Pollination appoints Kalika Jayasekera as Chief Operating Officer

September 12, 2024.

Pollination has appointed Kalika Jayasekera its Chief Operating Officer, as the company continues to mature and scale to meet the needs of a growing global client base.

Ms Jayasekera joins the climate and nature investment and advisory firm following a 20-year career in global asset management based in London. She most recently played a key role in transforming Softbank’s Vision Fund Investment Management business, where she was a Board Director and Global Chief Compliance Officer.

Prior to that, she was responsible for driving and implementing significant operational change at Blackstone in her role as EMEA Head of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance. She has also held positions as General Counsel and Head of Compliance for over 10 years in the European hedge fund industry. Ms Jayasekera serves as an Emeritus Governor of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is an external member of the LSE’s Governance Committee.

Pollination co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Martijn Wilder said Ms Jayasekera had the ideal blend of skills and experience to help steer the company through the next phase of its growth.

“In five years Pollination has become a world leader in climate and nature, with a team spanning four continents and a list of clients and partners across the globe,” he said.

“Kalika brings exceptional skills and experience to this role, having worked across blue-chip institutional environments but also in leadership roles at start-up and scale-up enterprises. She has worked in legal and compliance roles but also in the investments world. It’s a mix of expertise and capability that we will benefit from in many ways.”

Ms Jayasekera joins Pollination at a time of great activity. The company’s advisory business is working with a host of blue chip corporates across areas such as climate and nature strategy, sustainable finance and environmental markets. Pollination’s investments business recently launched an early-stage venture fund for climate and nature companies and is also partnered with HSBC in the joint venture Climate Asset Management, which seeks to become the world’s largest manager of natural capital. Pollination’s projects business is developing multiple large-scale clean energy projects, including the East Kimberley Clean Energy Project, which is being developed in partnership with Traditional Owner groups.

“This role, and Pollination itself, provide great alignment for me with what I am looking to do in my next professional chapter,” Ms Jayasekera said.

“As the company continues to develop, I can work across the entire business to ensure we have the right strategy in place underpinned by an operating model and people capability to allow us to continue scaling up and delivering exceptional results for our clients.”

Ms Jayasekera is relocating to Australia and will be based in Pollination’s Melbourne office. She will be a key member of the global leadership team.

“After two decades overseas, I was keen to move home to Australia but wanted to find a role with global reach and global impact,” she said. “Pollination is pioneering in a sector that really matters, and the area of climate and nature is only going to increase in its importance.”

Media contact
Dan Silkstone, Communications Director (APAC)
daniel.silkstone@pollinationgroup.com