Mark Funnell

Chair , Avon Needs Trees

Mark is the Chair of Avon Needs Trees (ANT). He leads a board of trustees, overseeing one of the UK's fastest growing woodland creation charities. ANT and its volunteers have planted 125,000 trees in the last five years and the charity now looks after 550 acres of land in the SW across five sites.

Mark was the Communications and Campaigns Director at the National Trust from 2020-26, looking after campaigning, external communications, internal communications, policy and advocacy and content and publishing.

He has specialised in environmental communications and campaigns for 25 years. His previous roles include interim Director of Communications at Defra, Head of Communications at the Forestry Commission and Head of External Relations at the Environment Agency. He also led transition to a new operating model for Defra group’s 250 Communications staff, who came together from five different arm’s length bodies.

Mark started out in editorial and publishing roles, working for five years at a consumer magazine publishing company. He lives in central Bristol and can often be found tramping around local woodland, taking inordinate numbers of tree photos.