OUR TEAM
Sorwar Ahmed
Acting Chief Executive
Sorwar is a built environment professional with over 30 years’ experience in technical and leadership roles across local and central government, consultancy and the third sector. After qualifying as a Chartered Town Planner, Sorwar developed his career through various urban planning and regeneration roles, including delivering a large-scale partnership-led regeneration programme for the Greenwich Waterfront, project managing a coastal regeneration masterplan in Malta, and advising the NHS and local authorities on health-promoting environments. Prior to joining TEP, Sorwar worked in waterways management and green/blue infrastructure delivery, where he walked, cycled and boated the whole of the London canal network.
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At TEP, Sorwar is Programme Director, providing leadership across TEP’s programme of projects and funded activities. He works with TEP’s delivery partners and EA’s TE2100 team to deliver the Joint Thames Strategy, and oversees other projects within the TEP portfolio. Sorwar also supports fundraising, board reporting and the engagement of key stakeholders.
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Sorwar is passionate about community empowerment and partnership working as a means of delivering sustainable places and equitable, healthy communities. He brings this ethos to TEP’s work and continues to be a voluntary charity trustee in the Planning Aid sector.
Maryam Ali Abdalla
Finance Manageer
Maryam is responsible for overseeing organisational financial health, transparency through the audit process, financial stability and managing funds to maximise the impact of our programs. For more than six years in the role, she has supported TEP to deliver on its mission efficiently and sustainably, guiding us towards financial security.
She assists with funding bids, ensuring that they are viable and aligned with organisational goals through financial forecasting, budget preparation, cost analysis, compliance assurance and clear financial reporting.
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Maryam's career spans 20 years in financial management, including specific relevant experience, working with non-profits, managing grants, and handling donor funding. A qualified accountant with a university degree and massive experience specialising in financial planning, reporting, budgeting, and compliance. She navigates the unique challenges of non-profit finance, ensuring donor funds are allocated responsibly while meeting regulatory requirements.
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Maryam believes in the power of financial stewardship to drive positive change and has built trust with TEP donors, the board of trustees, auditors, management and staff.
Yomi Odunlami
Programme Coordinator
As the Programme Coordinator at TEP, Yomi plays a key role in project planning, implementation, and monitoring across multiple initiatives. In addition to her core role, Yomi oversees TEP’s office infrastructure, produces our newsletter Estuary Echoes and coordinates our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Yomi has a background in construction, housing development, and real estate management, with over two decades of experience working across Europe, Asia, and Africa. She specialises in project planning, implementation, and monitoring.
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Before joining TEP, Yomi held various roles that developed her expertise in stakeholder collaboration, infrastructure systems, and sustainable development. Her professional experience spans industries that intersect with environmental resilience, shaping her interest in the role of built and natural environments in mitigating climate change and supporting sustainable communities.
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Yomi is an alumna of the University of Westminster, London. Her passion for sustainability, education, and digital systems underpins her work in ensuring the Thames Estuary remains a thriving and accessible space for both nature and people.
Wanda Bodnar
Project Manager
Wanda is a Chartered Marine Scientist with extensive expertise across academia, industry, and the charity sector. She holds a master’s degree in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and has worked as a research assistant at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and as a marine environmental consultant in offshore and coastal waters.
From January 2018 to March 2022, Wanda led the development of the Fish Migration Roadmap. Since April 2022, she has contributed to several projects, including Roadmap to Climate Resilience and Estuary Edges.
Currently, Wanda is pursuing a PhD focusing on the Thames Estuary as part of the London Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership programme. She balances her doctoral research with her role at TEP, where she continues to drive forward estuarine conservation and research efforts in the region.
Cem Gulacar
GIS & Data Manager
Cem has a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Remote Sensing and GIS. He has worked in various industries in a geospatial context, including geospatial consulting, renewable energy asset management, and offshore unexploded ordnance risk mitigation. Cem works towards our aim to address the growing need for evidence-based and strategic decision making in the context of climate resilience and is developing our GIS and data management capabilities to provide environmental, social, planning, and climate change data context for decision-makers.
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He is passionate about deriving meaningful insights about our environment and society through harnessing GIS and remote sensing. Cem has a wide breadth of interdisciplinary knowledge and is adept at designing geospatial solutions to a wide variety of problems. His environmental background in zoology and master’s in GIS and remote sensing has given him the necessary skills to tackle spatial problems through an environmental lens.
Benedita Moniz Baroseiro
Project Manager, Joint Thames Strategies
With an MSc in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social sustainability from Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and a BA in Politics and International Relations from SOAS University of London, Benedita combines academic expertise with practical experience in project management and stakeholder engagement.
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Before joining TEP, Benedita managed public sector decarbonisation schemes, working closely with local authorities to advance sustainability initiatives. This experience has deepened her understanding of how effective collaboration and tailored solutions can address complex environmental challenges.
Chloe Russell
Digital Content Producer
Chloe produces of the ‘Talk of the Thames’ podcast, capturing the essence of the Thames Estuary’s community, environment, and cultural heritage. Her work is driven by a passion for hearing and sharing people’s stories, always seeking to highlight the unique aspects of each narrative with a focus on the natural world at its core. Alongside her main role, she manages the digital content across social media platforms, effectively broadening the dissemination of local environmental news, project and team updates, and serving as the voice of the Thames Estuary Partnership.
Chloe holds an MSc in Science Communication and a BA (Hons) in Marine and Natural History Photography. She adeptly combines her academic knowledge with her creative skills to produce impactful results that convey complex environmental and natural subjects. Outside of Thames Estuary Partnership, she is a dynamic presenter, dedicated to sharing compelling narratives at the intersection of art, science, and nature through various radio shows and podcasts.