All change at the top of PEFC UK

After 13 years heading up PEFC in the UK, present executive director Alun Watkins will be retiring at the end of June 2023. Since joining PEFC UK in January 2010, Mr Watkins has worked tirelessly with stakeholders from all sectors of the forest products supply chain – from the construction and forestry sectors to furniture and latterly, even fashion, to promote the benefits of PEFC certification and the role of certified material in helping to meet global low carbon targets.

At the same time, he has always been keen to add value to the hundreds of UK companies who have invested in PEFC certification, by offering support, training, and promotional tools to help certified companies make the most of their PEFC credentials.

“I am  obviously sad to be leaving the team in Sheffield and saying goodbye to some fantastic colleagues in the forest products world,” said Mr Watkins. “Not just in the UK but across PEFC’s  global alliance. It has been a fabulous 13 years, and it has been very satisfying to see interest in reducing carbon and protecting the environment gather pace in recent years. It mustn’t stop. But retirement beckons and it is time for a fresh face at the helm to drive the organisation forward. John has a great deal  of knowledge and experience to draw on, so I know that I am leaving PEFC UK in very capable hands.”

His successor John Kirkby was most recently principal technical consultant at 2C Consultancy Ltd and he is well versed in the world of certification and the demands of forestry. Since graduating with a degree in Forestry Management from the University of Aberdeen in 2001, Mr Kirkby has had several roles in the timber products industry. From 2001 to 2012 he worked for TRADA Technology, providing timber consultancy, but for the last 10 years he has specialised in helping companies across the UK gain chain of custody certification. His clients have included sawmills, printers, joinery companies and builders’ merchants – both large and small. This means he will bring his knowledge of working with the key business sectors that make up PEFC UK’s membership, to the organisation.

“I am delighted to be joining PEFC as executive director,” said Mr Kirkby. “Demand for sustainably sourced products, such as PEFC’s, continues to grow in the UK market. My aim is to increase this even further and build on the fantastic work that Alun and the PEFC UK team have undertaken over the last decade to maximise the benefits of certification to all our stakeholders.”

PEFC chain of custody certification offers independent, verifiable assurance that the timber comes from responsibly managed forests. Over 280 million hectares of forest globally are PEFC certified allowing 20,000 companies to offer responsibly sourced material bearing PEFC’s distinctive ‘two trees’ logo.