Meet the team
Staff and Ambassadors
James Cooke
Chief Executive Officer
James has recently stepped into the role of CEO combining his commercial expertise with a deep commitment to environmental impact and purpose-driven leadership. He brings a strategic mindset, a strong track record of execution, and a passion for driving meaningful change at the intersection of innovation, sustainability, and business growth.
Raechel Kelly
Planet Cheltenham Coordinator
Raechel worked in sustainable finance for 13 years before setting up her own regenerative consultancy The Liminality. She has been an Ambassador for Vision 21 for 4 years and is currently working on their ambitious ‘Planet Cheltenham’ climate hub project and youth ambassador program. She is also a Non-Executive Director at Good With Money.
Becki Sillence
Projects Manager
Becki Sillence is our projects manager. She’s delivered a range of inititives for us including CheltenhamZero, our Nature Hubs project and Planted. She has worked with a wide range of people and organisations in Cheltenham and has several decades of experience in the community, engagement and flood resilience sectors.
Dave Cooper
Reclaim Manager
Dave started volunteering with us at our Priors Park community allotments before becoming a driver for several years and recently being promoted to manager.
Brad
Reclaim Driver
Brad works in our Reclaim store as a delivery driver and store assistant.
Tim Whittaker
Reclaim Assistant Manager
In addition to his role as assistant manager, Tim is also one of our longest continual serving volunteers.
Nilesh Patel
Reclaim Driver
Nilesh works in our Reclaim store as a delivery driver and store assistant.
Trustees
Martin Hewett
Chair and Company Secretary
Martin is a Chartered Structural Engineer and has worked on numerous low-energy and ‘sustainable’ building projects. His work on conserving historic buildings and an involvement with English traditions and music have led to deep sense of wanting to conserve our heritage and environment. Martin is currently our Chairman and Company Secretary.
Brian Sloan
Treasurer
Brian is a Chartered Management Accountant with extensive experience of working at director level in industry. He currently runs his own accountancy practice in Cheltenham.
Gideon Capie
Funding Adviser
Gideon has a Business honours degree and a Master’s in Multimedia. He has skills and experience in finance, IT, project management, web design and people management. With a passion for sustainability Gideon brings these skills into Vision 21 supporting the IT infrastructure as well as day to day trustee duties.
Peter Clegg
Development Director
Peter has spent most of his working life in the Computer-Aided Electronic Design industry and Computer-Aided Electronic Manufacturing industry. With specialist experience of European training & technical support management of high value time-to-market critical applications. He moved into European sales & marketing management and for short periods lived and worked in Munich, Paris, Brussels and Moscow with extensive business travel in the USA and Europe.
Rodney Smith
Health and Saftey Director
Rod is a former director of Heath Avery Architects. He was responsible for designing one of the first carbon neutral developments in the County. Rod oversees Vision 21’s HR and health and safety systems and has been involved in developing our business strategy.
Rowena Kay
HR Director
Rowena is a lawyer, specialising in employment matters. Outside work, she is a trustee for another sustainable charity and a keen allotment holder.