James Pritchard-Evans
Incident Advisor in the Chief Executives Directorate of the Environment Agency
Give us a brief description of your background
My name is James Pritchard-Evans. I’m a 31-year-old gay man, my pronouns are he/ him and I live with my husband and my dog (Casper) in a small town on the edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire. In my free time I enjoy walks with the husband and the dog. I’m also a gamer, love a spin class and a gardener.
My current day job is as the Incident Advisor in the Chief Executives Directorate of the Environment Agency. This involves training and preparing the teams who support senior staff and political / reputational management during an incident such as flooding. I have worked for the Environment Agency for 11 years. Prior to this I studied and worked in Environment Health.
I’m also the current co-chair of the Environment Agency’s LGBT+ Network. The Network has driven the Environment Agency to be a Stonewall Top100 employer since 2008. We are at the leading edge of best practice in inclusion work for LGBT+ people. Whether they are staff, customers or applicants for our vacancies. The co-chair position allows me to use my strong social justice driver to further equality and inclusion and show the Environment Agency is a place where everyone can be themselves.
Who/what inspires you?
In terms of people – at the moment the top person would be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Coming from a working-class background, fighting for what you believe in, achieving real change and shrugging off the smears thrown at her really resonates with me.
In terms of what, I really had to think about this. There are plenty of things that motivate me, but not many that inspire me. I guess the words I’d probably use are fairness and potential. I often wonder how history will look back on the time we live in, it’s doubtful it will fade from memory. And then thinking about how that world will look and the potential of that greater tomorrow is a real inspiration for my work.
What does the word leadership make you think of?
The diversity of leaders. Not all leaders have statues or are in positions of power. Most are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
How do you feel about taking part in the Future Leaders programme?
Privileged.
What do you think are the keys to a sustainable future?
Fairness. – leaving behind a community or having the interventions disproportionately affect a group of people will only lead to failure.
Keep moving forward – whilst returning to a low population agricultural lifestyle would probably defeat the climate emergency, the course of human history shows that going backwards technologically or socially isn’t a sustainable path on a global scale. We need to embrace technological and cultural revolutions to achieve a sustainable future.
