Dominic Robinson, CEO Soil Association Certification

Dominic grew up playing on his grandparent’s smallholding in Leicestershire and enjoyed family holidays on an organic dairy farm in North Wales.

He has a wealth of experience in environmental and forestry organisations and had a close working relationship with Soil Association Certification before his appointment as CEO in 2022. As an independent member of its Scrutiny Committee, Dominic was responsible for scrutinising decision making to ensure impartiality and the integrity of the standards being delivered. This has given him a great familiarity with the organisation and its people, together with a good understanding of its purpose, challenges and opportunities.

His previous role as Head of Visitor Experience at Severn Trent Water, saw him responsible for managing the public, land and assets across 30 reservoirs. Before this he was with Forestry England where he was responsible for certification of the 250,000ha public forest estate ensuring compliance with the UK Woodland Assurance Standard for FSC and PEFC certification. Other previous roles include managing Bedgebury Pinetum and Forest, home to the National Conifer Collection and a variety of senior roles with The Forestry Commission. 

He studied Geography at Cambridge University and worked with Ryton Garden Organic to undertake research into nitrogen-fixing organic farming rotations. He went on to study Environmental Technology at Imperial College London and joined an intrepid expedition with the British Trust for Ornithology and Cambridge University to Siberia to identify High Conservation Value areas for FSC certification.