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Mark is our Chief Executive Officer, responsible for overseeing our direction and strategy. He joined The Rivers Trust in 2019 after 10 years as Chief Executive of the Angling Trust & Fish Legal, where he played a transformational role representing the UK’s three million anglers and taking legal action against polluters. Much of that work was focussed on protecting water quality, a subject close to Mark’s heart. Prior to that, Mark was Chief Executive of Thames21, one the Rivers Trust’s current members. He therefore is deeply familiar with the culture, challenges and opportunities of the Rivers Trust movement.

Arlin Rickard founded the Westcountry Rivers Trust in 1994, and then went on to lead the Association of Rivers Trusts (now The Rivers Trust) for 15 years. Arlin, who is also a smallholder on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, worked closely with the poet Ted Hughes and other keen anglers in the West Country to seek charitable status for the Westcountry Rivers Trust in the early 1990s, with a strong emphasis on the ecosystem approach to managing rivers, combining the best possible science with on-the-ground delivery. Arlin worked closely with Ian Gregg, owner of high street bakers Greggs, who was instrumental in the formation of the Association of Rivers Trusts and remains the President of The Rivers Trust to this day. Arlin stepped down as Chief Executive of The Rivers Trust in September 2019, but remains as a senior policy advisor on a part-time basis and continues to chair the Catchment Based Approach National Support Group, which oversees the 100+ Catchment Partnerships set up since 2011 to bring together a coalition of organisations with the willingness and ability to revive rivers.