Natalie Prosser has been appointed by Defra as the Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Designate of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).
She is currently General Counsel at the Gambling Commission, with previous roles including Director of Legal at Ofqual and regulatory and policy lead on the independent Farm Inspection and Regulation Review.
Ms Prosser will start her role in February alongside OEP Chair-designate Dame Glenys Stacey.
The Interim CEO role is time limited until December and will be focused on setting up the new body pending the appointment of a permanent head.
The OEP will be an independent statutory body, with its headquarters in Worcester, with the principal objective of contributing to environmental protection and improvement of the natural environment.
Ms Prosser said: “The OEP has such an important job to do, with the clear ambition to set the benchmark for excellence in environmental regulation.
“We must take on that challenge in a focused and dedicated way and we must establish ourselves so that we can make the wise and well informed decisions that will enable us to make best use of our powers and our voice in order to protect and improve our environment. I am so delighted to be able to play my park in establishing the OEP as the world leading environmental regulator that it needs to be.”
