ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS CONFERENCE 2025
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SPEAKERS

Please be patient for updates as we are currently in the process of updating speakers lined up for GEMFS 2023!

OPENING KEYNOTE

EDWARD B. BARBIER

Author & University Distinguished Professor

FEATURED SPEAKERS

AMY BOURNE

Director, Global Sustainability, Marriott International

DAVID HILL

Chairman, The Environment Bank, UK

MATHEW NESPECA

Head of ESG and New Business Models, Envu

LAURA GRANT

Biodiversity Net Gain Market Policy Lead, UK Defra

KATIE WU

Director, Global Impact, KKR

CHARLES BEDFORD

Chief Impact Officer, Carbon Growth Partners

JODY BICKEL

Chief Executive Officer, Creekbank Associates

ELLIOTT BOUILLION

Founder and Vice Chairman, Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)

BRETT BOVEE

President, WestWater Research

ANGELA BRICMONT

Chief of Finance, Denver Water

TED BROWN

Senior Water Resources Engineer, Practice Leader, Biohabitats

TIM BROWN

CEO, Tradewater, LLC

JAY CASHUBEC

Head of Business Development, North America, Nature Metrics

MARK CASSALIA

Senior Business Engagement Manager, Pacific Institute

MEGAN REILLY CAYTEN

Senior Investment Manager, Climate Asset Management

TIM COLES

Director & CEO, re-PLANET

STEPHEN D'ESPOSITO

President & CEO, Resolve and Regeneration | Board of Trustees

ADAM DAVIS

Managing Partner, Ecosystem Investment Partners

MARK DESANTIS

CEO, Bloomfield Robotics

PAUL DETTMANN

Founder, Cassinia Environmental

SUSAN N. DORSEY

Senior VP-Finance, Administration & Impact Investing, Gates Family Foundation

CRAIG EBERT

President, Climate Action Reserve

HANNIE FISHER

Director, Sustainability and Decarbonization, Civitas Resources

CONOR GILLESPIE

CEO, Ecotone, Inc.

SAM GLEDHILL

Head of Commercial, Trove Research

BEN GUILLON

CEO, Conservation Investment Management

NED HARVEY

CEO and Co-Founder, Digital Gaia

TRAVIS HEMMEN

President and General Manager, Westervelt Ecological Services

PETER HOWELL

Interim Executive Director, The Conservation Finance Network

GEORGE KELLY

Chief Executive Officer, Earth Recovery Partners

MARK KIESER

Senior Scientist & Principal, Kieser & Associates, LLC

PIETER KRANS

Deputy Director, ICF Climate Center

DAVID LACH

Director Natural Climate Solutions, Anew Climate

JASON LEE

Director, Quantified Ventures

DOUG MACNAIR

Technical Manager, Capitals Coalition

TIM MALE

Executive Director, Environmental Policy Innovation Center

STEVEN MARTIN

Mitigation Specialist

LAUREN MECHAK

Senior Director, Asset Innovations, ClimeCo

TIM MOORADD

Director of Investments, HASI

LAURA NELSON

Associate Director of Market Engagement, International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation

KATHLEEN NIESEN

Sustainability Professional

MARK O'LEARY

Client Solutions Manager, Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)

BEN PARKHURST

Vice President of Technical Development – Anew Climate

SPENCER PLUMB

Manager, Forest Carbon Innovation, Verra

EDWARD POLLARD

Strategic Director, Corporate Services, The Biodiversity Consultancy

JAY POTTER

Director, CEO, & Co-Founder, ECOR

DEBBIE REED

Executive Director, Ecosystem Services Market Consortium

GRACE RINK

Chief Climate Officer, City of Denver

STEVEN ROWE

President, BioFiltro U.S. and Senior Advisor, Michael Best Strategies

KATE RYAN

Executive Director, Colorado Water Trust

RICK SAINES

Managing Director, Pollination Group

PHIL SAKSA

Co-Founder & Chief Scientist, Blue Forest

MARIANA SARMIENTO

CEO Terrasos

KEVIN SCOTT

President, RESOLVE Canada

JORDAN SHOCKLEY

Chief Executive Officer, Blue Oyster Environmental

ELIZABETH SHEPPARD

Manager, ISC and Agriculture Strategy, McCain Foods

DOMINIC SUTTON-VERMUELEN

Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of MillPont

JEFF WEST

Senior Director, Environmental Services, Xcel Energy, Inc

JOHN GILBERT

CFO, The Conservation Fund

HOLT THRASHER

CEO and Founder, Synovia Capital

ELLIOTT BOUILLION

Founder and Vice Chairman, Resource Environmental Solutions

DAVID TUCHMANN

Vice President of Development, Akridge Development

SONIA VERHAGEN

Business Development Manager, Nature Based Solutions and Decarbonization and Sustainability Leader, SHELL

DAN YEOMAN

Managing Director, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund

ERON BLOOMGARDEN

CEO, Emergent

ANNA WILDEMAN

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water, EPA

MANUEL PULGAR-VIDAL

WWF International and Former Minister of Environment Peru

HELEN CROWLEY

Head of Sustainability Sourcing, Kering

MICHAEL JENKINS

CEO, Forest Trends

KEN MELMAN

Member and Global Head of Public Affairs, KKR

PETER STEIN

Manager, Lyme Timber

JOHN KADYSZEWSKI

Director, American Carbon Registry

LENISE LAGO

Associate Chief of Forest Service, USDA

KEVIN SMITH

Vice President, Sustainable Finance Group, Goldman Sachs

CHARLOTTE KAISER

Managing Director, NatureVest

JOHN MATTHEWS

Executive Director, Alliance for Global Water Adaptation

DAVID BRAND

CEO, New Forests

DAVID ANTONIOLI

CEO, Verra

CHRIS ADAMO

Vice President, Danone North America

ROGER WILILAMS

President, Blue Source

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Edward B. Barbier

Author and University Distinguished Professor

Edward B. Barbier is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics, Colorado State University and a Senior Scholar in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability. His main expertise is environmental and resource economics as well as international environmental policy. He has consulted for a variety of national, international and non-governmental agencies, including many UN organizations, the World Bank and the OECD. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, written or edited 27 books, and published in popular journals and social media. Barbier is a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and is a highly cited scholar on global environmental and sustainability issues.

His latest book is Economics for a Fragile Planet, Cambridge University Press. 

www.edwardbbarbier.com

Amy Bourne

Director, Global Sustainability, Marriott International

Amy Bourne is the Director, Global Sustainability, at Marriott International. In this role she develops and manages global programs in areas such as responsible sourcing, food waste reduction and climate action for 8,300+ hotels in 130+ countries. Previously, Amy managed sustainability programs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the General Services Administration (GSA) where she focused on high performance and healthy buildings, sustainable building operations and waste diversion. Amy holds an MA in Energy and Environmental Analysis from Boston University and earned Certified Energy Manager (CEM), LEED Green Associate and TRUE Zero Waste Advisor credentials.

David Hill

Chairman, The Environment Bank, UK

With a doctorate in ecology from the Department of Zoology at Oxford, David brings an abundance of ecological expertise to the table. A passionate conservationist, he was a founding member of Natural England, a member of the Government’s Ecosystem Markets Taskforce, and a Commissioner with the independent Food Farming and Countryside Commission. When it comes to implementing BNG, there’s nobody better. In fact, he introduced the concept to the UK in 2006 and his unparalleled work has now been embedded into the Environment Act.

Mathew Nespeca

Head of ESG and New Business Models, Envu

Matt Nespeca works for Envu as the head of ESG and New Business Models, with a focus on delivering global solutions related to environmental and social outcomes.  Matt previously worked as the global marketing manager for Vegetation Management for Bayer Environmental Science, which includes segments such as industrial vegetation management, forestry and range & pasture.  Before he took the global role, Matt Nespeca spent 8 years launching and managing the US Vegetation Management business for Bayer.  In previous years, Matt held marketing, sales and technical service positions with Nufarm, BASF and American Cyanamid, mainly working in industrial vegetation, forestry and aquatics markets.  Matt also spent 4 years working as a project manager for the South Carolina Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, where he worked on land conservation and invasive plant control projects.  Matt has an MS from Virginia Tech in Forest Biology, and a BS from Auburn University in Forest Resource Management.  Currently, Matt lives in Raleigh, NC with his wife and two children.

Laura Grant

Biodiversity Net Gain Market Policy Lead, UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Laura Grant is the policy lead for the biodiversity net gain (BNG) market and statutory credit scheme at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). She works to resolve barriers and encourage growth in the BNG market which is due to ‘go-live’ in November. She manages a team responsible for landowner and developer engagement, guidance and comms. Laura joined Defra from the House of Commons where she worked for 4 years as a policy specialist for the Environmental Audit Committee and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee scrutinising policy and legislation including the Environment Act. Laura spent 9 years working at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management as a senior policy adviser working on a range of policy and public affairs issues. Laura holds an MSc in Sustainability, Environmental Consultancy and Project Management.

Katie Wu

Director, Global Impact, KKR

Katie Wu (New York) joined KKR in 2022 and is a member of the Global Impact team. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Wu spent eight years at HRS Management, a prominent NYC family office, where she helped build the direct private equity practice and was actively involved in many of the firm’s investments in the industrial, media, and financial services sectors. Previously, she worked at Apollo Global Management and in the M&A advisory group at The Blackstone Group. Ms. Wu received a B.S. in Economics and a B.S.E. in Chemical Biomolecular Engineering, summa cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Charles Bedford

Chief Impact Officer, Carbon Growth Partners

Charles is an attorney with more than 25 years’ global conservation and climate experience and is a founder at CGP. He is also a Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Charles previously served as Regional Managing Director for The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Asia Pacific Region where he led the advancement of climate, marine, freshwater and land conservation projects.

He has also served as director of the Colorado State Land Board, overseer of 3 million hectares of state lands, was Legal Counsel to Colorado Governor Roy Romer and practiced law with the firm of Kutak Rock. He graduated from Georgetown University and holds a JD from the University of Colorado School of Law.

Jody Bickel

Chief Executive Officer, Creekbank Associates

Jody’s experience spans more than 25 years in ecosystem services and a lifetime of work involving environmental conflict resolution, natural resources management, and the development of environmental markets. She has successfully led teams and guided stakeholders in natural asset ventures at varying scales. Her work spans the demand and supply of ecosystem services, driving compliance, voluntary, and sustainability outcomes to deliver on internal and external performance objectives. Now, as head of Creekbank Associates, Jody coaches change agents to achieve their green initiatives and deploys expertise from a hand-picked professional team to innovate best outcomes for clients across multiple industries. Her focus is on finding opportunity where it is sometimes unseen, negotiating with diverse stakeholders and building bridges to create real-world solutions for those who seek success in the form of an integrated bottom line. Jody serves as an advisor to the Global Environmental Markets and Finance Summit and is a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, the Society for Ecological Restoration, the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, the Ecological Restoration Business Association, the American Chemical Society, the American Exploration and Mining Association and other industry specific organizations.

Elliott Bouillion

Founder and Vice Chairman, Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)

As Founder and Vice Chairman, Elliott continues to advance RES’ role and capabilities in the ecological restoration industry. Building on a 15-year tenure as President and CEO, Elliott is focused on expanding the positive impacts RES can bring to the environmental challenges facing our society as the industry takes on not only large scale mitigation, but an expanded range of water resource, coastal resiliency, and large public works projects.

Over the past decade, Elliott created a dynamic and unique business model for RES, helping pioneer the emerging environmental mitigation industry. During Elliott’s tenure as CEO, RES grew from a small firm based in Louisiana to a national restoration provider with nearly 500 employees. Elliott is proud to have assembled a team of professionals known for responsible environmental stewardship in all aspects of ecological solution delivery.

Elliott earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1979.

Following his first successful entrepreneurial effort, Bouillion joined Landmark Graphics Corporation, culminating his 12-year tenure in the role of corporate Vice President and General Manager, where he managed various technology and service divisions in Houston and London. Landmark completed an IPO and was acquired by Halliburton in July 1996.

Elliott has been both an active angel investor and an active participant on the board of directors of several growth companies, including FRx Software (acquired by Microsoft), Ischemia Corporation (acquired by Inverness Medical Innovations), Object Reservoir (acquired by Halliburton) and Anark Corporation.

As a private equity investor, Elliott was a general partner with Murphree Venture Partners. He was a founding sponsor and board member of the Houston Technology Council Energy Incubation and Acceleration Program. He served as a board member of the Houston Private Equity Association (HPEA), where he is a Past President.

Elliott has served on the board of directors for several companies and organizations, including the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. In 2015, he was named to the Executive Committee of the Committee of 100 for Louisiana, participating in economic development and fiscal reform initiatives. In 2019, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette named Elliott to its Alumni Wall of Honor.

Brett Bovee

President, WestWater Research

Brett Bovee is the President and Principal for WestWater Research based in the Fort Collins office. Brett brings close to 20 years of experience conducting a variety of engineering, economic, and water rights studies across the Western states. Many of these projects have been focused on water resources management and water development concepts in the pursuit, protection, and utilization of water rights. Since joining WestWater, Brett has performed dozens of focused water right valuation studies and broader economic and water market analyses. Brett brings a unique perspective to projects, combining a background in water resources engineering with a developed knowledge of water rights and economics.

Brett has performed water right investigations for Federal, Tribal, and private clients, and has completed a variety of studies focused on water valuation, comprehensive water planning, irrigated agriculture, scenario modeling, and water project feasibility. In the course of water rights litigation and dispute resolution, Brett has prepared expert witness and technical reports, completed hydrographic surveys of water use, and reviewed settlement agreements. He has also participated in several technical working groups for multi-stakeholder negotiations.

Brett holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in biological and environmental engineering from Cornell University, with a focus in water resources. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in five western states and is also a recognized hydrologist. Prior to joining WestWater, Brett worked for NRCE managing and assisting with water rights projects across the Western U.S.

Angela Bricmont

Chief of Finance, Denver Water

Angela Bricmont is the CFO of Denver Water. She manages the financial resources of the Board of Water Commissioners, a 100+ year-old water utility serving 1.5 million customers in the City of Denver and surrounding suburbs. Angela is responsible for accounting, financial planning and performance, enterprise project management, treasury, rates, and customer care in addition to the retirement plan. Since joining Denver Water in 2010, Angela has overseen a credit rating upgrade to AAA, implementation of a new water rate structure, issuance of Green Bonds, and funding a lead line removal program at no direct cost to customers.

Prior to Denver Water, Angela worked for several consulting firms focused on financial planning and rates for public utilities. Angela also served as Vice President of Rates and Regulatory Matters for Comcast. Angela has a bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA from the University of Denver. The mayor of Denver appointed Angela to serve on the Denver Urban Renewal Authority Board, and the head of EPA appointed her to serve on its Environmental Financial Advisory Board.

Ted Brown

Senior Water Resources, Engineer, Practice Leader, Biohabitats

Ted has over 25 years of experience in environmental restoration, watershed management and planning and stormwater management services. His role at Biohabitats is as a practice leader, focusing mostly on watershed and stormwater related initiatives. He has been involved in watershed implementation planning for Montgomery County, MD, stormwater BMP design projects for New York City, and several stormwater and ecological master planning efforts for major Universities including: Rowan University, the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, Rutgers University, and the University of Delaware. Ted is a registered professional engineer in the states of Maryland, New York, North Carolina and New Jersey and a LEED accredited professional.

Prior to joining the Biohabitats Team, Ted worked for eight years at the Center for Watershed Protection, a nationally recognized non-profit that develops innovative technical guidance relating to watershed assessment and management, stormwater management, NPDES regulatory compliance, and natural resource conservation. While at CWP, he served as Director of Watershed Implementation and played important roles in the development and writing of state stormwater manuals for the states of New York, Vermont, Georgia, and Minnesota. Ted’s CWP work also included writing national guidance for EPA to support the NPDES Phase II Stormwater Program.

Tim Brown

CEO, Tradewater, LLC

Tim is a founder and the CEO of Tradewater, a company that collects and destroys greenhouse gases. To date, Tradewater has destroyed over 4,300,000 metric tons of CO2e from old refrigerants that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. At Tradewater, Tim provides strategic direction for the firm in all business areas and is developing new programs to further Tradewater’s mission and expand its impact. He is working to open new markets and facilitate the firm’s international expansion. Tim brings to Tradewater 36 years of experience in carbon programs, environmental policy, hazardous waste cleanup, and pollution prevention. He founded Wabashco in 2008 to develop carbon offset and renewable energy projects in the Midwest, and in 1998 he co-founded the Delta Institute, a nonprofit organization to improve environmental quality and promote community and economic development in the Great Lakes Basin. He ran the Delta Institute’s environmental program, which included a wide range of water quality, pollution prevention, toxic reduction, and carbon sequestration work. Tim has worked for a range of environmental organizations in both the private and non-profit sectors including Clean Sites, ICF, and the Center for the Great Lakes. He was a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow with the Sustainability Institute. Tim holds a B.S. from Northwestern University. He has held leadership positions on many boards over the years including the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Rebuilding Exchange, Delta Institute, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes, among others. He currently serves on the board of the Lochland School.

Jay Cashubec

Head of Business Development, North America, Nature Metrics

Jay contributes to and supports client objectives using eDNA, with focus on NatureMetrics growth in North America. Jay is responsible for business development, relationship building, creating connections, and providing solutions.

Jay has helped clients from industry, consultants, and NGO’s employ eDNA into various aspects of their projects. Jay supports clients with the uptake of the technology, provide practical solutions to their project’s needs, and enables biodiversity and species at risk monitoring as well as early detection of Invasive species at a more rapid pace – helping to keep up with the demands on the environment and increasingly demanding workloads.

With almost a decade and a half of environmental consulting experience, Jay communicates with plain language and has a pragmatic understanding of project needs, thus enabling more clients to realize the benefits of eDNA.

Mark Cassalia

Senior Business Engagement Manager

Mark Cassalia joined the Pacific Institute in 2022 as the Senior Business Engagement Manager for the CEO Water Mandate. Marks supports CEO Water Mandate-endorsing members by connecting them with research and tools, convening multi-stakeholder events, and facilitating collective action projects. He also recruits corporations and organizations worldwide to join the CEO Water Mandate and advance water stewardship. Prior to joining the Pacific Institute, Mark worked for numerous Colorado-based water and power utilities, advancing resource stewardship through government and corporate partnerships. He was also an affiliate professor at Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado for the One World One Water program. Mark holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York and M.A. in Education from Union College in New York.

Megan Reilly Cayten

Senior Investment Manager, Climate Asset Management

Megan has 20 years of experience in real asset development (AES Corporation), project finance (Citi) and investment management (Alinda Capital Partners) on five continents. She previously served as Senior Adviser to Javelin Capital on renewable energy projects in Latin America, and as blue carbon lead for Oceans 2050, a foundation created by Alexandra Cousteau. Megan’s environmental NGO experience includes the WWF-US National Council, Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (nature based carbon projects) and the National Environmental Education Foundation (Board Chair). She also founded and ran an impact-focused retail business and advised investors on climate and impact.

Tim Coles

Director & CEO, re-PLANET

Tim founded and is CEO of Operation Wallacea that provides a method for funding long term biodiversity research using tuition fees paid by students. Opwall has operated as a commercial business for 25 years and established reliable working partners in a series of countries around the world. It is these contacts including those at govt level that are being used to develop the potential mangrove reforestation projects for funding. Opwall has spent 25 years building small businesses in places such as Indonesia to deliver the research programmes they deliver. The Opwall teams have published over 560 papers in peer reviewed journals from their research programmes and have managed large scale projects overseas for the World Bank, Darwin Initiative and GEF. Tim also founded the Wallacea Trust that works on a series of conservation projects around the world based on the principle of incentivising individuals or local communities to achieve the desired conservation outcomes. Tim also led on the Wallacea Trust working group that developed an international biodiversity credit methodology.

Stephen D'Esposito

President & CEO, Resolve and Regeneration | Board of Trustees

Stephen D’Esposito is the President and CEO of RESOLVE and Regeneration. Trained as a policy advocate, he helps partners envision, design, and implement innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. Stephen’s work covers all of RESOLVE’s issue areas, with a focus on natural resources, energy transition, and sustainable development. He is the founder and CEO of Regeneration, a restoration start-up that provides biodiversity, community, and climate positive minerals for the energy transition, green tech, and sustainable brands.

Adam Davis

Managing Partner, Ecosystem Investment Partners

ADAM DAVIS is a co-founder and Managing Partner at EIP, and is involved in all aspects of the business, from investor relations to project implementation and customer satisfaction. Over the past 35 years, he has worked in various roles that help to align business interests with environmental outcomes, and he is particularly interested in new types of public-private partnerships that support ecological restoration. He believes that practical experience and policy support each other, and strives to help environmental laws and regulations achieve their intended outcomes.

Adam developed his expertise in aligning economic incentives with environmental outcomes in the recycling and composting business, and worked for the world’s largest solid waste and recycling company during the 1990’s. His experience structuring contracts to reward environmental performance there led to involvement with ecosystem services, and how to get real people in real places paid for the protection and restoration of the natural systems that provide those services.

Adam and his wife Sara live in San Rafael, California. Adam has a BA in Africana Studies from Cornell University. He has served on the Board of the national industry trade association, the Ecological Restoration Business Association (ERBA), and helped to create the new California affiliate, CalERBA.

Mark Desantis

CEO, Bloomfield Robotics

Mark is a serial tech entrepreneur and is CEO of Bloomfield Robotics. He was previously cofounder and CEO RoadBotics and continues as a Senior Adviser, an AI platform for assessing roads and roadways infrastructure. Prior to that, he was cofounder and Executive Chairman of kWantix, a quant hedge fund, cofounder and CEO of kWantera, a GE Ventures-backed energy trading company and CEO of Think Through Learning, a venture-backed online tutoring company and US Managing Director of ANGLE Technology, PLC, a UK-based venture capital firm and consultancy.

Earlier in his career, Mark was the Director of Government Relations for Texas Instruments and held policy positions as a Senior Policy Analyst in The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Administration of George H. W. Bush. He was also staff assistant to late U.S. Senator John Heinz was a management consultant with Booz Allen.

Mark has a dual appointment as an Adjunct Professor in both Heinz College and the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He has lectured at Princeton University and Dartmouth College and was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland. Mark holds a PhD in Public Policy the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

Paul Dettmann

Founder, Cassinia Environmental

Paul’s background is agriculture and environmental protection, with a focus in the integration of these to realise productive and ecologically robust landscapes using sustainable agricultural systems and environmental markets.

Cassinia’s goal is to reconnect Australia’s significant natural assets through targeted revegetation and remnant protection projects, as well as assisting communities in the developing world around the development of quality carbon projects with significant positive social and biodiversity impacts.

Specialties: Environmental Markets, Carbon and Biodiversity in Australia and Carbon Markets in Africa

Susan N. Dorsey

Senior Vice President - Finance, Administration & Impact Investing, Gates Family Foundation

Sue Dorsey joined the Foundation in 2016. She has over 25 years of experience in nonprofit management, international development and finance. Sue is responsible for all financial management, accounting, investment management, human resources, reporting, compliance, and impact investing activities at the Foundation. 

Prior to coming to Gates, Sue served for seven years as the Chief Financial Officer for Water for People. Water for People is an NGO focused on sustainable, market-based solutions to global water and sanitation challenges. Prior to joining Water for People, Sue spent 12 years as the Executive Director of Friendship Bridge, a microfinance and education organization operating in Vietnam and Guatemala. Sue served as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural Costa Rica from 1990-92, working in small business development. Prior to the Peace Corps, Sue worked for several years in banking and finance with the First National Bank of Maryland. 

Sue was an adjunct professor at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School for International Studies from 2007 to 2016. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Finance from the University of Vermont. Sue serves on the Board of Humentum (formerly InsideNGO) and the Colorado News Conservancy. She also currently serves as President-elect for Mountain Area Land Trust in Evergreen and Treasurer for Bridges to Prosperity.

Craig Ebert

President, Climate Action Reserve

Craig Ebert serves as the President of the Climate Action Reserve where he is responsible for ensuring that the organization’s activities meet the highest standards for quality, transparency and environmental integrity. He oversees the organization’s continued leadership and commitment to ensuring offsets are a trusted and powerful economic tool for reducing emissions. In his role, he also leads the organization in identifying and entering into other opportunities that build upon its knowledge and expertise and further its work under its mission and vision.

During his career, he has helped create the foundations for international, national and state policies to address climate change. He supported U.S. negotiations on international climate change agreements, including negotiations leading up to the creation and signing of the Kyoto Protocol, and helped develop the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and Joint Implementation (JI) provisions under the protocol. Craig’s work also involved pioneering efforts on carbon accounting principles and methodologies. He served as the technical director of Estimation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks, which was adopted by the IPCC as its GHG Inventory Programme, and was a key architect behind the development of the official U.S. national GHG inventory to meet commitments under the UNFCCC.

Prior to joining the Reserve, Craig advised the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) and served at ICF for nearly 34 years.

Hanne Fisher

Director, Sustainability and Decarbonization, Civitas Resources

As Civitas Resources’ Director of Sustainability and Decarbonization, Hannie Fisher spearheads the company’s ESG deliverables and has helped establish Civitas as Colorado’s first carbon neutral operator. With over 20 years of upstream oil and gas facilities engineering and operations management experience, Hannie has helped Civitas to identify and execute the high-impact emissions reduction projects to meet their responsible energy production goals.

Conor Gillespie

CEO, Ecotone, Inc.

Conor Gillespie is the CEO of Ecotone, a vertically integrated ecological restoration company. Ecotone focuses on implementing high-quality ecological restoration projects to meet their clients’ and partners specific needs—from mitigation credits for unavoidable environmental impacts to targeted offsets tailored to meet sustainability goals. With more than fifteen years of experience in stream, wetland, prairie, and woodland restoration, Mr. Gillespie has worked on stream and wetland mitigation projects, mitigation banks, ILF projects and programs, species banks, water quality projects, water quantity projects and habitat restoration projects across the United States. His experience, ranging from consulting, through construction, vertically integrated project execution, and business growth and development, combined with his extensive operational, strategic implementation, and management experience gives him a uniquely broad and in-depth perspective on the ecological restoration industry and its various facets. Mr. Gillespie earned a Master of Business Administration degree with a sustainability concentration from the Palumbo Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University and a Bachelor of Science degree in natural resources and environmental sciences from the University of Illinois.

Sam Gledhill

Head of Commercial, Trove Research

As head of commercial, Sam focuses on providing valuable data and analytics to our growing community of clients. As part of his role, Sam helps to guide our analyst and technical teams, ensuring that our intelligence platform provides our clients with valuable insights regarding corporate climate commitments and the voluntary carbon market. Sam maintains a broad understanding of voluntary carbon market mechanisms, as well as the needs of all stakeholders who operate in this space.

Ben Guillon

CEO, Conservation Investment Management

Ben is the founder and CEO of Conservation Investment Management. He is a recognized expert in conservation investment and conservation finance in the U.S. Prior to founding Conservation Investment Management, Ben was a shareholder at WRA, Inc, a environmental consultant and project developer. Ben worked at New Forests, a sustainable timberland investment group, and at the World Bank. Ben has a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine focused on wildlife and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Ned Harvey

CEO and Co-Founder, Digital Gaia

Ned Harvey is the CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Gaia, the leading developer of AI infrastrucutre for Planetary intelligence. Ned’s a visionary leader and entrepreneur with a diverse background in renewable energy, consulting, and military service, Ned’s strategic thinking and execution have made him a sought-after leader. As chairman of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association, he actively drives innovation and sustainability. A Harvard Business School graduate, Ned combines his expertise in business, leadership, and market-based solutions to create a sustainable future.

Travis Hemmen

President and General Manager, Westervelt Ecological Services

Travis Hemmen leads business and market development for Westervelt Ecological Services by coordinating with private and public clients on project-specific mitigation and managing sales of existing bank credits. He identifies potential site acquisitions and analyzes market information to ensure the finished mitigation banks are a viable product.

Mr. Hemmen has a background in environmental consulting and regulatory compliance planning for a national home builder. As a consultant, he has managed small- and large-scale projects, including state and federal permitting of projects by local water agencies, port redevelopment, and dredging programs, and development of master planned communities. Mr. Hemmen has a B.A. degree in biology with an emphasis in ethics from the University of Northern Iowa, and an M.S. degree in environmental law and policy with an emphasis in alternative dispute resolution from Vermont Law School.

Peter Howell

Interim Executive Director, The Conservation Finance Network

Peter is the Interim Executive Director of the Conservation Finance Network, which seeks to advance land and resource conservation by expanding the use of innovative and effective funding and financing strategies. He has 30 years of experience in the conservation field as a practitioner and funder. As the Open Space Institute’s Executive Vice President for nearly two decades, he helped design, capitalize, and implement multiple land acquisition re-grant and loan funds that facilitated the conservation of 1.5 million acres of land from Maine to Georgia. Previously, he was the inaugural program director for the environment at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, where he oversaw the distribution of almost $100 million for land conservation in the United States. He also worked as a program officer at the Wallace Funds, designing and implementing an $18 million national initiative focused on creating and improving urban parks in 12 cities across the country. A former award-winning newspaper reporter, he has worked in economic development field and in the communications industry. He has a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature and political philosophy from Wesleyan University where he was awarded Phi Beta Kappa, and an MBA from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

George Kelly

Chief Executive Officer, Earth Recovery Partners

George leverages his deep experience in ecosystem markets, environmental finance, and environmental law to advance outcomes-based environmental solutions using market and performance-based tools. Immediately prior to starting ERP, George served as a managing director at Quantified Ventures, founder at Bespoke Mitigation Partners, and an affiliate member of Earth & Water Strategies. From 2014-2019, he was the Chief Market Officer for Resource Environmental Solutions, which had acquired Environmental Banc & Exchange, a firm George founded in 1997. During his term at RES, the company grew to be the largest ecological offset provider in the world and KKR acquired a majority interest in 2016. At RES, George led market initiatives with a focus on expanding the organization’s client base, geographic footprint, and wetland, stream, nutrient, water, and species offset markets. In this capacity, George spearheaded efforts to open nutrient and stormwater markets in the Chesapeake Bay Region; species markets in the Appalachian, Western, and Mid-Western U.S.; stream markets in Texas and the western U.S.; and wetland and stream restoration projects for water quality and carbon markets. He has worked with numerous resource agencies, landowners, investors, and private and public credit buyers on the implementation of mitigation projects and has promoted new polices at the federal and state levels relating to market-based solutions to achieve environmental objectives.

Mark Kieser

Senior Scientist & Principal, Kieser & Associates, LLC

Mr. Kieser has over 38 years of environmental consulting experience in addition to three years of academic research on water resource issues in the Great Lakes. He has a broad range of environmental management experience from watershed planning and policy development to remedial investigation and cleanup. As a consultant, he has been responsible for implementing studies at hundreds of sites in Michigan and across the U.S. These have included investigations of surface water, wastewater, groundwater, soils and atmospheric contaminant issues encompassing sites ranging from the Great Lakes, to remote undeveloped areas, to Superfund sites with more than 100 years of industrial use. Mr. Kieser has directed more than 300 environmental engineering projects since the firm was founded in 1992. These have required an intensive knowledge of scientific and engineering principles as well as the full range of applicable state and federal regulations.

Mark has also been a pioneer and leader in environmental markets for water in the U.S. and internationally. Since 1995, he has led the assessment and/or development of a variety of market-based incentive programs in 28 states across the U.S. These efforts have focused on: watershed, state-wide and regional trading program development; agricultural credit banking schemes; urban stormwater trading; trading registries and infrastructure; development of ecosystem service markets; restoration of natural flow regimes in Great Lakes tributaries, and; nutrient enrichment in the Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and the Western Lake Erie Basin. Mark’s works have been published in three textbooks spanning the period of 2006 to 2015; publications that focus on water quality trading and other economic instruments for improving water quality.

Mark’s international expertise in water markets has focused on policy and program development as well as implementation in Canada, Peru, Sweden, the European Union, Costa Rica, Japan and China. Since 2001, Mr. Kieser has been serving as the Acting Chair of the Environmental Trading Network. The Network is a clearinghouse for water quality trading program information (http://www.envtn.org/).

Mr. Kieser holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio) and a Master of Science degree in Biological Sciences from Michigan Technological University (Houghton, Michigan).

Pieter Krans

Deputy Director, ICF Climate Center

Pieter has over 11 years of experience working in the political, regulatory supervision, renewable energy investments, and climate advisory sectors. At ICF, he works as Deputy Director at the Climate Center, where he conducts and coordinates research projects on a wide variety of climate change and nature-related topics. Furthermore, he oversees ICF’s Corporate and Social Responsibility initiatives. This includes ICF’s submissions related to TCFD, CDP, and the Climate Transition Plan. Moreover, he consistently lends his expertise as a subject matter expert in ESG to various projects.

Prior to joining ICF, Pieter worked, among others, at Transmark Renewables, a renewable energy and climate tech investment firm, where he managed a renewable energy and climate tech portfolio valued at $100M. He also worked at the Dutch Central Bank, where he supervised various financial institutions, including banks and pension funds.

Pieter holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Law and Corporate Law, respectively, from the University of Amsterdam. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from IE Business School and a Master of Advanced Management from Yale School of Management. Additionally, Pieter is a registered GRI Certified Sustainability Professional, a certified expert in climate adaptation finance, an FSA SASB Credential Level II Candidate, and a Diploma in Carbon Management Candidate.

David Lach

Director, Natural Climate Solutions

David Lach joined Anew in April 2022 to lead its burgeoning Reduced Emissions from Megafires business line within the Natural Climate Solutions team. David works closely with implementers, agencies, and relevant stakeholders to enable quantification of climate benefits and newfound funding sources from forest health projects. Operating within the Origination Team, David manages Anew’s portfolio of projects within this realm in accordance with Climate Action Reserve’s Climate Forward Program. Prior to joining Anew, he served as Client Solutions Manager among other roles at Resource Environmental Solutions for six years. David holds a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University and an MS in Environmental Analysis from Rice University. David serves on the board of the California Forest Foundation, a nonprofit that works to educate Californians about the benefits of sustainable forestry.

Jason Lee

Director, Quantified Ventures

Jason’s career in environmental finance comes from a singular conviction: the environmental problems of today and tomorrow are too wicked to be limited to the tools of yesterday. At Quantified Ventures, he works to develop outcomes-based financing models that enable faster, more efficient compliance with existing regulations. His work has included developing pricing models for a financial mechanism that allows municipalities to pay for conservation practices on upstream farmland in Pennsylvania and Delaware; the design of a governance / financing entity for nature-based solutions to water quality problems on Cape Cod, MA; and the structuring of Environmental Impact Bonds to implement urban green infrastructure pilot projects in Hampton, VA, and Memphis, TN.

At Duke University’s Nicholas School, he achieved a grounding in environmental economics, policy, and law before focusing on water finance. He was specifically interested in how innovative financing mechanisms can be leveraged to make U.S. water infrastructure more resilient to both environmental and societal changes. Additionally, as a member of the Graduate & Professional Student Council, he led the establishment of the nation’s first student-government-financed fund for emergency personal travel.

Jason serves on the Maryland Department of Environment’s Task Force of State and Local Government Accounting for Natural Capital. His previous work experiences include working on the U.S. Climate Policy team at Environmental Defense Fund, being a bookseller and later a finance associate at the iconic Politics & Prose bookstore in D.C., and writing for a local weekly newspaper in North Carolina.

Dr. Doug MacNair

Technical Director at Environmental Resources Management

Dr. MacNair has over 20 years of experience in environmental economics and decision analytics.  He specializes in helping corporations’ value natural resource and environmental services in their decision making using quantitative tools.  He’s managed projects involving valuation of water resources, air quality, open spaces, residential properties, EHS risks, and environmental remediation programs.  He also has extensive experience in econometrics, survey design and analysis, as well as facilitating both corporate and public focus groups/workshops. 

Tim Male

Executive Director, Environmental Policy Innovation Center

Tim leads the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, a fiscally-sponsored project of Sand County Foundation. Tim founded the Environmental Policy Innovation Center in 2017.  Prior to launching this startup, he served as an Associate Director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2014 to 2017, Vice President for Conservation Policy at Defenders of Wildlife, Director at National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and Co-Director of agriculture policy at Environmental Defense Fund.  

Tim has 15 years of experience working on national policies that create more innovative, effective, and incentive-focused approaches to wildlife conservation, drought response, finance for water supplies and quality, and agricultural stewardship. 

He holds degrees in science from Yale University and the University of Hawaii.  His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Science magazine and a diversity of peer-reviewed journals. He has received a Marshall Memorial Fellowship and AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship (declined).  He also ran for office and won, serving three terms as a city councilmember and leading the successful effort for that city to become the first in the country to lower its voting age to 16.

 A scientist by training, Tim is also a former city council member.

Steven Martin

Mitigation Specialist

Steven Martin’s professional focus is on compensatory mitigation policy and evaluation of mitigation proposals. He has assisted non-profits in evaluating potential mitigation projects and consults for the Ecological Restoration Business Association (ERBA) and the private sector. He co-authored with EPA’s mitigation bank and In-Lieu Fee Program review workbooks and checklists. He has collaborated with ERBA and the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) on quantitative and qualitative analyses of mitigation bank approvals.

He retired from the Corps’ Institute for Water Resources (IWR) as a mitigation specialist. His work at IWR included national implementation of the Regulatory In-lieu fee and Bank Information Tracking System (RIBITS), teaching aspects of compensatory mitigation policy and practices to Corps staff and other agencies, and development of tools to improve compensatory mitigation. He co-authored handbooks on financial assurances and site protection.

Prior to joining IWR, he worked for the Norfolk District Regulatory Branch where he participated in delineations, permitting, enforcement, and compensatory mitigation. He oversaw development of 7 commercial mitigation banks, helped develop a template Mitigation Bank Instrument, off-site mitigation location guidelines, a state-wide in-lieu fee program instrument, and joint Norfolk District-Virginia DEQ Wetland Mitigation Guidelines.

Lauren Mechak

Senior Director, Asset Innovations, ClimeCo

Lauren Mechak serves as the Senior Director of Asset Innovations on ClimeCo’s Project Development Team. In her role, she leads ClimeCo’s efforts to develop novel climate-positive projects that generate carbon offsets or other valuable environmental commodities. Her work spans multiple project types, including nature-based carbon removal and innovative climate tech projects. While Lauren’s work is primarily in the voluntary carbon offset space, she also has expertise in compliance markets, including California’s Cap-and-Trade and Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

Prior to joining ClimeCo, Lauren received her Master of Environmental Management in Economics and Policy at Duke University. During her time at Duke, she worked with the university’s Carbon Offsets Initiative to help Duke achieve carbon neutrality and served as an Article Editor for Duke’s Environmental Law and Policy Forum. Before Duke, Lauren earned her B.Sc. from McGill University in Biology in 2013 and worked at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.

Tim Mooradd

Director of Investments, HASI

Tim is Director of the Investment Team at HASI (NYSE: HASI), a leading investor in climate solutions. Mr. Mooradd joined HASI in 2017 and is responsible for originating, structuring, and executing transactions, with a current focus on ecological restoration assets including habitat restoration, stream restoration, and mitigation banking. Previously, he supported a range of transactions in the firm’s solar land portfolio, residential solar portfolio, and community solar portfolio.

Mr. Mooradd is a member of the Maryland Department of Environment’s Green and Blue Policy Advisory Commission, a commission established by the Maryland Conservation Finance Act tasked with advising the Secretary, the BayStat Subcabinet, and local government officials on ways to facilitate and accelerate implementation of green and blue infrastructure projects in Maryland. Before joining HASI, Mr. Mooradd held positions at Moody’s Investor Service in corporate credit analysis. He received a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Energy from the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Financial Economics from Lehigh University.

Laura Nelson

Associate Director of Market Engagement, IFRS Foundation

Laura Nelson is the Associate Director of Market Engagement for the IFRS Foundation, where she develops relationships and structures engagements with market participants for dialogues with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and ISSB staff regarding feedback on financially-material sustainability topics. Prior to joining the IFRS Foundation, Laura spent over 15 years in EHS&S consulting, where she specialized in supporting clients across global industry sectors with development and implementation of sustainability strategies and public sustainability disclosures. She also previously served as the Associate Director of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER).

Kathleen Niesen

Sustainability Specialist

Kathleen Niesen retired from her Director of Sustainability position with PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA) in December 2022.  During her 6 years with PBNA she had responsibility for packaging recycling efforts and external partnerships in North America as well as watershed health and water scarcity replenishment programs.  Before joining PepsiCo Kathleen enjoyed a lengthy career in the engineering consulting industry.  In her consulting practice she managed programs and projects across a broad spectrum of environmental and resource management areas for both US and international clients.  Technical areas of practice included global product stewardship, waste and recycling support, facility siting and permitting, resiliency planning, water supply and flood control, brownfields redevelopment, stakeholder outreach, and programmatic asset management and reuse. 

Kathleen is a graduate of the University of Florida with a BS in Environmental Engineering Science.  She is a registered professional engineer in Washington and Wisconsin.

Mark O'Leary

Client Solutions Manager, Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)

Mark is a Client Solutions Manager and Ecologist based out of Wisconsin with more than 25 years of experience working in the ecological restoration and A&E industry. Mark joined RES in 2020 through the acquisition of Applied Ecological Services (AES), where he served multiple roles, including Principal Ecologist, Branch Office Manager, VP Consulting, and Account Manager. Mark has worked throughout the country as a consulting ecologist, where he has provided scientific and project leadership on ecological planning, design, mitigation, and permitting. He has designed and implemented numerous ecological restoration and mitigation plans for wetland, prairie, woodland, and savanna communities and has conducted hundreds of national resources assessments and wetland delineations. He uses this experience at RES to creatively facilitate solutions for clients and resolve conflicts among clients, regulators, and natural resources. Mark is heavily involved in water quality trading for water quality compliance, large-scale restoration, and green infrastructure.
Mark earned his BA in English from Miami University and his MS in Zoology from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with an emphasis on wetland and wildlife ecology.

Ben Parkhurst, BS, MF, MEM

Vice President of Technical Development - Natural Climate Solutions

Ben Parkhurst is the primary technical lead at Anew overseeing the analysis and development of new natural climate solution market opportunities for the Anew Ideas team.  Examples of such new opportunities include the quantification of biodiversity and other co-benefits for various project types, creating new markets to address leakage in the forestry sector, creating incentives for avoided wildfire projects, and the evaluation of investment opportunities in afforestation/reforestation and habitat restoration projects.  He also leads the technical aspects of many projects for Anew, providing quantitative analysis of carbon and environmental benefits through every stage of project evaluation, implementation, validation, verification, and monitoring. Ben’s technical expertise includes inventory/ sampling design, carbon stock estimation, habitat quantification, growth and yield modeling, map development, GIS analysis, and remote sensing. He aids with project design, analyzing and summarizing data; modeling future scenarios; analyzing the environmental and financial costs and benefits of different scenarios; and using optimization tools to maximize environmental benefits and revenues. Ben obtained his Master’s Degrees in Forestry (MF) and Environmental Management (MEM) at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, a Society of American Foresters-accredited master’s program.

Spencer Plumb

Manager, Forest Carbon Innovation, Verra

As Manager, Forest Carbon Innovation, Spencer is responsible for supporting forest carbon activities like Improved Forest Management (IFM) and Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation (ARR), as well as innovations that apply to all natural climate solutions (NCS) within the VCS Program. In this role he works on a wide range of forest carbon related efforts including methodology development, engaging with the US government, and managing relationships with external partners working in the forest carbon space.

Prior to joining Verra, Spencer worked for the National Forest Foundation (NFF), where he developed tools for the quantification of ecosystem services, managed forest restoration projects, and explored the use of new conservation finance tools to increase the pace and scale of restoration on federal lands.

Spencer holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho, a M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University, and a B.S. in Organizational Communication from University of Portland.

Spencer is based in Missoula, Montana. In his free time, he enjoys skiing and trail running with his two dogs.

Edward Pollard

Strategic Director, Corporate Services, The Biodiversity Consultancy

Edward is The Biodiversity Consultancy’s lead for corporate strategies on nature. He has 25 years’ experience in global biodiversity conservation and is a leading expert in business and biodiversity. His work focuses on supporting companies to embed nature into their process and procedures and to strengthen their role in a nature-positive future. Edward is a specialist in the development and implementation of corporate biodiversity strategies, including advising on alignment with PS6, and the development of Science-based targets for nature.

Edward is on the Steering Group of the UK Business and Biodiversity Forum, is a member of the SBTN Corporate Engagement Program working group, and has contributed to publications on emerging topics such as Nature Positive, and on zero deforestation. Prior to TBC, Edward’s 15 years in South-East Asia provided him with extensive experience in protected areas and sustainable forest management, and commodity certification.

Jay Potter

Director, CEO & Co-Founder, ECOR

25-year veteran in designing, inventing, building and investing in dozens of innovative small companies focused on sustainability and circularity. Mr. Potter has invested, participated and directed more than $85,000,000 in breakthrough Clean-tech enterprises including the first organic disinfectant to achieve a 5 log kill rate, the first solar covered parking array (Kyocera), the first solar powered EV charging platform and the first US based commercial biomass pellet plant for utility co-firing. Mr. Potter is a seasoned entrepreneur who understands the many varying needs of early-stage, startup and innovative companies and has taken an active role in the development and expansion of his funded companies with great success.

Debbie Reed

Executive Director, Ecosystem Services Market Consortium

Debbie Reed was named Executive Director of the ESMC in May of 2019 upon the establishment of the Consortium and subsequently assumed the same role for the ESMRC upon the creation of the Research Consortium in November of 2019. Debbie’s role in leading ESMC/ESMRC builds on decades of experience in carbon markets, agriculture climate change mitigation and sustainability efforts in the US and internationally.

Debbie previously led the Coalition on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (C-AGG), a national multi-stakeholder coalition supporting the development of tools, technologies, knowledge and programs to improve quantification of GHG from agriculture and GHG mitigation opportunities for the sector. She was also the founding Executive Director of the International Biochar Initiative. Debbie served in the Clinton Administration at the White House Council on Environmental Quality as the Director of Legislative Affairs and Agricultural Policy and in the U.S. Senate as a Senior Staff on natural resource and agricultural issues for U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey of Nebraska. She held numerous leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has graduate and undergraduate degrees in human nutrition/dietetics, chemistry, and communications/journalism.

Debbie is a member of ESMC’s Leadership Team.

Grace Rink

Chief Climate Officer and Executive Director of Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency, City of Denver

Grace Rink is the Chief Climate Officer for the City and County of Denver and Executive Director of its Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency. This new office, created in 2020, manages the city’s ambitious climate action and sustainability goals and promotes policies and programs that strengthen Denver’s economic vitality. Denver voters approved a special sales tax to provide this office with up to $40M per year to implement projects such as new solar installations, electrifying buildings, and expansive community engagement programs.

Steven Rowe

BioFiltro U.S. and Senior Advisor, Michael Best Strategies

Steven Rowe has established himself as a leader in sustainability planning, implementation, and communication.  A firm believer with a proven track record in creating the economic opportunities that come from improving the environment and generating social and community benefits. He has successfully applied these sustainability leadership principles to a variety of business sectors including agriculture (dairy production, processing, and transportation), global manufacturing (cement and related building products), brownfield development, and more.

Steve is the President of BioFiltro U.S., a wastewater treatment and climate mitigation company. BioFiltro relies on vermifiltration to achieve astounding results in avoiding greenhouse gas emissions from livestock lagoons. Vermifiltration is also used to prevent nitrate and phosphorus overloading in ground and surface waters, and to prevent ammonia emissions from a variety of organic waste streams.

As a Senior Advisor with Michael Best Strategies’ Government Relations team, Steve brings more than 35 years of experience serving as an attorney and in corporate executive leadership roles to his position with Strategies. Steven provides clients with insight, guidance, and advocacy relating to environmental, agriculture, and manufacturing compliance, growth, sustainability, and other matters.

Steven was the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of Newtrient LLC. Newtrient, serving dairy farmers, cooperatives, industry, and trade organizations representing nearly all the milk produced in the U.S., remains committed to helping the dairy industry become an important part of the environmental, food security, climate change, and economic solutions of today and tomorrow. Under Mr. Rowe’s leadership, Newtrient made unprecedented headway in developing technical and policy advances that created real opportunities to reduce the environmental footprint of dairy production, processing and transportation while making it economically viable to do so.

Prior to forming Newtrient, Steve served as the General Counsel and Senior Vice President/Corporate Affairs, for Darigold Inc. and its parent cooperative the Northwest Dairy Association. In this role, Mr. Rowe led the organization and its 500 family-owned dairy farms in developing one of the industry’s first comprehensive sustainability reports and roadmaps.

Mr. Rowe served as Vice Chair of the Northwest Food Processors Association, as an Advisor to the Board of Dairy Management Inc. and on the Sustainability Council for the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. Mr. Rowe was a committee member of National Milk Producer Federation’s (NMPF) Environmental Issues Task Force, and a member of NMPF’s Government Relations and Public Affairs Group. He has been active in the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, serving on the Executive Committee of the Legal, Tax and Accounting Committee and Vice Chair of the Cooperative Structures Subcommittee. He was a Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors and served as a Director of the Washington State Council of Farmer Cooperatives.

Creative solutions that drive economic prosperity, a strong sense of community, and a commitment to environmental stewardship have been the standards Steven Rowe has sought to bring to every client, company, and partner with which he has worked. Steven holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the University of Utah.

Kate Ryan

Executive Director, Colorado Water Trust

Kate joined the Water Trust in 2019, with over a decade of experience practicing Colorado Water law. Her past clients included farmers, ranchers, municipalities, landowners, the CWCB and the Water Trust itself. Before going to Berkeley Law she obtained a master’s degree in geography at the University of Colorado and worked as an associate scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. During her free time Kate loves cattle drives, skiing big mountains and exploring with her kids.

Rick Saines

Managing Director, Pollination Group

Rick is globally recognized as a leading climate change lawyer, and for two decades has advised governments, multinational companies, financial institutions, funds and project sponsors on the economic transition to a low carbon economy, including being a thought leader on carbon and environmental market transactions. He is officially recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a leading climate change lawyer, an accolade he has held for 10 years. He is a former Partner and head of Baker McKenzie’s North American Climate Change Practice; and former Chair, International Emissions Trading Association. He serves on the Board of Advisors to the USC Schwarzenegger Institute and was Awarded Chevalier of the National Order of Merit by the President of the Republic of France for his significant contribution to the preparation of the Paris Climate Summit, and the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Phil Saska

Co-founder & Chief Scientist, Blue Forest

Phil Saksa is co-founder & Chief Scientist at Blue Forest and has more than a decade of experience in ecosystem services and watershed management. Phil has a Ph.D. in Environmental Systems, and was previously with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at UC Merced, where he focused on water supply impacts from forest management, wildfire, and climate in California’s Sierra Nevada. Phil joined Blue Forest in 2017, and leads the evaluation of environmental benefits from ecosystem restoration projects. He also leads Blue Forest’s partnerships with academic and research organizations for developing evaluation tools and metrics that can quantify the intrinsic and economic benefits of healthy ecosystems. Based in Sacramento, Phil and his wife are often found reconnecting with their field science roots – hiking locally from the Sierra Nevada to the Pacific Coast, and traveling to explore new ecosystems and places.

Mariana Sarmiento

CEO, Terrasos

Mariana Sarmiento founded Terrasos in 2013 as an initiative to impact the social, economic and environment development of the country with strategies of environmental protection that linked to all civil society actors.

What is the vision of Terrasos?  To be a leading company in developing environmental conservation and restoration projects with private investment, which leverages the commitments and needs of the territories in the long term.

Where did the initiative to implement the habitat bank strategy come from?  In 2012, when the first Compensation Manual came out in Colombia, we identified that there was going to be a need to generate solutions for companies that had to meet their obligations and for the country to have compensation projects that would accelerate the deployment of investments. in compensation and make it easier for environmental authorities to follow up.

I had worked in 2009 in the United States in an organization that managed Habitat Banks in Mississippi for the infrastructure sector and I saw first-hand the benefits and the impact it generated. At that moment I realized that the country needed to generate this opportunity. In that moment we began to work with the owners of the Rey-Zamuro Matarredonda Reserve and BIDLab to create a pilot project and later, with the Ministry of Environment to generate a regulatory framework that catalyzed the development of Habitat Banks in both public and private properties.

Who is Mariana Sarmiento?  I am a curious, optimistic and hard-working woman. I am a mother of two wonderful girls who enlighten me as soon as I see them. I like to travel and feel the places I go to.

Kevin Scott

President, RESOLVE Canada

Leadership: Founder and leader of five national and international organizations focusing on youth leadership, privacy and identity theft, conservation, and international strategy consultation.

Strategic Planning: Twenty-five years experience developing and implementing strategic plans ranging from overarching organizational development plans to start-up planning, as well as goal based strategies and political campaigns.

Project Management: Extensive experience development and managing projects. Projects with multi-year projects such as the establishment of a national live call centre for victims of identity crimes and short lifespans; for instance conferences and media campaigns.

Business Development: Successfully raised over $40M for leading charities around the globe. Negotiated corporate partnerships with global Fortune 500 companies such as: Disney, Goldman Sachs, Mercer Lippincott, and AOL Time Warner.

Policy Development: Extensive experience in policy development, specializing in the areas of: privacy law, identity theft prevention, land-use, provincial and national parks, wildlife management, forestry, and climate change.

Government Relations: Thirty years of experience in government relations at the local, provincial/ state, national and international levels.

Jordan Shockley

Chief Executive Officer, Blue Oyster Environmental

Inspired by generations of watermen – and motivated to help restore the Chesapeake Bay in his career – Jordan spent summers at the University of Maryland’s Horn Point Laboratory. Working side by side with scientists, he learned to spawn and raise oysters while earning a biology degree from Salisbury University. Prior to starting BOE, Jordan held a variety of positions including Nursery Manager and Oyster Production Manager for Hoopers Island Oyster Company. As CEO, he oversees daily operations, including credit aggregation and grow out operations.

Elizabeth Sheppard

Manager, ISC and Agriculture Strategy, McCain Foods

Elizabeth Sheppard is an accomplished finance professional with experience in regenerative agriculture financing, internal audit, financial planning and analysis, and treasury. She has led the development of a first-of-its-kind financing partnership between McCain Foods and Farm Credit Canada and drove the execution of the McCain: McDonald’s Future of Potato Farming Fund. Serving as a direct connection between agriculture and finance professionals, Elizabeth & McCain are actively pursuing partnerships dedicated to reducing the barriers to regenerative agriculture across North America. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Honours, from Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. 

Dominic Sutton-Vermuelen

Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of MillPont

Dominic Sutton-Vermeulen, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of MillPont, comes from a diverse background in agricultural and alternative asset research, product/portfolio development, environmental markets, exchange markets, trading, derivatives, and agriculture. Most recently, Dominic was Principal & CEO of Climate-Smart Commodities Corp. (CSCC), a boutique advisory firm that worked with large agri-food companies to create tradeable environmental assets in commodity value chains. 

Prior to MillPont, Dominic was a Portfolio Manager at ReHarvest Partners where he managed the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund – one of the largest ag carbon and ecosystem services market projects in the US. During his tenure, Dominic grew environmental assets under management 24x and helped secure offtake commitments from numerous public and private entities, including the USDA and large agri-food companies. At CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives exchange, he was responsible for the research and design of derivative instruments linked to carbon, water, weather, and renewable energy. 

Throughout his career, Dominic has contributed significantly to thought leadership in the field, authoring numerous white papers and presenting on topics such as price discovery, market liquidity, climate risk, and the impacts of volatility on commodity markets and options strategies. 

Dominic is in final stages of completing his MS in Energy Policy & Climate from Johns Hopkins University and holds a BBA in Economics & BA in Spanish Literature from University of Iowa.

Jeff West

Senior Director, Environmental Services, Xcel Energy, Inc

Jeff West is the Senior Director, Environmental Services for Xcel Energy Inc. He is responsible for all environmental, chemistry, carbon/regulatory reporting, emission testing, FERC compliance, sustainability and water resource requirements throughout all of Xcel Energy for all Generation and Operations.

Mr. West has more than 25 years of environmental and chemistry experience. He joined Xcel Energy in 2004. His career includes assignments in engineering, emergency response services, industrial planning, compliance, training, chemistry, sustainability, regulatory policy, environmental reporting and water resource planning.

Throughout his career with Xcel Energy, he has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of environmental and chemistry compliance, carbon and regulatory reporting, sustainability, policy and water resource planning.

Mr. West has earned a BS in Biology and Chemistry, a MS in Environmental Management and Engineering, a Master of Business Administration and a PhD in Environmental Engineering.

Sonia Verhagen

Business Development Manager, Nature Based Solutions and Decarbonization and Sustainability Leader, SHELL

Dan Yeoman

Managing Director, Soil and Water Outcomes Fund CEO, ReHarvest Partners

Dan Yeoman brings years of experience helping public and private sector organizations design and implement durable operating models and strategic growth plans. At the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, Dan leads financial planning, new customer relationships, outcome customer contracting, and SWOF’s capital strategy. Dan helped to launch ReHarvest Partners, a co-manager of the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund, and has served as the Chief Financial and Strategy Officer at Quantified Ventures, the parent company of ReHarvest.

Dan’s background includes management consulting with McKinsey & Company and corporate finance with General Electric and Genworth Financial. Dan has an MBA from Duke University and a BA from Wesleyan University and resides in Washington, DC with his wife Beth and four kids.