Jenny is a sustainability and partnerships practitioner with 16 years’ experience in collaborative working across the private, NGO and education sectors.
Founder of specialist innovation and sustainability consultancy Oak Grove Associates, she has a particular focus on responsible growth and new business models, strategy and capacity building for organisations. Former Head of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oxford, Jenny set up the University’s governance structure for sustainability and was a founding partner and ‘Pathfinder’ for Low Carbon Oxford, a city-wide sustainability partnership bringing together 40 private, public and voluntary sector organisations.
A business school graduate, Jenny began her career in the retail sector as a Corporate Responsibility Advisor, where she worked on industry level ethical trading initiatives and first gained a taste for the challenges and opportunities of partnership working.
Jenny spent many rewarding years working in the charity sector, latterly as Head of Environmental Engagement for Earthwatch, the international research and education institute. There she oversaw partnership and employee engagement programmes with Shell, Diageo, Barclays, Reed Elsevier and Jaguar Land Rover, as well as capacity building programmes for young conservation leaders in Africa.
Jenny is motivated by the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability and the potential for collaboration at an individual and organisational level to find solutions to tricky challenges. She brings strategic vision, emotional intelligence and a passion for mentoring people and organisations. She is a particular advocate for skills development for sustainability, including the importance of partnering competencies.
An advisory board member for the University of Aberystwyth’s Centre for International Business and Public Policy, Jenny also acts as Trustee for Student Hubs, a fast-growing charity present in ten UK universities, linking students with environmental and ethical volunteering and career opportunities and equipping them with skills to be leaders for social change. As a mentor for Dotforge, she supports social enterprise start-ups to establish and scale their business.
Jenny is Oxford based, a runner, has two small but energetic boys and an incurable book habit.