OUR TEAM
Sorwar Ahmed
Chief Executive
Sorwar leads TEP’s mission to champion a resilient, thriving and inclusive future for the Thames Estuary. He provides strategic direction across TEP’s programmes, strengthens cross‑sector collaboration, and ensures the Partnership remains a trusted, independent convenor for communities, industry, academia and government.
With a career spanning central and local government, consultancy and the third sector, Sorwar brings deep expertise in placemaking, strategic planning and stakeholder engagement. He has a long track record of shaping complex, multi‑agency initiatives that unlock social, environmental and economic value, including urban regeneration programmes in Lambeth, Lewisham, and the Greenwich waterfront; a coastal regeneration masterplan in Malta; healthy urban planning initiatives aligning the NHS and local authorities; and green/blue infrastructure management and delivery across London, where he walked, cycled and boated the whole of the London canal network.
Before becoming CEO, Sorwar served as TEP’s Programme Director, leading major projects focused on climate resilience, nature recovery, sustainable development and community empowerment, including leadership of the Joint Thames Strategy, a landmark collaborative framework guiding the sustainable development of the estuary.
Beyond TEP, Sorwar is Chair of Planning Aid for London, providing governance leadership and championing community access to planning. Sorwar is dedicated to ensuring the Thames Estuary becomes a model for sustainable, equitable and climate-resilient place‑making.
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 experience spanning academia, industry, and the charity sector. She holds a Master’s degree in Marine and Lacustrine Science and Management from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Her early career included roles as a research assistant at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and as a marine environmental consultant, working across both offshore and coastal environments.
From January 2018 to September 2024, Wanda played a central role in shaping strategic initiatives across the Thames. She led the development of the Greater Thames Estuary Fish Migration Roadmap, a strategic, GIS-based tool designed to improve ecological connectivity and support barrier removal and habitat restoration planning. This work later evolved into the Roadmap to Climate Resilience, an expanded platform integrating habitat enhancement, climate adaptation, and natural capital considerations at a whole-estuary scale, to which she contributed during its development. Alongside this, Wanda worked on the Estuary Edges project, supporting and managing fish surveys.
Wanda is currently undertaking a PhD focusing on intertidal habitats along the Thames Estuary. Alongside her doctoral research, she continues her role with TEP, where she works to strengthen the scientific evidence base underpinning estuarine conservation and restoration across 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.