John Mills is Defra’s Director of Rural Policy. His background is in the Civil Service, where he has worked in DTI, the Prime Minister's Policy Unit and the Office of Fair Trading, plus four years on secondment to the Government of Hong Kong. In 1995 he left the Civil Service to become Chief Executive of Cornwall County Council. After that, and before joining Defra, he held a senior civil service post in Jersey.

James Goodman is Head of Futures at Forum for the Future, a sustainable development charity and think-tank. He uses futures techniques such as scenario planning and visioning to promote long-term thinking within business and the public sector. Previously he worked in Forum for the Future's business programme, advising companies such as Vodafone, Unilever and BT on sustainability. He is co-author of "Fishing for Good" with Jonathon Porritt and "Making the Net Work", on sustainability in the digital society.

Garry Charnock is the originator of the Ashton Hayes Going Carbon Neutral Project. He has lived in the village for 25 years and felt that as a scientist he had to encourage his neighbours to do their bit to stem climate change. Garry is an engineer by profession but has spent most of his career writing technical articles for the media and running his own publishing business (tes limited). He is also a Director of RSK Group plc. The Ashton Hayes project is being cited as an exemplar by the Government and is to feature in this summer's Live Earth event. Garry is married with 2 grown up sons.

From left to right:  Garry Charnock, Dr Stuart Burgess, John Mills, James Goodman