CIWEM appoints Emma Causer as new chief executive

01 May 2026

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Emma Causer as our new CEO

Emma joins CIWEM with a strong track record in membership leadership, commercial strategy and organisational renewal, with over 25 years’ experience of working in high growth commercial environments and subscription businesses including BT and Sky, with her latest role as director of member and clients at leading professional body, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Having established the award-winning mentoring programme Plan B (now known as Balance the Board), Emma is a credible external ambassador with a focus on developing a high-performance culture within the teams she leads.

A year-round open water swimmer, Emma’s lifelong love of water and the environment is evident: “I am deeply honoured to be joining CIWEM as chief executive. My father was a scuba diver and on weekends, I was cheerfully dragged to dive sites across Britain while he disappeared beneath the water. When I wasn't watching him dive, I was out on the rivers myself, kayak paddle in hand, learning that water has its own rules and your job is to work with it. Water was never something I feared; it was something I was drawn to.

“CIWEM has an extraordinary community of experts, a powerful policy voice, and a mission that could not be more urgent – to build a global community of water and environmental professionals dedicated to working for the public benefit. influence and build on the foundations that already exist, to grow our reach, strengthen our influence, and ensure that the knowledge within this institution shapes policy and practice as well as inform decisions at the highest levels.

“Water has always been part of my life. And now, working for a membership organisation at the heart of the water and environmental management sector, I'm able to give something meaningful back. I can't think of a better place to start.”

Annie Shepperd OBE and chair of CIWEM, commented: “CIWEM has a key role in shaping the way the UK manages water and land, not to mention helping overcome the impending skills shortage in the UK water and environmental sector. We are delighted to welcome Emma as CIWEM’s new CEO to lead our professional membership organisation and promote the benefits of working in this essential sector.

“Emma’s experience in strengthening member value, growing sustainable income and building inclusive cultures that deliver impact at scale, coupled with her deep and genuine commitment to purpose-led leadership and to the role that strong professional communities play in driving environmental and societal change, make her a great fit for CIWEM”.

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Contact Emma Causer at ceo@ciwem.org or Emma Simon, marketing and communications director at emma.simon@ciwem.org for more information.