In this short episode you’ll hear how the podcast came about and the types of guests we chat with: business leaders working to meet near-term financial needs while creating lasting wellbeing for people and planet.
You’ll also meet Season One co-host Ally Dunnett. Ally’s a sustainability consultant with experience in deforestation legislation, responsible sourcing, and an interest in optimising the life of wood products through reuse, repair and recycle.
The Impact Files Podcast – Season 1 trailer
Ned: If you’re trying to meet your business’s near-term financial needs without losing sight of longer-term impact or sustainability… or if you’re wondering whether purpose and profit can genuinely coexist – then this podcast is for you.
I’ve worked in marketing since the early 2000s. And in recent years I’ve become increasingly interested in the role marketing has played in consumerism and overconsumption.
So in 2025 I put myself through a course in sustainable marketing at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. The course explores marketing’s role in 20th and 21st century capitalist excess and the social and environmental harm it’s caused.
It looks at how marketing persuades people, shapes behaviour and builds identity. It then offers practical marketing and comms tools and approaches to embed sustainability and drive meaningful change.
In the last module on the course, we were asked to develop a ‘strategy for action’ – turning what we’d learnt into practice, in our own contexts.
My response was to launch The Impact Files podcast: conversations with leaders balancing purpose and profit.
My aim with this is to build up a library of insights and encouragement for business leaders on a purpose-led journey, exploring how financial performance can be aligned with long-term sustainability.
Each episode features one business leader. We explore their personal stories and the leadership challenges behind meeting near-term financial needs while creating lasting wellbeing for people and planet.
Many of the people we speak to also have to bring their boards, teams, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders with them. So we ask each guest about the role that communications and marketing play.
When I was planning this podcast, I really wanted episodes to be relaxed conversations, and not interviews. So, to help with that, I’m joined by a co-host. And for Season 1, I’m so happy to be joined by Ally Dunnett. Ally, it’s brilliant to have you here.
Ally: Thank you, Ned, it’s great to be here.
Ned: So, Ally, could you begin by introducing yourself briefly to our listeners?
Ally: So I’m a sustainability consultant with a particular interest in deforestation legislation and governance, and relatedly, in optimising the life of wood and wood products through reuse, repair and recycle.
Ned: And that’s going to play into your recent role as a trustee with Oxford Wood Recycling.
Ally: Absolutely, yes. I’m delighted to be in that position. They’re part of the national Community Wood Recycling network, with the dual mission of increasing the sustainable use of wood, and improving the employability of people who might otherwise face barriers to working. So I’m busy with that. I’m also volunteering with Oxford City Farm, and I do a bit of conservation work for a local nature reserve too.
Ned: I love Oxford City Farm, it’s such a great organisation. And I’m happy to say that we’ve recorded an episode with Adrian Sell, who’s CEO over at Oxford Wood Recycling.
Ally: Yes, indeed.
Ned: You’ve mentioned to me a couple of times your interest in legislation for sustainability. Now, that’s one complicated area.
Ally: It is a complicated area. There’s a lot of it at different stages, sometimes at seemingly contradictory or backward-looking stages. But, yes, I try very hard to keep informed, particularly of a lot of EU legislative updates and developments, and what they might mean for us in the UK – not just around deforestation, but in related areas too.
Ned: Sure. And going back through your career, was that involved in legislation as well, in some way?
Ally: Yes. In my most recent career history, I was part of a responsible sourcing services provider, a company called Track Record Global, set up to provide timber due diligence. So that really whetted my appetite for this area. That company worked with large retail clients like Travis Perkins, Wickes, DFS, Dunelm and John Lewis, and it really got me involved in that whole area of deforestation legislation and governance.
Ned: That’s fantastic. And where were you before Track Record Global?
Ally: Prior to that, I was in academic publishing for many years, culminating in ops director roles. So, a different area, but an operational focus. And I like to think that now, in the sustainability work I do, my focus remains on translating often complex policy into clear communications, which in turn become clear operational practices.
Ned: Thanks, Ally, that’s brilliant. And thank you for joining us on The Impact Files podcast. So, now, sit back, and let’s get stuck into it together.
Cicada Consulting and The Impact Files
Ned Wells set up The Impact Files out of fascination with how businesses can meet near-term financial needs while doing right by people and planet.
His early career was in engineering and manufacturing management, then as a management consultant with with PwC
He was then head of strategy at a large web development agency, before founding, growing, merging and exiting a digital marketing agency.
Today he provides organisations with the marketing and digital leadership they need, without the cost of a full-time hire.