Team
Paul Silcock, Managing Director
Paul Silcock is a rural practice Chartered Surveyor, Chartered Environmentalist and applied agricultural and environmental economist. He has 30 years’ experience in agricultural, fisheries, rural, environmental and economic consultancy and in-depth knowledge of the land-based sector and natural capital. Paul has managed more than two hundred projects across the UK and abroad for clients in the private, public and voluntary sectors.
Emma Silcock, Director
Emma provides strategic overview and support. She has a background in business and sales administration.
Esther Kieboom, Director
Esther Kieboom has been working with Cumulus for over 10 years, covering projects on natural capital, agriculture, sustainable economies, and policy development. Esther has a Sustainability Leadership and Corporate Responsibility certificate from her alma mater the London Business School, and an FdSc in conservation and countryside management. She guides large landowners along their transition to achieve their climate and biodiversity goals.
George Chanarin, Consultant
George has an MSc in Environmental Science from Wageningen University and Research. He has experience undertaking natural capital assessments and research. In his consultancy role, George applies research, tools, and methods from the field of Environmental Science to create integrated assessments of agri-environmental systems.
Saskia van Dongen, Consultant
Saskia has a MBiol in Biology from the University of York and an MSc in Environment and Resource Management from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. With a background in ecology, she has worked on projects dealing with Local Nature Recovery Network, Biodiversity Net Gain, and sustainable agriculture. In her consultant role, Saskia works on environmental markets and climate change, and contributes to our wider agriculture, agri-environmental and natural capital work.
Charlie Russ, Associate
Charlie is a rural practice Chartered Surveyor with a background in estate management and environmental consultancy. He helps land managers work within a natural capital framework and recognise the natural environment as an economic asset. He is particularly interested in Payments for Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Net Gain schemes, and how they operate in the context of other land management considerations. Charlie is also a practising New Forest Commoner.
Linda Ranford, Project Coordinator / Business Administrator
Linda has over 15 years of project management experience and is a PRINCE2 Practitioner. She has a background in project auditing, report writing and the establishment of governance and processes. Her role at Cumulus is varied and includes internal audits for ISO9001 and ISO14001, systems improvement and project support.
Hannah Dancer, Administrator
Hannah is our office administrator, providing marketing, project and administrative support, including quality assurance.
Dr James Jones, Associate
James is an agricultural economist and farm business specialist. He has undertaken a wide range of agricultural consultancy, including policy research, agri-environment costings and feasibility studies. James has in-depth knowledge of the Common Agricultural Policy. He also runs his own organic arable and livestock farm in Devon.
David Lewis, Associate
David is a Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Forester. He has extensive experience of forestry and woodland management, and renewable energy. He has undertaken a range of feasibility and policy studies in the forestry/land management and biofuel sectors and also manages a number of woodlands for private clients.
Dr Steve Webster, Associate
Steve works across the agricultural, agri-food, fisheries and rural sectors. He undertakes policy analysis, strategy development, research and programme evaluations. He has knowledge and experience across all farm types and in-depth experience of the development, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of capacity-building programmes for food and farming.
Will Manley, Associate
Will is a Chartered Ecologist with over 30 years training, research and consultancy experience in farmland and woodland biodiversity. A particular expertise includes the impacts of agricultural systems, agri-environment policies and farmer decision-making on biodiversity, within the framework and demands of commercial land uses. He has undertaken a wide range of projects for UK government, national agencies, NGO’s and membership organizations.
Matt Rayment, Associate
Matt Rayment is an economist with more than 25 years’ experience in the appraisal and evaluation of public policy. He has particular interests in natural capital and biodiversity, environmental policy, rural land use and management, and economic development. He has undertaken numerous assignments for the European Commission, UK Government, national and regional agencies, local authorities and NGOs.
Rob Havard, Associate
Rob specialises in ecology, sustainable agriculture, conservation grazing and landowner liaison. He has expertise relating to common land and agri-environment scheme implementation. Rob works for Natural England and leads on grassland and grazing in the South Mercia region and is also a livestock farmer and local food producer.
Greg Morel, Associate
Greg is a marine and fisheries specialist with over 25 years’ experience in operational delivery, project management and independent assessment of research programmes, stakeholder engagement, policy development and law drafting. He has been a strategic advisor to Government Ministers on coastal, marine, fisheries and blue economy policy and has been the lead advisor and negotiator in inter-governmental forums and international agreements on fisheries and marine resources.
