Meet the team
Danny Renton
CEO & Founder
Tiziana Tedoldi
General Manager
Philip Price
Visual Content Lead & Public Engagement
.jpg)
Will Goudy
Seagrass Programme Lead & Operations Manager
Ailsa McLellan
North West Programme Lead
Alex Thomson
Science Lead
Lorna Farquhar
Project Development Officer
Seawilding is a Scottish charity based in Loch Craignish, Argyll and is the UK’s first community-based seagrass and oyster restoration project. Our Seawilding core team, pictured above, combines a host of essential ingredients - marine biology, coastal surveying, project management, fundraising, photography, film-making and environmental sciences. Most importantly we owe our success to our community volunteers who contribute so much to our native oyster and seagrass restoration efforts. Seawilding is restoring 1 million native oysters and planting hectares of seagrass in Loch Craignish, initiating similar restoration projects around the Scottish coastline and training other UK marine conservation groups in best practise restoration methodologies.
Seawilding is an advocate for better protection of the seabed and the ocean generally. Only 5% of Scottish waters are protected from the most damaging forms of fishing – bottom trawling and dredging – and Seawilding campaigns for a ban of these destructive practises in inshore waters, and for eco-system scale restoration to bring back lost biodiversity, sustainable fishing jobs and hope for the ocean.
Seawilding's charitable aims are:
-
To advance the environmental protection and improvement of Scottish coastal waters by developing and delivering projects to restore degraded marine habitats and species, including native oysters, seagrass and other priority marine features around coastal shorelines
-
To advance the education of marine science, marine conservation and best-practice marine habitat restoration by creating citizen science and research opportunities with schools, community groups, organisations and academic partners
-
To advance the environmental protection and improvement of Scottish coastal waters by campaigning for sustainable and responsible use of marine resources
Board of Trustees
Seawilding is governed by a Board of Trustees who meet regularly each year to oversee the delivery of the Seawilding's strategy.
Caroline Younger, Chair
Caroline is an artist and print-maker based in both London and Argyll. She established the voluntary association CROMACH (Craignish Restoration of Marine and Coastal Habitats) which has over 100 members and is currently their Chair.
She is a trustee of a number of environmental organisations including the Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation. She is passionate about the sea and believes the threat to ocean health is the major environmental issue of our time. Caroline joined the Board of Trustees of Seawilding in 2020.
Adam Boys, Treasurer
Adam is from the West Coast of Scotland and is Head of Budget and Finance for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He is a Chartered Accountant and has over 25 years experience in senior management and leadership of international public sector and other non-profit organisations.
As well as being on the board of Seawilding, Adam is a trustee of the Scottish NGO, Feedback Madagascar. Adam was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in January 2015 for services to conflict prevention and resolution, particularly in the Western Balkans. Adam joined the Board of Trustees of Seawilding in 2020.
%20(1).jpg)
Iain Saunders
Iain is Chair of MB Asia Select Fund. He worked with merchant bank Robert Fleming in Hong Kong, New York and London until 2001, following the merger with JP Morgan, when he was appointed to the Board of the Baring Emerging Europe Trust. Iain has been Chair of various Funds across South Africa, Russia, India, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and was a member of the Fund Manager’s Association Executive Committee and Chairman of its European and International Sub-Committee.
Now settled by Loch Craignish, Iain joined the Board of Trustees of Seawilding in 2022.
Merlyn Gregory
Merlyn is Strategy Partner and UK Energy Transition Leader at Deloitte, with nearly 20 years’ experience across the energy sector. She supports organisations in navigating decarbonisation, digital transformation, and net-zero strategy, helping them adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
From Craignish, where Seawilding is located, Merlyn also spent a year sailing across the Pacific with her family, exploring sustainability, self-sufficiency, and the impacts of climate change on island communities. Merlyn joined the Board of Trustees of Seawilding in 2024.
Seawildlings
Our youth group Seawildlings is open to all primary and high school aged children who live on the Craignish Peninsula. Seawildlings aims to give children an opportunity to enjoy healthy time outdoors while learning about, and celebrating, our wonderful marine and coastal environment. The children help protect our Loch and coastline, while learning new skills, building aspirations and gaining self-confidence. We hope to inspire a passion for the sea and marine conservation from an early age, and perhaps we will be creating the marine biologists and environmentalists of the future! Seawildlings is led by Bea and supported by a wonderful team - pictured below. They work with a wonderfully diverse group of workshop leaders - marine biologists, artists, foragers, willow weavers, clay workers and musicians, just to name a few!
