Russell Foster - Director

Russell was employed for over 24 years by Searle, a division of Monsanto plc, now part of the Pfizer Group. During his time with them, he was located at their Morpeth Site – 20 miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (where he was born) and had been their site Environmental Manager for over 15 years. His final 5 years with the company were spent in a European environmental role. He was also a “Speak Out” Manager for the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) for over 8 years, as part of the ‘Responsible Care’ initiative.

He became a member of Institute of Environment Management (IEM) in 1992, becoming their first North East Regional Chair and was elected to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in 1995. The IEM was one of the founding Institutes when the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) was formed in September 1999. In July 2000 he took up the role of Chief Executive of the IEMA which is based at St Nicholas House in Lincoln and is a leading worldwide Institute for environmental professionals.

Russell is also a Director of the Society for the Environment (SocEnv) formed in 2003 to be the ‘umbrella body’ for the environment. SocEnv received the Royal Charter in September 2004 to allow Constituent Bodies to bestow the award of Chartered Environmentalist.

He is a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Arts – FRSA and now resides in Lincolnshire where he enjoys golf, gardening and following Formula 1 motor racing (especially the politics), when time allows.