Meet The Team

Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak

Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak is a United Arab Emirates native who, for over twenty years, has played a vital role in guiding her country towards a more sustainable future while spearheading progressive environmental protection and species conservation across West Asia and globally.

HE Ms. Razan Al Mubarak was elected President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for a four-year term beginning in September 2021. She is the second woman to lead the organization in its 75-year history and its first president from West Asia.

In 2010 she was appointed managing director of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), becoming the youngest person to lead an Abu Dhabi government entity and one of the only women to hold such a position. Under her guidance and leadership, the government agreed to double its protected wildlife areas and adopt the region’s first carbon targets.

HE Ms. Razan Al Mubarak is the founding director of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, helping to build the organization into one of the world’s most significant philanthropic foundations supporting direct species conservation. Since its inception the MBZ Fund has supported more than 2,500 species conservation projects in over 160 countries, bringing many species back from the brink of extinction.

HE Ms. Razan Al Mubarak holds an MSc in Public Understanding of Environmental Change from the University College London, UK and a BA (Hons) in Environmental Studies and International Relations from Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA.

Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin

Dr. Mohieldin, is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. He has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020.

He was Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President’s Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda (later, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)), and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group’s Board of Governors.

Mr. Mohieldin also served on several Boards of Directors in the Central Bank of Egypt and the corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and selected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. His professional experience extends into the academic arena as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and as a Visiting Professor at several renowned Universities in Egypt, Korea, the UAE, the UK and the USA. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Durham University Business School. He also holds leading positions in national, regional and international research centers and economic associations.

Mr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom; a Master’s in Economics and Social Policy Analysis from the University of York, United Kingdom; a Diploma of Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University. He also participated in high-level certification programmes at Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University. In 2018, the American University in Cairo conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of Humane Letters “in recognition of renowned attainments and achievements”.

He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of economics, finance and development.

Kyra Appleby

Kyra is the tracking lead for the Climate Champions.   In this role she ensures the non-state actor community’s progress tracking infrastructure is trusted, transparent, accessible, and comprehensive. And that opportunities are identified where climate action from non-state actors encourages or helps to create the conditions for national governments to enhance ambition and accelerate  implementation.

Prior to joining the Climate Champions team, Kyra was the Global Director, Cities, States and Regions at CDP where she oversaw the annual climate reporting of over 1,200 cities, states and regions.

Kyra hold a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Earth Science from the Johns Hopkins University.

Jen Austin

Prior to the joining the Climate Champions Team, Jen was the Policy Director for the We Mean Business coalition where she led the coalition’s global policy strategy, working with coalition partners and the world’s leading businesses to articulate a compelling business case for ambitious climate policy around the world.  Prior to We Mean Business, Jen served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to the Special Envoy for Climate Change at the U.S. State Department. Jen has experience in international climate policy, economics, diplomacy, and strategic communications, having also worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. Jen’s first jobs out of college were as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Uganda and with the International Rescue Committee in Liberia. Jen has a Masters in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School where she wrote her thesis about global carbon markets, and got her undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. She is based in Washington, DC.

Ignace Beguin Billecocq

Ignace Beguin Billecocq is Ocean Lead for the Climate Champions since March 2021. Ignace is also Senior Manager, Ocean Stewardship Coalition, at the UN Global Compact. Ignace launched the Ocean Stewardship Coalition in 2018 with the objective to develop a global framework for Business Leadership in the Ocean to deliver on the Global Goals. The Coalition includes 150+ leading organizations in the ocean space, including global companies, public and private financial institutions, scientific institutions, civil society organizations and governments. Ignace worked with the UN Global Compact from 2014 to 2015 to mobilize companies in the lead up to the 2015 COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris. Previously he served as Senior Consultant for large corporations on responsible communication and integrated reporting. He holds a Master’s Degree on International and European Environmental Law from University Aix-Marseille, France.

He is the father of a young daughter and loves cycling and trekking.

Federico Bellone

Federico studied environmental science (BSc), environmental technology (MSc), and international relations (MA), as well as oceanography. Formerly he was Managing Director for Latin America at Porticus, a global international private foundation, where he developed long-term funding programs in key areas such as Education, Human Rights, and Socio-environmental sustainability in Latin America. Previously he served as international portfolio manager at Avina Foundation, where he developed programs for forest conservation in the Pan-Amazon Basin, and with the Spanish International Development Agency (AECID), where he designed biodiversity and sustainable livelihood programs across Latin America

He is passionate about regenerative design for people, communities, businesses, and ecosystems, and when not working or visiting the field he can be found taking long rides on my bicycle or sailing.

Tariro Bure

Tariro Bure is a program lead with extensive experience in launching projects and mobilising resources. She serves in the Climate Champions Finance team as the Strategic Coordinator, where she drives processes and supports initiatives in achieving systems transformation towards a net zero, resilient future.

Previously she was the coordinator of African Youth Networks Movement (AYNM) at Mandela Institute for Development Studies – an initiative by Mrs. Graça Machel where she was instrumental in the launch of AYNM and in setting up chapters which reach more than a million youth in 45 African countries.

Tariro was part of the founding team for African Leadership University (ALU) as Special Projects Associate to the Chairman. In this role, she spearheaded the campus accreditation and inauguration processes in coordination with the Government of Mauritius. She earned a BA in Global Economics and Management at Jacobs University Bremen in Germany.

Luciano Caratori

Luciano joins the High-Level Climate Champions team as Oil & Gas Transitions Lead on secondment from the Centre of Studies on Global Climate Change with Instituto and Fundación Torcuato Di Tella (ITDT/FTDT), Argentina.

His work with ITDT is focused on energy policy for the energy transitions, just transitions, and climate action planning, with two overarching themes: energy data and scenario planning.

Previously, Luciano served as Undersecretary of Energy Planning and National Director of Energy Information for Argentina’s Federal Government, as well as advisor to the vice chair of the Mining, Energy and Fuels Committee of his country’s National Senate.

Luciano represented Argentina in the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG) and the Secretariat of Energy in the National Cabinet for Climate Change (GNCC).

His independent consulting practice included the valuation of energy assets and the assessment of transition risks faced by energy companies, as well as strategic advisory to local and national governments in energy planning.

Sagarika Chatterjee

Sagarika is a sustainability professional with 15+ years’ experience in climate change and responsible investment. Led the PRI’s global climate change programme and UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance secretariat co-head. Launched Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero with COP26 Private Finance Hub while seconded to UNFCCC High-level Champions. From May 2022, UNFCCC Champions Finance Lead and GFANZ secretariat leadership team.

Her board positions have included: Director of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association, Charity investment sub-committee and trustee experience, and UK-China Green Finance Task Force member.

Lina Dabbagh

Lina Dabbagh, leads the Climate Champions CSO engagement. Previously she worked as Head of Policy Advocacy for Climate Action Network (CAN) the biggest Civil Society Network working on Climate Change with over 1600 members in 130 countries and focal point for the ENGO Constituency in the UNFCCC.

In her role Lina facilitated the development of civil society strategies in the UNFCCC and other international fora (in line with member priorities and opportunities for the year); and coordinated the development of CAN policy positions and submission documents. 

Lina is passionate about ensuring transparency, participation and access to  information to achieve just and equitable climate action. Lina holds a master’s in Regional Science of Latin America from University Cologne and a Postgraduate degree from Universidad Autonoma in Mexico. 

Lina was born and raised in Germany and moved to Mexico after graduating. She has two kids, a husband and a dog who keep her busy. She loves traveling, cooking, reading and animals.

Anjali Dwesar

Anjali works in the Events team at the Climate Champions, where she designs and delivers impactful events. She is from the organisation Leaders’ Quest – a social enterprise that helps leaders and companies align profit with purpose. As part of this role, she has helped manage leadership programmes across the UK, US and Middle East. She holds an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from the War Studies department at King’s College London.

Shivi Dwivedi

As well as leading youth engagment for the High-Level Champions, Shivi is a Campaign Advisor for Reboot The Future and an Associate with a catalytic collaboration start-up, Bridging Ventures.

Shivi’s last role was with Leaders’ Quest (LQ), a social enterprise that helps leaders and companies align profit with purpose. At LQ, she helped build and deliver client programmes and Open Quests in China, India, Israel, Palestine, the US and UK. Shivi originally joined LQ to help grow the Leaders’ Quest Foundation and its grassroots leadership development programme in India. This role included nurturing the partnerships involved – an ideal fit with her development and business background.

Shivi is deeply passionate about driving sustainable and ethical change and holds a master’s in social entrepreneurship. She began her career studying finance, and worked as a consultant with Protiviti Consulting, a global audit firm.

In addition to seeing herself as a lifelong dreamer, and a struggling pianist, Shivi loves travelling, reading, exploring underwater life, and animals. She dreams of opening an animal shelter with her partner one day!

Neliswa Fente Hare

Neliswa is a proud South African working as the Race to Resilience Campaign Manager and  Business Engagement Lead  since November  2021

She is seconded from Deloitte UK where she is leading Resilience within the ESG and Climate risk team.

Prior to joining Deloitte UK Neliswa Lead Deloitte Africa World Impact team, focusing on World Climate and World Class

An entrepreneur by background, she co- founded a youth led innovation consultancy that she sold to Deloitte focusing on advising corporate organisations on societal impact

Neliswa is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a former World Economic Forum Global Shaper and South African  Presidential Youth Working group for former president of South Africa.

She is a mother of two toddlers and has recently moved to the UK.

Camila Fernandez

Camila studied Administration and Business in Chile. Her career involves different processes and sectors; to work on social innovation and resilience in some of the most rural regions of Chile; to work as a government adviser on climate change and forestry in the ministry of agriculture; leading the strategy to increase the best sustainability and mitigation practices in the sector. She was part of the team as part of the COP25 Presidency team and as Chief of Staff of Gonzalo Muñoz. His last experience was in the private sector leading the ESG strategy and green finance in a bank in Chile.

Ramiro Fernández

Ramiro Fernández has more than 20 years working in sustainable development.

In he’s previous role he worked as Climate Change Director the Avina Foundation.

Since 2008 he has specialized in climate change and energy. With vast experience on participatory planning process on the energy sector and worked with national governments in the implementation of their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

In 2014 and 2015 he acted as senior advisor to the Minister of the Environment of Peru, as President of COP 20, and member of the Steering Committee of the “Lima Paris Action Agenda” at COP 21.

Ramiro is Vice-chair of the Advisory Council of the “Momentum for Change” initiative of the UNFCCC

Harald Friedl

Harald is a serial impact entrepreneur. Since 2017 he has been for 3 years the CEO of Circle Economy, an impact organization of 50 people based out of Amsterdam with a global reach. Circle Economy is a leading ecosystem builder that translates circular pathways into concrete action on the ground – with businesses, cities and nation states. Harald has extensive international experience running both for-profit and non-profit businesses with a focus on scaling impact. Prior to joining Circle Economy in 2017, Harald spent 5 years in South East Asia (Myanmar) where he co-founded the Impact Hub Myanmar and was Managing Director of a renewable energy company. Before that he spent time working  with the United Nations in New York and worked as spokesperson for the Austrian Government and advisor to the Austrian Deputy Prime Minister. Harald started his career as journalist and TV anchor and presented a daily show for economic news in Austria. Harald enjoys connecting with people, spending time in nature and nurturing ecosystems and people that are dedicated to making the world a better place for future generations.

Bex Porter

Bex is a senior structural engineer at Arup, with a focus on minimising the environmental impact of the built environment, particularly focussed on embodied carbon reductions. Bex has a large amount of practical construction stage delivery across a range of sectors and is passionate about holistic design from the outset of projects. She has worked on a number of projects utilising mass timber construction, including a wholly-timber gymnasium which overcame industry barriers to implementation through research, testing and client engagement.

Bex is one of the UKGBC Future Leaders cohort for 2021. She has a part-time secondment to the COP26 Climate Champions Team where he supports the COP26 High Level Champion in generating and proliferating industry and government ambition and action to decarbonise the built environment.

Peter Hall

Peter is Vice President and global director for sustainable and resilient infrastructure for the Wood organization working across all industry sectors.  He integrates sustainability and resilience into Wood projects to deliver outputs that support climate risks, community impact and align with finance.  He is the Ambassador for Climate Resilience at the Stimpson Center, manages the firms partnerships with the Resilience Cities Network (R-Cities) and supports partnerships with Microsoft, BP, Google and the Resilience Shift.   He developed & directs the Wood ‘ADAPT for Resiliency’ delivery platform to support business growth and integrated delivery from projects that can transform with outcomes a carbon neutral world, provide resilient infrastructure and align services to  communities with scalable solutions for measurable impact.  

He manages the Wood ResilienceLens Screen for Investments tool that was developed in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and R-Cities that can prioritize and measure infrastructure projects and their impacts to community benefits.  He has been with Wood for over 34 years and is based in Portland, Maine.  He has a B.Sc. Degree from St. Lawrence University, a Business Management Credential from USM School of Business and an Alliance for Water Stewardship Accredited Professional.

Catherine Harte

Catherine began her career as a journalist for the BBC in London and the Middle East. She covered news and current affairs from across the globe including producing the award winning Doha Debates programme based in Qatar. She went on to produce NPR’s foremost current affairs show On Point in the US, and Al Jazeera’s flagship environment show Earthrise. She’s also held a number of public and private sector Strategic Communications positions but recently returned to covering the most important story of our time – climate change. Latterly Catherine has been writing and producing investigative series for the Outrage + Optimism podcast hosted by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac and currently produces editorial content for the Climate Champions.

Naira Hatem

Currently based in Cairo, Naira holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Cairo University, excellent degree with honors. Naira is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Political Science from Cairo University. She was awarded a scholarship for an exchange year at the University of Chicago. Naira speaks English, Arabic and have some basic knowledge of French.

Her previous experience was with the United Nations Environment Programme, Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) as the MENA team intern, where she was a key player in several MENA activities. Naira assisted in the launch of the UN Reflective Cycle Report in English and French, and participated in the Arab Sustainable Development Week (ASDW).

During her undergraduate years, Naira interned with several ministries in Egypt as the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has also joined the UN Resident Coordinator office in Egypt (UNRCO) as an advocate for a UN initiative titled: SDGs Advocacy Programme where she sought to promote the SDGs amongst different communities in Egypt.

Mohamed Hegazy

Mohamed HEGAZY is an Associate – Road Transport Africa for the Climate Champions since April 2022. He is also the founder and Director of Transport for Cairo (TfC) L.L.P. TfC provides strategic advisory consultancy services, data, tech and research to improve urban mobility in emerging cities. With TfC, I successfully led the completion of more than 40 projects in 5 countries in Africa.

With 8 years of experience in project leadership, I focus on data collection, data aggregation, data science & urban computing to transform ideas into practice. Academically trained in Economics, Sociology and Public Policy design, I specialize in solving real world problems around deep decarbonisation of transport, informal system change management and digitalisation of transport using data-driven methodologies.

Born in Cairo, Egypt and have cum laude degrees in Economics from the American University in Cairo (2012) and Governing the Large Metropolis from Sciences Po, Paris (2018). Received training at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Columbia University, New York (2018). Currently based in Cairo.

David Howlett

David is Head of Policy at the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP), and is also the focal point on resilience and adaptation for the Marrakech Partnership on Global Climate Action. David is seconded from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). He has over thirty five years’ experience in development in Africa, Asia and the Pacific with an academic background in chemistry, soil science, and agriculture.

Patricia Hudson

Patricia is responsible for driving effective coordination, expansion and alignment across the GFANZ sector alliances  by establishing a high-functioning Secretariat and helping to develop and execute work plans for the CEO-led task forces and steering committee working groups.

Patricia has more than 15 years of experience at global asset management firms, most recently as head of ESG strategy for State Street Corporation, where she helped launch the Sustainable Markets Initiative Task Force for Asset Managers and Asset Owners and presented on ESG investing at the Aspen Institute, the IIF, OMFIF and other institutional investor forums. While at State Street Global Advisors, she was part of the Fearless Girl campaign to increase gender diversity on corporate boards.  She also worked for BNY Mellon Investment Management, Bridgewater Associates and Wellington Management.

Patricia started her career as a political and financial journalist, covering the fall of the Berlin Wall and German unification, and later European capital markets for Bloomberg News. Patricia has a B.A. with honors in European history and German from Harvard University and did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was awarded a Mellon Fellowship, as well as the University of Hamburg, where she was a DAAD Fellow.

Albena Ivanova

Albena completed her studies at Imperial College London with an MSc in Environmental Technology. She started her career at Veolia UK in 2016 working on a number of innovation projects, with a main focus on industrial battery storage, energy flexibility and electrification of fleets.

In May 2020, Albena moved to Octopus Energy Group, starting at Octopus Electric Vehicles as a Project Manager for the government funded innovation project Powerloop, aiming to introduce Vehicle- to-Grid into the domestic sector. In October 2021 she started as Innovation Project Manager in the Generation team focusing on renewable generation projects.

In her free time, Albena is a keen ultimate frisbee and netball player, newbie surfer and passionate gardener. Originally Bulgarian, Albena grew up between Bulgaria and Slovakia and is currently living in London.

Jabri Ibrahim

Jabri holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Environmental Conservation and Natural Resource Management from The University of Nairobi. He also holds a Law Degree (LLB) from The University of Nairobi Law School where he specialized in Environmental Law, Energy Law, Climate Law and Biodiversity Law.

He joins the Champions team having worked at the Stakeholder Engagement Team of the UNFCCC Secretariat and has prior multilateral experience working at UNEP, Red Cross Kenya and Crevit Mulier (a legal bureau based in Nairobi) as well as volunteering at Greenpeace Africa and the Kenya Environmental Action Network.

In his free time, he enjoys hiking, painting, solving puzzle games, volunteering and exploring new places.

He speaks fluent Kiswahili and basic Arabic. Jabri currently resides in Nairobi, Kenya.

Bridget Jackson

She is seconded from PwC UK where she has been the Chief Sustainability Officer since 2010. A strategist by background, with a degree in languages from Oxford, an MBA from INSEAD and an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial, she held multiple leadership positions in industry and in a global management consultancy before joining PwC in 2010, where she focused on setting science-based targets, driving innovative decarbonisation programmes, employee behaviour change, and establishing nature based solutions.

Bridget is a Fellow of the Marketing Society and the Institute for Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, a former Commissioner of the London Sustainable Development Commission, and is seen as a leader in driving environmental best practice.

In her spare time she is a keen cyclist that likes to head to the alpine passes.

Melanie Jamieson

Melanie is the Director of Dialogues & Events for the Climate Champions, and a Managing Partner at Leaders’ Quest.

For the Climate Champions, Melanie leads the Events Team to curate high quality, impactful events that deepen trust and human engagement, and support regional relationships for radical collaboration.

For more than a decade in her work at Leaders’ Quest, Melanie has supported global organisations on journeys of transformation to create purposeful, innovative cultures that drive sustainable, just growth. She’s designed and delivered programmes around the world to foster radical collaboration, and build diverse partnerships across companies, civil society and grassroots communities.

Early in her career, Melanie toured Australia and the UK as a singer-songwriter, and delivered music programmes for at-risk youths living in marginalised communities. She then spent the next chapter of her work focused on enabling community-based organisations to bring their brand and communications into alignment with the people they serve, including London-based youth charity, Greenhouse.

Bogolo Joy Kenewendo

Bogolo is an African Economist with expertise and years proven experience in trade & investment policy, industrial development policy, macroeconomic policy, public finance management, regulatory frameworks and reforms and private sector capacity building & development. She is a Former Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry for the Republic of Botswana. Bogolo is a Gender and Youth Activist that has been active for 15 years advocating for the inclusion of young people in decision making in Botswana and the rest of Africa, served as Botswana’s first youth representative to the United Nations and a Global representative for the other countries’ representative to the secretariat.

Alex Joss

Alex leads our work in technology, innovation, and venture capital. Most recently, he was Chief of Staff at a rapidly growing AI start-up. Prior to that, he previously spent 5 years at McKinsey & Company, leading projects in high-tech industries, private equity, and the public sector.

Lisa Larsen

Lisa has a long track record of building, developing and leading high performing teams and social purpose organizations. Over the past 20 years she has worked in senior roles related to public service research and consultancy, including the Behavioural Insights Team, Accenture and the Nordic sustainability house, Ramboll.

She combines operational expertise with a deep understanding of what it takes to shape high performing teams and deliver social impact – from strategy to implementation; performance improvement; budget management; proposals and fundraising; thought leadership and market positioning; research and evaluation.

In addition to her role with the Climate Champions Team, Lisa leads a module in Health Policy Delivery, part of an MSc programme at Imperial College London.  She holds a Cand.Scient.Pol in Political Science from Copenhagen University.

Alexandria Lee

Alex is a Consultant in Accenture’s Sustainability Strategy practice, based out of New York.

Alex also holds an MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University and a BS in Supply Chain, Marketing Management from Syracuse University.

Kelly Levin

Kelly is a senior associate with WRI’s global climate program and WRI’s Director of Tracking and Strengthening Climate Action. She focuses her work on supporting countries in the design and tracking of climate commitments, as well as planning for long-term transitions associated with decarbonization. Kelly is also currently a lecturer with Yale’s School of Environment. With the Champions Team, Kelly will be supporting the tracking of progress towards systems change and the race to zero’s goals.

Kelly holds a PhD and Master of Environmental Management from Yale’s School of Environment and a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale College. She has been awarded the Google Climate Science Communication Fellowship and the Academic Council on the United Nations System Dissertation Award, and is a Switzer Fellow, Teresa Heinz Scholar, and Udall Scholar.

Rhiannon Ledger

Rhiannon works within the Climate Champions Events team, curating diverse and impactful events. Previously she supported the High Level Climate Champion, Nigel Topping, as his Executive Assistant. Prior to working with the Climate Champions, Rhiannon worked as a Programme Coordinator at Leaders’ Quest, where she worked on programming, logistics and delivery of leadership development programmes and workshops around the world. Rhiannon has also produced events and carried out research on the future of work and the workplace and has a BSc in Business & Management from Aston University. She enjoys collaborating with diverse teams from around the globe, to bridge gaps, build connections and enhance the impact of business on people and the planet.

Daniela Lerario

Daniela is a Brazilian biologist and mother of two young boys. With an MBA in waste management, Daniela has worked as an environmental consultant and manager for the sustainability area of the biggest national food retailer in LatAm.  She started her journey in the surprising universe of street waste pickers and the vulnerable population working in Cooperativas. Member of The New Plastics’ Economy of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation from 2016-2019, and panel expert for the recently launched study ‘Breaking the Plastic Wave’ (Pew Charitable and SystemiQ). Resident of the House of Beautiful Business since 2019.

Fiona Macklin

Fiona began her career focusing on student support in higher education. She worked in the UK, France, Germany before moving to Australia to pursue a Masters in International Development. During her time in Australia, Fiona led an Emergency Services team for the Red Cross to support victims of the 2019 Bushfire season.

She graduated with a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge and completed a Masters in International Development Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Outside of work, she’s currently learning Arabic and training for a half ironman.

Steven Moore

Steven Moore is responsible for the Climate Action Programme at the GSMA, the mobile industry association. His role is to provide leadership to support and accelerate the industry transition to Net Zero by 2050. He works with the 50+ operators in the GSMA Climate Action Taskforce on climate policy, strategy and research covering energy efficiency, renewables, supply chain engagement, connectivity to reduce emissions, and climate adaptation and resilience.

Steven holds an MSc in Environmental Technology and is an experienced environmental professional having worked on climate action for the past 15 years, at BT, as a consultant at Deloitte, and for the innovative start-up, dcarbon8.

Twitter: @mooresteven

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-moore-477527b/

Randa Mounir

Randa Leads on Africa and Middle East Engagement. She is an environmental and climate change expert with over 25 years of experience in the fields of environmental management, consulting and working in private sector, and holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science & Technology, London UK. 

Prior to that, she served as the Climate Change Policy Manager at FCDO for the British Embassy in Cairo leading on Climate engagement and lobbying plan with Egypt for COP26 and advising post on all Climate change, Energy and green projects. 

 Randa also served as the Senior Advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Environment, where she was responsible for international cooperation.  During her tenure at the Ministry, she also served as the Director of the Green Climate Unit Fund-Egypt, where she oversaw climate financing in Egypt and supported local projects.

 Prior to moving to Egypt, Randa worked and lived in Canada, where her experience spans environmental consulting as well as multinationals with Schlumberger and Talisman Energy Inc. Having worked in North America, Japan, Europe, and the Arab world, Randa brings deep technical expertise and extensive exposure to international climate efforts home to the region.

Fiona Napier

Fiona is an independent consultant, based in Nairobi. She channels her interest in young people’s futures, promoting accountable governance and protecting the natural world, through her consultancy work and in a personal capacity. She is a trustee of  the Environmental Funders Network,  and sits on the strategic advisory board of Leaders Quest.

Previous experience includes International Advocacy Director with the Open Society Foundations, Associate Campaigns Director on Environmental Governance at Global Witness in London, and Save the Children.  Fiona was a founder board member of the Ethical Trade Initiative, and co-founded the Publish What You Pay campaign which led to the establishment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Mohamed Nady

Mahmoud Nady is an Egyptian nature lover currently based in Bonn, Germany. Nady is a natural resources management scientist with a diverse background in academia, research, and consulting. He is currently serving as the land-use system transformation lead, where he is responsible for the delivery of land use breakthroughs, and supports global initiatives for the restoration, conservation, and management of land use. Nady holds a master’s degree in applied ecology and environmental management and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Climate and Nature Based Solutions at Bonn University.

During his time with the European Commission, Nady has been a part of several global ecosystem valuation projects. Additionally, he has been a part of the Climate Protection Fellowship program for young climate leaders in Germany, further expanding his knowledge and experience in the field. His expertise and dedication to the field of natural resources management and climate change make him a valuable asset in the pursuit of sustainable land use practices. These experiences have given him a deep understanding of the complex interactions between human society and the natural world. He is passionate about using this knowledge to promote sustainable and nature-positive practices. He has dedicated his professional career to this purpose and continues to work towards it. He strives to build a more resilient and sustainable relationship between humans and nature. 

Jacinda Njike

Jacinda joins the Climate Champions team on a part-time secondment as the Business Engagement Manager with focus on Africa.

As an international corporate transactional attorney, Jacinda supports clients in their ESG journey and developing strategies to Net Zero. She is in the Office of the General Counsel, ESG Community Leader, AML and Sanctions SME for Risk & Quality, and Net Zero project manager. In these roles, she implements the Net Zero project for PwC Sub Saharan Francophone Africa and established the ESG practice for the region. Her work with clients includes project finance, drafting policies and contract provisions, developing and rolling out transformation strategies, mergers and acquisitions and real estate.  Her legal experience spans various industries, including construction, infrastructure, financial services, regulated markets, telecommunications, and transportation.

Jacinda has a JD from Northwestern University School of Law, associate at Jones Day and Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons) international law firms, founded a Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, Illinois, was appointed SSA Commissioner, adjunct professor of law and has participated in corporate legal and governance transactions in Central and West Africa for over 6 years.

She enjoys writing, baking and photography.

Charlotte Owen-Burge

Charlotte has worked as a journalist and editor in Brussels and London since 2008.

She began her career as an environment correspondent, specialising in EU energy and climate policy before working in London as a magazine editor. From 2014-2020 she was the BBC’s Senior Commercial Editor, delivering multimedia content campaigns on platforms that included BBC World News and BBC Earth. She holds a degree in Politics from Bristol University.

Any spare time Charlotte has is spent outdoors, sharing her passion for nature with her two young children and working on her website The Skylark.

Katharine Palmer

Katharine Palmer is the global head of sustainability for Lloyd’s Register.. With nearly 20 years’ experience in the shipping industry she is an established thought leader and expert on environment and sustainability  within the maritime value chain.

Katharine represents Lloyd’s Register on many industry forums and collaborative initiatives including the UN Global Compact, Getting to Zero Coalition and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and is currently the co-chair of the IMarEST Technical Leadership Board and an elected trustee on the Board of the Sustainable Shipping initiative.

Dania Petrik

Dania is a climate and development specialist with experience as a consultant, applied policy researcher and technical adviser. In her professional career, Dania has worked extensively on numerous projects related to building resilience in the water, biodiversity and livelihoods sectors across some of the most at-risk countries in Africa. In a policy and governance context, Dania’s expertise lies in identifying transversal climate risks in particular contexts across different regions and countries, as well as establishing what the relevant entry points are for mainstreaming climate priorities into local development plans and national climate-related policies, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

In her project management experience, Dania has also gained extensive stakeholder engagement practice – working with a multitude of different actors, from academia, NGOs, youth groups, the private sector, multilateral organisations, donors, journalists and local and national government authorities. Prior to graduating with a Masters in Energy and Development Studies in 2014, Dania worked in communications and marketing for several years.

Dania loves the great outdoors and her passion for working in the climate field stems from a deep love of nature and protecting the planet’s natural resources. She is a qualified mountain guide, and you can find her hiking the rugged landscapes of South Africa in her spare time.

Jade Phillips

Jade joined the Climate Champions team in September 2020 and is part of the Events Curation team responsible for events up to, and including COP26.

Before this, Jade spent 10 years with Leaders’ Quest (LQ) – a social enterprise which creates immersive programmes to help leaders explore critical global issues. Jade worked with a range of multinational clients on programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. Prior to LQ, Jade delivered senior leadership programmes at the London Business School, where her client portfolio (Nestlé, Arup and RTZ) took her to Hong Kong, Switzerland and the US.

Jade graduated with a BSc in Communications and Cultural Studies from London Metropolitan University. She lives in London with her partner Ebi and their two energetic young sons. In her spare time (!), she enjoys concocting her own skin/hair care range, experimenting in the kitchen and considers herself a massive foodie!

Matthew Phillips

For the last ten years, Matthew has led strategic communications and campaigns to advance the climate action agenda. His work to support the international climate negotiations has included positions at UN Climate Change, Mission 2020, and initially as an Advisor in Christiana Figueres’ ‘groundswell unit’ in the run-up to the Paris Agreement.

Before joining the Climate Champions, Matthew managed the Reporting & Tracking team at UN Climate Change and acted as co-Chair of the Camda community – a network of over 30 data analysts dedicated to showcasing and tracking climate actions.

Matthew is also a Co-founder of Beautiful Corporations – a sustainability engagement agency he established in 2013. He holds a degree in Modern History from the University of St Andrews.

Emmanuelle Pinault

Emmanuelle leads the Policy Engagement Team at Climate Champions. In this role, she is providing political and diplomatic advice to the HLCs and delivering strategic engagement to enhance radical collaboration between National governments and Non-State Actors (NSA) and activate ambition and action loops at the global and national levels. This includes engaging the Champions in key multilateral spaces, supporting multi stakeholder processes in priority countries, and ensuring meaningful participation of NSA in the Global Stocktake, with the ultimate goal to keep global warming to 1.5 degree.

Prior to joining Climate Champions, Emmanuelle was the Director of City Diplomacy of C40 Cities, a network of nearly 100 megacities working together to tackle climate change, where she led C40 engagement in UNFCCC and other UN processes, the G20 and IPCC, through key initiatives such as the Compact of Mayors, GCoM, GCAS, Cities Race to Zero, CitiesIPCC and Urban20. Before that, she was an advisor to several governments on diplomacy, cooperation, climate change, sustainable development, culture and education. 

Emmanuelle holds a Bachelor Degree in International Relations from Science-Po Lyon and a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the EHESS – Paris. Born and raised in France, she lived in seven different countries across Europe, Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia, and likes to define herself as a global citizen. She is the mother of three boys whom she proudly raises as feminists. 

Saurabh Punamiya Jain

Saurabh served as Special Secretary to the Minister of Environment & Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra and still continues to be on the Minister’s advisory panel. He is seconded from WRI India.

He has worked closely with WRI, C40 cities to give the city of Mumbai its first climate action plan and has co-led 43 cities of Maharashtra to sign up for the Race to Zero. Saurabh is a Chartered Accountant with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, United Kingdom. He also holds a Masters Degree in Commerce.  At present, he is on a scholarship with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for his public policy studies at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. He will also be a Sous-Sherpa from Mumbai for the U20 Cities Coalition at the G20 Summit.

Saurabh is keen on raising India’s Net Zero ambition and he intends to mobilise the governments across all tiers in India to invest in a New Climate Economy Study. He  also intends on having more Indian Financial Institutions participate in the GFANZ initiative

In his spare time, he likes playing tennis and road biking.

Stephanie Robinson

Driven by her ambition to shift the perspective on sustainability and encourage businesses to invest in their future by investing in nature, Stephanie Robinson works as the Business Development Manager for My Green Lab.  In her role, she combines her expertise in science with her passion for sustainability. Stephanie has previously worked for a government agency in New Zealand as a Healthy Waters Specialist, where she successfully designed and delivered environmental restoration programs aimed at combating the effects of climate change.

After earning her master’s degree in Green Chemistry from the University of Auckland, Stephanie continued to teach undergraduate chemistry to illustrate the vital aspects of chemistry to her students. In addition to her accomplishments in science and sustainability, Stephanie is an advocate for encouraging young women to pursue STEM careers. She has been a guest speaker at numerous events about women in STEM careers, including the 2020 Women in Water event in Auckland, New Zealand.

​Stephanie believes in the powerful combination of science and engagement to bring about meaningful change. Using her knowledge of green chemistry and her excellence at connecting with people, Stephanie aspires to make sustainability a necessity for all businesses – both inside and outside the laboratory.

Fabio Scaffidi-Argentina

Fabio is the Communications Associate working with Communications Director Matthew Phillips.

He previously coordinated the comms and marketing at Outrage + Optimism, a Global Optimism podcast by Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres and Paul Dickinson.

Fabio obtained his MSc in Strategic Marketing at Imperial College London. Here he helped the Climate Investment Challenge, an academic non-profit, become the globally largest student-led climate finance competition in 2021 allocating funding to innovative climate finance solutions.

Fabio grew up around Europe and is multilingual. He enjoys the outdoors as well as sports, such as scuba diving and skiing.

Juanita Silva

Juanita is a sociologist from Chile, who has participated in several social projects, focusing on migration, poverty and gender related issues. She combines her deep understanding of social problems with her eagerness to improve the living conditions for those most vulnerable.

Previously she worked coordinating the youth engagement agenda for COP25 and the Ministry of Environment. She worked with different stakeholders in order to enhance youth participation at every level, focusing on involving young people in the process through the Young Negotiators Program, COY15.

Juanita is co-founder of the Dar Hogar foundation in Chile, a project that builds houses for underprivileged families, and she is a director in Tremendas, a small NGO dedicated to the empowerment of young girls who work on diverse projects related to the SDGs.

Hanan Sakr

Hanan is the Resilience Finance Lead with the Climate Champions Team. She is Dubai based, with over 20 years of diversified experience in the MENAT region across; Investment Banking, Financial Advisory, ESG Advisory & Financing, Capital Structuring and C-suite Relationship Management. During her recent role as the Sustainability Lead and Energy Sector Head for HSBC – MENAT, she has been supporting governments and companies across 8 markets with; structuring their capital, Financing strategies, ECA, Project Financing, Capital Markets’ issuances, ESG strategies & financing. Hanan originated and executed the first Green H2 deal for HSBC globally in 2021.

As the Resilience Finance Lead, Hanan develops the strategy and plans for the Climate Champions team on:

• financing Adaptation & Resilience breakthroughs. Identify and secure new partnership opportunities in the finance sector to secure support for the “Race to Resilience”. Support FIs and others to scale-up mobilization of capital to the global south.  
• Carbon Markets, lead the launch of the ”Africa Carbon Market Initiative“ in COP27.
• Leading Africa engagement across various governments, FIs, regulatory bodies with the objective to encourage collaboration between demand and supply side to unlock African carbon market potential, and develop carbon projects with co-benefits.

Hanan is a CFA-ESG holder, Certified Hydrogen Expert, and a Harvard MSc (Sustainability) student. 

She speaks Arabic,English and Spanish and is a UAE Golden resident.

Sara Simonds

Sara Noonan Simonds serves as the GFANZ Partner Alliance Lead as part of the Climate Champions Team. She leads on strategic engagement with the GFANZ sector-specific alliances to accelerate the transition to net zero, including liaising with the Race to Zero and EPRG teams, in order to amplify and elevate best practices, address shared challenges, and engage on global net zero policy issues. Sara brings deep experience engaging with the C-suite at global institutional investment firms through her work at Focusing Capital on the Long Term (FCLTGlobal). 

In her prior role as Director of Strategic Engagement at FCLT Global, Sara worked closely with leading global asset owners, asset managers, and corporations to contribute to evidence-based research, collaborate across the investment value chain, and build awareness for practical actions that drive long-term value for all stakeholders. Prior to FCLT Global, Sara worked with the United Nations Capital Development Fund supporting poverty alleviation through financial inclusion in the least developed countries. Sara began her career in institutional fixed income sales and trading at Merrill Lynch, followed by roles in corporate strategy and finance. Sara is currently an adjunct professor in the Strategy and Innovation department at Boston University.

Sara is the co-founder of Inspired Nation, a non-profit that supports youth vocal artists and raises money and awareness for youth-oriented charities, and an advisor to Coaches Across Continents, an internationally recognized leader in sport for social impact in developing countries. Sara holds dual citizenship with Sweden and the U.S. and is a graduate of Harvard College and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Mazen Soueidan

Mazen is Emerging Markets and Developing Economies Lead, responsible for supporting efforts to accelerate the mobilisation and scale-up of capital in support of the climate change agenda in these countries.

In this capacity and in the run-up to COP27, in collaboration with the UN Regional Economic Commissions and COP27 Presidency, he helped convene the series of 5 UN regional finance forums designed to bring project proponents and financiers together in support of the climate change agenda, and successfully oversaw efforts to produce an expansive list of potential financing opportunities, and the Climate Champions’ Assets to Flows report.

A senior banking executive with over 20 years of coverage and product experience across the UK and MENAT, Mazen is seconded full-time from HSBC. Most recently as Regional Head of Wholesale Portfolio Management, MENAT, he was responsible for overseeing all regional corporate and institutional lending activity and associated governance, a key objective of the role being to ensure balance sheet growth in a manner that optimises return and risk, whilst also addressing other critical imperatives including those relating to climate strategy and targets, and helping clients with their ESG transition agenda.  Prior to this, Mazen was HSBC’s Regional Head of Leveraged and Acquisition Finance, MENAT, responsible for leading the origination and execution of event and flow financing across loan and bond capital markets.

Mazen holds a BSc. Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London. He has recently successfully completed Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Sustainable Finance course. 

 During his spare time, Mazen’s activities and areas of interest include cycling, football, history and international relations. 

Mazen speaks Arabic and English and is based in the UAE.

Kate Strachan

Kate holds a PhD in coastal science and has a nearly a decade of experience in climate change, coastal and resilience management. Kate has a wealth of experience when it comes to supporting local and subnational governments across the African continent plan and respond to the impacts of climate change. Her experience includes developing adaptation and resilience plans, mainstreaming nature-based solutions, ecosystem-based adaptation, coastal management plans, ad  climate risk identification. Kate has been involved in drafting policies, plans and  several guidelines and training modules to support this work. She has also most recently been  working with national governments across Sub-Saharan Africa with increasing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ambitions and strengthening their adaptation and resilience  targets. As well as establishing what the relevant entry points are for mainstreaming climate priorities into local development plans and national climate-related policies, such as NDCs.

During her professional career, Kate has project managed a number of highly strategic projects at ICLEI Africa including the Urban Natural Assets: Coasts for Life, which supported coastal cities with mainstreaming nature into coastal management planning; a project which supported coastal cities in the West Indian Ocean region with enhancing their climate change adaptation and resilience capacity; and IMPACT which investigated how African cities can implement collaboration mechanisms that enable Improved Municipal Planning in African CiTies (IMPACT) for climate resilient development.

Irene Suárez Pérez

Irene is the nature-based solutions lead for the Climate Champions, focusing on 2030 breakthrough targets, with objectives that include:

• Strengthen nature’s place in the Races and create a nature positive narrative with partners;
• Increase financial flows for nature-based solutions;
• Ensure financial institutions commit to tackling commodity driven deforestation by 2025;
• Promote corporations tackling commodity driven deforestation and contribute to a nature positive economy by 2030.

Irene was nature-based solutions lead for the United Nations Secretary General in the lead up to the Climate Action Summit. She was also lead the Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC) at the UNFCCC where she had previously advised on adaptation and loss and damage.

Irene was a lead UNFCCC negotiator for Costa Rica, whilst she was Senior climate advisor for The Nature Conservancy. She is an economist by training and specialized in development studies in The Netherlands.

She is the mother of Javier and loves being in nature and trekking.

Kiran Sura

Kiran joins the Climate Champions team on a part-time secondment from PwC where she is an Assistant Director in the Sustainability & Climate Change practice covering international climate policy and finance. Alongside her work with the Climate Champions team, Kiran leads the delivery of BEIS’s flagship climate negotiations programme supporting developing countries and small island states to engage in international climate processes, and is steering PwC’s engagement in COP27. Kiran is a member of WBCSD’s Climate Policy Expert Working Group and sits on the Advisory Board of Climate Home News.

During her time at PwC Kiran has provided technical input and strategic oversight on several global, multi-year, international climate and development projects for a number of donors including the UK (BEIS and FCDO), the Netherlands (DGIS), Germany (BMUB and IKI), Norway (Norad and NICFI) and the U.S. (State Department).

Prior to joining PwC, Kiran served as an economist for the UK government with spells in DCLG and Defra. She joined the UK Committee on Climate Change in 2007 as lead economic advisor on the UK’s long term (2050) emissions reduction target and latter on adaptation.

Kiran holds an MSc in Economics with reference to Sub-Saharan Africa from SOAS, and a BSc in Economics from City University.

Tanmay Takle

Tanmay serves as a Special Advisor to the Minister for Environment & Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra. He is seconded from WRI India.

Tanmay has led the efforts to get 43 cities in Maharashtra in the Race to Zero and has co-led efforts for Maharashtra’s entry to the Race to Resilience. He has worked closely with the city of Mumbai to draft South Asia’s first net-zero aligned climate action plan and will be a Sous-Sherpa for the city at the U20 cities summit. He has also initiated several climate action plans for multiple million-plus cities in the state.

More recently, he is working with the Government of Maharashtra to set up its Chief Minister headed council on climate change. Going forward, Tanmay is keen on helping states and cities quantify the economic opportunities that net-zero targets present. He also intends to get more financial institutions in the country to participate in the the GFANZ coalition.

Tanmay is pursuing an M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. In his free time, you can find him playing drums, bass or listening to R&B.

Marcia Toledo Sotillo

Marcia is a senior professional with 20+ years of work experience designing climate programs and managing portfolios and providing strategic direction to accelerate climate implementation. Her key focus is on adaptation and resilience pathways, spanning 70 countries worldwide.

Marcia has extensive experience in strategic positioning, thought-leadership and partnership creation by influencing key decision makers, coalitions and platforms with global climate actors.

Puninda Thind

Puninda Thind serves as the Finance Nature Lead, focusing on catalyzing finance sector action to address nature-related risks and leverage value creation opportunities to increase financial flows towards nature-based solutions.

For the last decade, she has worked at the intersection of sustainable investing and climate resilience. At BentallGreenOak, one of the largest global real estate investment advisors, she spearheaded the implementation of the organization’s ESG strategy and reporting. She also led the project team that conducted one of the largest ESG-focused surveys of global real estate investors, in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).

Most recently, as a Senior Sustainability Consultant, she helped private sector clients, including large Canadian banks, investment managers, mining, and consumer goods companies, prepare climate strategies and develop disclosures aligned with leading and emerging global reporting frameworks and standards, including, TCFD, SASB, GRI Standard and IIRC.

Puninda has contributed to the Race to Zero criteria consultation process as a working group member of the ‘net zero finance and disclosure of climate-related risks’ working group. She holds a Bachelors of Environment and Business (Honours) from the University of Waterloo and a MSc Sustainability, Enterprise, and Environment from the University of Oxford. She is also active in climate advocacy as a member of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Puninda has been previously named as one of Canada’s top 30 under 30 sustainability leaders and one of Canada’s top 25 environmentalists under 25.

Puninda is based in the UK.

Nigel Tonks

Nigel is a Director of Arup with 30 years experience in the building industry. He is a member of the UKIMEA Board, where he holds the Regional portfolio for Sustainable Development.  He leads the Building group in London, comprising Engineers, Architects and specialists. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers, with a background in the mechanical engineering and environmental design of buildings.  He fosters a multidisciplinary environment, leading multi-professional collaborations with signature architects, delivering passive and low energy developments. Nigel has delivered high quality sustainable development in the UK and around the world. His recent projects include the renovation of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the headquarters for the Nobel Institute in Stockholm, the Edinburgh Music Venue and the headquarters building for Amorepacific in Seoul and for Rolex in New York.

Frances Way

Frances joined the Climate Champions on secondment from CDP where she is Chief Strategy Officer. CDP is an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to measure and reduce their environmental impacts. Prior to CDP, she worked in the private finance sector, primarily at Dresdner Kleinwort’s Global Equities Division. Frances sits on the board of EIRIS Foundation and holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College.

Hellen Wanjohi-Opil

Hellen works as the Resilience African Cities Lead at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and is on full-time secondment to the Climate Champions. She holds an Msc.(Climate Change & Adaptation) as well as a B.A.(Urban and Regional Planning). She has over twelve years of experience within both the rural and urban space in Africa, particularly working at the grassroots with vulnerable communities. Hellen has been involved in participatory planning for land tenure regularization and infrastructure development in over 20 informal settlements, and planning with marginalized communities in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASALs).

Hellen has also worked extensively with city, regional and national authorities in the preparation of over 15 development plans in Kenya and Rwanda. Her experience also includes consulting work on multiple donor-funded projects in the areas of climate resilience, urban governance, urban investment planning, policy, gender, and social inclusion. Hellen also has previously consulted for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) providing technical expertise on county spatial planning, and at the Climate Change Planning Unit at UN-Habitat.

Hellen is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where she lives with her husband and three children.

Tessa Vincent

Tessa joins Race to Zero as the Campaign Consultant, working directly with Campaigns Manager, Fiona Macklin.

Tessa has a Law and Politics background and has worked for Judges, Members of Parliament and a Minister in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She has experience in the NGO sector enhancing climate philanthropy and setting up coalitions to improve food security and tackle food waste.

Tessa recently moved to the United Kingdom to study a Masters of Public Policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. She thrives being involved in initiatives which aim to collectively solve climate issues.

Outside of work, she’s a keen runner, hiker and loves coffee outings!

Tessa is currently working Wednesdays but will join the team full time in July 2022. She will be based in London from September 2022.

Priya Yadav

Priya, who is a proud Haryanvi from India, works with Ashleigh in Carbon Dioxide Removal Team.

Priya graduated from IIT madras with a Master’s in Science. The urge to provide solutions took her to the path of social entrepreneurship. She founded Organic for Climate. OfC provides web-based integrity solutions via research, consultancy, and education in the field of sustainable food systems and agriculture. She also has past experiences working as a Physics faculty for 4+ years and has volunteered for international organizations focused on sustainability.  She believes in work that empowers individuals with tools to bring positive impact on society and human-nature relationships.