Julie Williams

Julie Williams - Chief Executive Officer & Company Secretary

Julie joined Butterfly Conservation (BC) in 2000. She was appointed to Director of Finance and Administration in 2003 and took on the additional role of Company Secretary in 2005. In December 2015 she became Deputy Chief Executive, responsible for the non-conservation work of BC, including finance, HR, media, fundraising and marketing. Julie was appointed as Acting CEO in December 2016, which was made permanent in July 2017. She now oversees all aspects of managing the Charity. She has extensive knowledge of charity accounting, governance and marketing in the voluntary sector and holds The Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Diploma in Charity Accounting.

Follow Julie on Twitter - @JulieWilliamsB


Kate Dent

Dr Kate Dent - Director of Engagement & Volunteering

Kate has worked in nature conservation for over 20 years, following a PhD in evolutionary biology at the University of Reading and a BSc in zoology. Her career started with nature reserves management, but has since developed into more senior roles, including a number of years as a Wildlife Trust director. Kate first worked for Butterfly Conservation between 2007-09 on the South East Woodlands project. She returned in 2018, and from April 2019 headed up the England Conservation team, from April 2020 she took up her current role leading the Engagement and Volunteering team.


Dan Hoare

Dr Dan Hoare - Director of Conservation

Dan has a PhD in behavioural ecology from the University of Leeds and has a broad background in ecological studies on birds and fish as well as invertebrates. He joined BC in 2002 on a three month contract and has been with us ever since, working in a variety of roles including South East England Regional Officer and Head of England Regions. He was appointed Director of UK Conservation in April 2019. Dan has extensive experience of developing and delivering landscape-scale conservation projects for threatened species as well as communicating BC's impact to a wider audience.

Follow Dan on Twitter - @DJHbutterflies    


Russel Hobson

Russel Hobson - Director of Evidence and Policy

Russel has an MSc in Rural Resource Management and over 30 years' experience of land management in a wide variety of roles in UK and Eire. He joined Butterfly Conservation in 1999 as the Marsh Fritillary Project Officer in England and in 2003 was our first conservation officer in Wales. After a decade leading on Lepidoptera conservation and policy work in Wales, Russel became a Director in 2018 and leads our Science (Research, Data and Applied Ecology), Land Use Advice and Policy work.