviour in frog species, including field trips to study poison frogs in French Guiana and Panama.
As part of her doctoral program, Josie is doing a internship with Froglife where thus far she has analysed amphibians use of under-road tunnels, produced briefings, and verified wildlife observations submitted through the DragonFinder app.
Emily Seccombe, PhD Student
Emily has joined the Froglife team in 2025, through her PhD position at the University of Reading. She is studying the temporal and spatial impacts of conservation actions on British reptiles and amphibians. A key component will be analysing ponds created by Froglife: revisiting sites, monitoring populations, and using the habitat data to understand which ponds have succeeded in the long-term and why. This research aims to improve the evidence base to guide conservation management for amphibians and reptiles.
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If you would like to find out about current job vacancies at Froglife, please click here
For information on Froglife’s Trustees click here