our people

our team

A dynamic force for change with unrivalled expertise.

Tony O’Sullivan

Founder & Chair

Tony is Founder and Chair of Pollination. At the invitation of His Majesty King Charles III, in his former role as His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Tony was appointed Chair of the Natural Capital Investment Alliance (NCIA) Taskforce in October 2022. The NCIA was formed in recognition of the need to mobilise investment in nature based economic opportunities. Tony also sits on His Majesty’s Sustainable Markets Initiative Advisory Board. In 2005, Tony founded O’Sullivan Partners, which became a leading investment bank in Australia, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Just seven years later, O’Sullivan Partners was acquired by pre-eminent Wall Street firm, Lazard Frères & Co, chaired at the time in Australia by its former Prime Minister, the Honourable Paul Keating.  Prior to establishing O’Sullivan Partners, Tony was a London-based Managing Director of Bank of America, responsible for European Telecommunications and Technology, including Digital Infrastructure. Tony’s earlier career included being General Counsel, for several years, at a globally significant nickel and cobalt refinery. Tony has completed Private Equity & Venture Capital and Blockchain courses at Harvard Business School and Saϊd Business School (Oxford University) and he has also been admitted to practice as a Lawyer in various jurisdictions. Tony is a Founding Member of Oxford Blockchain Foundation. He was also a Member of the Council of The Serpentine Galleries in London, a former member of the Board of the State Library of New South Wales Foundation, and is a Founding Member of the Australian Architecture Association.

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Martijn Wilder AM

Founder & CEO

Martijn is Founder and CEO of Pollination, a global climate change investment and advisory firm. He is recognised as a global leader in climate law and investment and has advised governments and companies on innovative climate finance investments including the World’s First REDD+ Green Bond. Martijn was Head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and finance practice for twenty years and played a key role with Australia’s clean energy finance institutions. He was previously Chair of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), a former Founding Director of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), and he helped to establish and later Chair the Federal Government’s Low Carbon Australia finance body. He is currently Chair of the Governing Board of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) based in Vienna, President of WWF-Australia, Chair of the Victorian Government’s independent expert panel on Victoria’s 2035 Climate Change target, Adjunct Professor of International Climate Change Law at Australian National University, and a Senior Adviser to Serendipity Capital. He is also a Member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. Martijn was a Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar and was awarded an Australian Honour (AM) for his contribution to climate change law and the environment. In 2018, Martijn was awarded the Financial Times Asia Pacific Legal Innovator of the Year.

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Audrey Zibelman

Senior Advisor

Audrey Zibelman is an experienced energy industry executive who has driven decarbonisation efforts and innovation within organisations and across the sector. Audrey has been at the helm of multiple organisations, leading the transition of the power industry into a decarbonised world as a CEO, Board Member and government leader. Among other Board activities, Audrey currently serves on President Biden’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, as a Board Trustee on the Rocky Mountain Institute and Senior Advisor to Meridiam. Audrey’s most recent executive appointment was at X, Alphabet’s moonshot factory where she led an effort on grid digitalisation and now serves as an independent advisor. Before joining X, Audrey was the Managing  Director and CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the national power system and gas system operator for Australia. Before AEMO, Audrey was the Chairwoman of the New York Public Service Commission where she was a member of the Governor’s cabinet and led comprehensive regulatory reform of the electric industry to support a decarbonised grid. Audrey also previously was the Executive Vice President and COO of PJM, and Vice President at Xcel Energy, one of the US’s largest electricity utilities.

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Joanna Zhou

Director

Joanna has over 12 years of experience acting for clients on a range of matters concerning climate change and energy law and policy. Prior to joining Pollination, Joanna was a trusted legal advisor in the energy and carbon sectors advising developers, offtakers, financiers and corporates on renewable energy and carbon projects. Joanna has also advised on matters concerning international law including the Paris Agreement. In the lead up to COP21, Joanna was an advisor to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. She was also the legal advisor to the We Mean Business Coalition at COP21, working to translate ambitious private sector asks for inclusion into the Paris Agreement. Joanna has a Masters of Law from Columbia University, specialising in climate change and energy law, and has been recognised as a James Kent Scholar. She was also a 2016 finalist for the Thomson Reuters Trustlaw Lawyer of the Year Award in recognition of her work on the Paris Agreement.

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Lin Yuan

Associate Director

Lin has diverse experience advising global clients across industries on developing sustainability strategy, managing climate risks, and deploying innovative capital solutions for a more climate-resilient future. Prior to joining Pollination, Lin was a consultant at EY, where she developed the firm’s sustainable finance and climate risk capabilities and offerings. Before EY, she worked at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy and geopolitical risk consultancy, and did sustainability fieldwork in Southeast Asia. 

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Amanda Young

Executive Director

Amanda Young is a multisectoral executive with over 25 years’ experience in law, government, commercial, financial services and non-profit sectors. Her expertise is as an equity practitioner, focused on reducing structural inequalities across political, social, economic and sustainability domains. A former practising lawyer and former CEO of a national Indigenous economic foundation, she has studied at Harvard and Stanford Executive Business Schools, Cambridge University and is an Atlantic Fellow from the London School of Economics International Institute of Inequalities. At Pollination Amanda is bringing her experience to advisory capabilities for a just transition to net zero economies, with particular focus on the Indigenous stewards of natural capital and workforce capabilities. She is also a non-executive director of Oxfam Australia and Cufa.

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Ashley Woods

Managing Director, General Counsel & Head of Corporate Development

Ashley has more than 20 years experience advising on and executing transactions across fintech, energy and oil & gas sectors.  He previously worked alongside the Founder and CEO of a large privately owned software company focussed on automation of business critical processes to implement the group’s strategic capital raisings, M&A and financing transactions along with other operational matters.  In addition, Ashley was responsible for the development and operations of a real estate project in the Caribbean working closely with several of the world’s top luxury hotel brands.  Ashley has also worked as a M&A lawyer at top tier international law firms in London, Tokyo and Melbourne.

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Zoe Whitton

Managing Director, Head of Impact

Zoe is a leading advisor on climate finance, with significant experience developing strategy, governance and analytics for institutional investors wishing to manage climate change risk and SDG exposure. She previously led Citi’s APAC ESG Research team and advised investors on climate change at Credit Suisse and Bank of American Merrill Lynch. She serves on the board of the IGCC and was an observer to the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative’s Coordinating Working Group. Zoe has won numerous research awards, was rated one of the top RI analysts globally in 2019 and was awarded the inaugural Rising Star award by WIBF. 

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Isobel Whitehouse

Associate

Prior to joining Pollination, Isobel worked at Hanbury Strategy, a political advisory and communications consultancy. Within this role, she worked primarily on net zero and financial services accounts, offering bespoke advice on political engagement, policy and regulation.

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Laura Waterford

Director

Laura’s work focusses on nature-positive corporate strategy and policy, and opportunities in the natural capital and nature-based solutions space. Laura advises clients on nature-related risks and opportunities in line with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures guidance and is a member of the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia’s nature risk working group. Laura has deep expertise on carbon markets and is also a member of the World Economic Forum and Taskforce on Nature Markets working groups on voluntary biodiversity credit markets. Prior to joining Pollination, Laura was a climate and environmental lawyer at leading national and international law firms and she was a finalist in the Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards in the Planning & Environment category in 2020-2022.

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Rachel Walker

Design Specialist

Rachel is a design professional with in-depth experience in branding and digital design. Her focus is in transforming the clients behaviour into a holistic and well thought-out design with strong visual aesthetics to improve the user experience. Prior to joining Pollination, Rachel has experience in designing for a variety of clients, ranging from health-tech and higher education, to financial services and recruitment. 

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Ratri Wakeling

Director

Ratri is a corporate finance and investment professional with experience in the renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure and real estate sectors, having worked in Europe, Australia and Asia. She has worked for Greentech Capital Advisors (now Nomura Greentech), an investment bank solely focused on sustainable infrastructure sectors, providing M&A, capital raising and strategic advisory services. She previously served as a Director in Sahid Group, a publicly-listed Indonesian investment holding firm, responsible for capital structure optimisation and operations of its portfolio of companies across hospitality, education, commercial real estate and healthcare sectors. Ratri started her career as an engineer at Tenix Group (now Downer EDI) working across its aerospace and infrastructure divisions.

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Sam Wagstaff

Director

Sam has over 11 years’ experience in national climate change and environment policy and law. Prior to joining Pollination, Sam advised the Australian Government on climate change and clean energy investment policy. This included as a Director with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, working closely with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. In the wake of Australia’s 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires, Sam led a climate, environment and mitigation policy team at the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements. He also has deep experience in carbon offset and carbon accounting policy, and earlier in his career worked in national environmental law, science communication, and grassroots environmental conservation.

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Caroline Vexler

Director

Caroline is an environmental economist specialising in nature and climate risk. Prior to joining Pollination, she was an Engagement Manager at Vivid Economics by McKinsey & Company, where she led work on physical climate risk, adaptation strategies, and natural capital valuation. Her recent work includes advising governments and development banks on disaster risk financing and resilience investment strategies. She also has a research background in the economics of fisheries and agriculture, including work with Resources for the Future and World Resources Institute.

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Silvia Vargas

Executive Assistant

Silvia is an Executive Assistant in the Sydney office and supports Managing Director’s, Zoe Whitton and Wendy Mackay. Silvia has a background in ecotourism, hospitality, and sustainability in Costa Rica. Her primary experience is in sustainable luxury boutique hotels and resorts, where she initially worked developing and implementing projects in a variety of areas to improve hotel services and operations, later moving to Human Resources, and Hotel Manager. More recently, she has been working as an Executive Assistant, providing support to senior executives across diverse industries. 

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Gavin Templeton

Managing Director

Gavin is an entrepreneurial leader in all areas of sustainability,  recognised globally as an expert in the green economy and the low carbon transition. He has a proven track record of identifying concepts and developing them into innovative commercial opportunities. Prior to joining Pollination, Gavin ran the Climate Finance Advisory function at Macquarie’s Green Investment Group which advised governments, public bodies, multilateral organisations and development finance institutions. He also represented Macquarie Group on the United Nations Global Commission on Adaption and Bloomberg’s Climate Finance Leadership Initiative.  Gavin was part of the team that set up, ran and eventually privatised the world’s first dedicated green finance institution, the UK Green Investment Bank, which was subsequently bought by Macquarie. He began his career at BP before moving to Morgan Stanley and Rabobank. A pioneer, he worked at the inception of the European Emissions Trading Scheme and United Nations Clean Development Mechanism. Gavin is a Senior Advisor to the UK Government’s Partnership for Accelerated Climate Transitions and a member of the Advisory Committee for the new Green Bank Design Platform currently under development at the UK’s Green Finance Institute.

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Megan Svedman

Associate

Prior to joining Pollination, Megan worked at a leading national law firm as a corporate associate. Her practice focused on the representation of emerging companies and venture capital funds, and involved utilizing legal skills and regulatory expertise to support mission-driven entrepreneurs and venture capital funds seeking to transform agricultural and energy sectors. Megan received her Juris Doctor from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.

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Belinda Sutton

Project Coordinator

Belinda brings experience in both the public and private sectors, spanning Australia and Europe, to her role as Project Coordinator at Pollination. In this position, she supports the implementation and execution of multiple projects across the firm. During her six years at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, she developed her expertise in project management, high-level event management, protocol, logistics and administration, as well as public affairs and communications. While in this role, she coordinated the OECD’s participation and contribution to several global inter-governmental forums, and was Chief of Protocol for the Secretary General and OECD delegation at the 2014, 2015 and 2016 G20, B20 and APEC Summits. ​​Prior to joining Pollination, Belinda was the Chief of Staff to the CEO at the London HQ of the World Humanitarian Forum.​

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Geoff Summerhayes

Chair Senior Advisor Group

Geoff is renowned for his leadership in raising awareness of climate change financial risk in Australia and globally. He was formerly an Executive Board member of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), and one of his most influential roles was a chair of the Council of Financial Regulators Working Group on Climate Change, whose members include APRA, ASIC, RBA and Treasury. Internationally, Geoff was a member of the Executive Committee of the global standard setting body for insurance, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and chaired its Audit and Risk Committee. He chaired the UN Environment Program’s Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), and represented IAIS and SIF at the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). Prior to his appointment at APRA, Geoff was CEO of Suncorp Life. He has held a number of senior executive roles at National Australia Bank, was CEO of Retail Investment at MLC and started his career in commercial property development at Lend Lease.

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Patrick Suckling

Managing Director, Asia Chair

Patrick has worked on international climate, foreign, trade and investment and aid policy at the highest levels of government. He led international policy for two Australian Prime Ministers, including on climate change and a successful G20 response to the Global Financial Crisis. As former Ambassador for the Environment he led for Australia on Paris Agreement negotiations, strategy for Australia’s $1 billion climate finance commitment, and development of climate cooperation with key countries such as China, India and Japan. He Chaired the Umbrella Group of influential developed countries in the UNFCCC for nearly four years through the difficult but successful negotiation of the implementing rules for the Paris Agreement. He has been Australia’s High Commissioner to India, an advisor to the Australian Foreign Minister and Counsellor at the Australian embassy in Washington.

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Gail Sucharitakul

Associate Director

With a background in strategy consulting, Gail has worked across energy, sustainability and M&A. Prior to joining Pollination, Gail was a Strategy Consultant in Accenture’s Energy practice where she specialised in the energy transition for major players in the energy sector. While at Accenture, she was seconded to the UNFCCC COP26 Climate Champions team, working under Nigel Topping and Gonzalo Muñoz’s leadership as the sector lead for the Health and Tourism sectors respectively. In this role, she championed the UN Race to Zero and Race to Resilience campaigns, and successfully achieved a breakthrough in the Health sector by COP26.

 

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Jacqui Stapleton

Talent & Culture Director

Jacqui has diverse experience in human resources and organisational development in both the public and private sector. Prior to joining Pollination, she held a variety of positions at the NSW Government’s Agency for Clinical Innovation, including Strategic HR Lead and People & Culture Manager. Jacqui was responsible for leading the HR function and delivering key HR projects for the organisation. More recently she has focused on the employee value proposition, driving positive culture and change management.

 

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Louis Slade

Associate

Louis joins Pollination with a diverse background in consulting, advocacy, and entrepreneurship. Most recently, Louis was Strategy Advisor at Climate 200 where he worked on Australia’s 2022 Federal election to provide strategic advice and insights to independent candidates committed to climate action. Prior to that, Louis was a Consultant at Social Ventures Australia where he supported charities and not-for-profits in strategic planning and outcomes measurement. 

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Victoria Skinner

Growth and Impact Manager

Victoria has broad experience across organisational management, including strategic operations and change management. Before joining Pollination, Victoria was the Practice Manager at a specialist commercial and litigation law firm where she managed the operational functions of the firm, including finance, human resources, IT management and strategic projects. 

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Kishen Singh

Intern

Prior to joining Pollination, Kishen was developing voluntary carbon market solutions for financial institutions and large corporations at start-up, SALT Climate Tech. He also worked with carbon project developers, aiding them in raising capital. Kishen’s research has examined socio-economic issues surrounding critical mineral extraction. He has also written articles for LSE Green Finance on climate-tech and venture capital. Previously, Kishen held leadership positions at the LSE, such as being the founding Head of LSE Future Impact’s Climate Division.

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Dan Silkstone

Director, Marketing and Communications (APAC)

Dan is a creative and experienced communications specialist with deep experience across journalism, consulting, and the energy sector. He brings extensive media contacts, a flair for storytelling and a detailed understanding of best-practice digital marketing and communications tools, techniques and trends. Dan worked as a journalist, editor and media executive at Fairfax Media, including as Senior Writer, Deputy News Director and Head of Weekend Content at the AGE/SMH. He was Head of Content at the Australian Renewable Energy Agency before joining international management and design consultancy ThinkPlace, as Global Director of Positioning and Digital Media, creating and leading a growing brand as it transitioned form start-up to scaling up. Dan then joined Advocacy and Policy organisation Energy Consumers Australia as Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, driving an expanded public profile and stakeholder influence for the organisation during a critical time in the energy sector.

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Cary Shepherd

Associate Director

Cary is a specialist in climate law and policy with nearly a decade of experience across the public and private sectors. In the private sector, he has counseled clients on carbon market transactions, conducted due diligence reviews of carbon and sustainability-related private equity investments, and advised on other matters related to climate finance. In the public sector, he has designed and negotiated key provisions of landmark climate legislation including the development of blended climate finance programs, represented clients in regulatory and legislative hearings, and litigated cases regarding environmental and energy law. Prior to joining Pollination, Cary served as a Fellow at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic, as the Policy Director at the Illinois Environmental Council, as staff on President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, and as a Fellow in the Chicago Mayor’s Office. He received his Juris Doctor from The University of Chicago Law School and is licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois.

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Mitch Shannon

Director

Mitch has extensive experience providing legal and strategic advice to governments and businesses on energy markets and policy, regulatory compliance, commercial contracts, risk management and the delivery of large-scale infrastructure projects. He was formerly a Senior Adviser at the Australian Energy Market Commission, where he led the development and implementation of complex regulatory reforms to address economic, policy and technical issues arising in Australia’s energy market. Mitch has deep energy sector expertise and a strong understanding of the drivers of investment in renewable energy projects. He is also currently the Co-Chair of the Sydney Young Energy Professionals.

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Dan Shafqat

Director

Dan is an investment professional having completed over $25 billion of M&A and financing transactions in the energy sector across EMEA, APAC, North America and Latin America. Prior to joining Pollination, he worked at Cantor Fitzgerald in their Power, Energy & Infrastructure team where he focused on M&A and private capital raising primarily for clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal. Dan previously spent several years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the Energy & Power team where he advised public and private companies on cross-border M&A and capital markets transactions. Dan holds a Master’s in Management from London Business School and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford.

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Anna Scott

Legal Counsel

Anna is an accomplished corporate lawyer with extensive experience advising clients on private mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. Prior to joining Pollination, Anna was an Associate in Baker McKenzie’s Corporate team where she provided legal advice to UK and international clients on cross-border and multinational transactions.

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Davide Sciamma

Business Development & Client Associate

Davide has diverse experience in Strategy and Business Development across industries and geographies. His background is in economics and holds a MSc in Climate Change, Management and Finance from Imperial College. He has worked for 4 years at Tesla, devising and executing the business development strategy to scale the business up in Italy and Switzerland. He led the opening of new markets in three Italian regions, with key responsibilities on B2B and B2C sales, marketing events, new product launches and strategic partnerships. Before joining Pollination, Davide worked at ESG Book – an ESG data and tech company – covering Corporate and Financial Institutions clients in Continental Europe. He has supported Banks, Asset Owners and Asset Management to collect and integrate ESG and Climate data into their business strategies for investment purposes, risk monitoring and regulatory reporting.

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Adriano Scardino

Director

Adriano joins Pollination after several years of experience in the Construction Industry in Australia, during which he has successfully covered a number of roles during the bidding and delivery stages of some of the largest projects in the Public Transport and Energy sectors. He has developed strong and very diverse analytical and modelling skills thanks to his experience as an Engineer, a civil Estimator on the Tender for Snowy Hydro 2.0, and most recently in his Data Science role in the Pre-Contracts and Risk team at CIMIC Group’s CPB Contractors. His capabilities include Civil and Structural Design, Financial Modelling and Data Science algorithms such as Machine Learning models. Adriano holds a Bachelor and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Rome’s La Sapienza University and is currently completing his MBA at the University of New South Wales.

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Richard Saines ONM

Managing Director

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.

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Hamish Reid

Managing Director

Hamish has 30 years experience in consumer brand building having worked for Fonterra in New Zealand, Danone in Paris and Saatchi & Saatchi in London. In 2005 Hamish’s focus moved to sustainability and climate change, in particular, where he ran consulting projects with the International Olympic Committee, Les Mills and New Zealand Rugby. In 2017 Hamish joined milk nutrition company Synlait’s Executive Leadership Team where over five years he led the company’s repurposing, sustainability strategy and commercialisationHamish joins Pollination to support the firm’s advisory clients in the food, fibre, agribusiness and consumer brands sectors. 

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Caroline Reed

Executive Assistant

Caroline is an Executive Assistant in Pollination’s London office and supports Co-Founder & Chair, Tony O’Sullivan. Caroline has worked in executive administration in leading firms for more than two decades. Her experience spans roles in London and Sydney, predominantly in the financial sector. Prior to joining Pollination, Caroline has held roles at firms including O’Sullivan Partners & JPMorgan. She holds a BA (Hons) in Sociology from Southampton University.

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Kate Rayson

Head of Marketing & Communications

Kate has applied her deep commercial and marketing expertise to tackle diverse sustainability challenges, in Australia and overseas. At Qantas, she led Qantas Future Planet – the world’s largest airline offset program – developing new carbon neutral products that unlocked new opportunity and revenue. As Engagement Manager at WWF, she led public engagement on the organisation’s largest advocacy campaign – Fight for the Reef – developing strategy that successfully drove policy change at a domestic and international level. She is a graduate of Social Leadership Australia’s Sydney Leadership program; and has been a speaker and programmer at industry events including the Carbon Market Institute Summit.

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Charles Ramsden

Associate

With a background in Clean Energy and Climate Research, Charles has worked on a variety of engagements across energy infrastructure transactions, climate investing and macroeconomic modelling. Prior to joining Pollination, Charles was a research member at the world-leading School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales, where he provided consulting services to the Australian Conservation Foundation and represented the research team as a speaker at solar energy expositions. He continues to collaborate with the Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets and the Australian PV Institute on SunSPoT, an online tool for assessing rooftop solar investments.  He was also previously part of the investment team at the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, where he worked on project finance transactions within the waste and recycling industry.  This included scoping out origination opportunities within the emerging Circular Economy space. Before coming to Australia, Charles developed strong financial modelling and analytical skills as a supply chain and procurement consultant in Munich, Germany. Charles graduated from Durham University with a First-Class Honours in Master of Science in Physics. His thesis specialised in the research of novel materials in solar cells. His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed sustainability and energy journals. 

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Katey Ramage

Executive Assistant

Katey is an Executive Assistant in Pollination’s Sydney office and supports Managing Director’s, Diana Callebaut, Rob Grant, Brer Adams, Jonathan Kelly and Hamish Reid. Katey comes to Pollination with over 30 years experience working, predominantly, for global financial organisations at senior level and more recently, within the ever-expanding Ag industry.  Working with start-up businesses, Katey’s focus has been on property investment, investment management and advisory services, with a wealth of experience across a number of foundational disciplines, including executive administration and support, HR, finance, IT, project and office management.

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Felix Qin

Associate Director

Felix has diverse investment banking experience across the renewable energy, infrastructure and natural resources sectors. Prior to joining Pollination, Felix was an associate at ICA Partners, where he primarily focused on M&A and debt raising in the renewable energy sector, advising on over 1.5GW of utility-scale solar, wind, battery and hydro projects in Australia. Through this experience, he has developed strong financial modelling, due diligence and transaction management skills. Felix has a Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) from the University of New South Wales.

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Cameron Prell

Managing Director

Cameron Prell joins the US team as a Managing Director, based in Washington DC. Cameron has over 20 years’ professional experience providing clients integrated legal, policy and business advisory services, including corporate and securities law, energy and environmental regulation, international climate law, clean energy finance, corporate climate risk management, fintech and digital asset platforms, and energy and environmental commodity markets. Prior to joining Pollination, Cameron was Head of Policy and Legal at Xpansiv Ltd, where he provided corporate and regulatory counsel to all Xpansiv subsidiaries, and developed digital asset platforms for energy & environmental markets. Prior, he also held the role of Partner at The Coefficient Group/Coefficient Legal PLLC, Counsel at Crowell & Moring LLP, and Senior Counsel at McGuireWoods LLP.  He holds an LLM in International Environmental Law from George Washington University School of Law, a JD from Indiana University School of Law, and a BA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

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Valerie Pinkerton

Associate Director

Valerie is an interdisciplinary environmental professional with broad experience in philanthropy, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement to support climate change mitigation and coastal adaptation. She was previously an associate program officer at the Robertson Foundation, making strategic grants to address climate change, protect ocean health, implement invasive predator controls in New Zealand, and support tiger conservation. Prior to this role, Valerie provided research and analysis for policymakers on a range of environmental issues through roles with the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Law Institute. She received her MEM from Yale University and a BA from Columbia University.

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Lara Philips

Director

Lara has over 15 years of experience in sustainability across the agricultural, FMCG, insurance, and advisory sectors. At Fonterra, she led sustainability solutions for customer and consumer brands across North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, launching several net carbon zero products which have received international recognition. Lara has deep technical knowledge in climate policy, mitigation, and carbon markets. With broad strategy and governance experience, Lara has developed climate strategy at Insurance Australia Group, advised clients on emissions trading and reporting at PwC, and has been an external advisor to Bain & Company.

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Harrison Pharamond

Associate

Harrison has diverse experience across the impact investment and social entrepreneurship space with a focus on emerging markets. Prior to joining Pollination, Harrison spent five years at MCE Social Capital, an impact investment firm where he managed impact measurement and evaluation across a portfolio spanning over thirty-five developing countries and multiple sectors, including sustainable agriculture, clean water, renewable energy, and financial inclusion. Harrison has also consulted for leading impact companies including Sonen Capital, Agora Partnerships, pfc Social Impact Advisors, and Alterna. He has lived and worked in countries across Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

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Thea Philip

Associate Director

Thea has broad experience providing legal and strategic advice to private, government, and non-profit clients on matters relating to energy, environment, and land use.  Prior to joining Pollination, Thea was a lawyer at Ashurst, where she advised on regulatory compliance, carbon markets, carbon neutral certification processes, environmental upgrade finance, native title, and due diligence. She also worked on high profile environmental approvals processes and major infrastructure projects. Previously, Thea worked at the International Energy Agency, where she was engaged in energy policy research and analysis. Thea has completed a Master of Philosophy in Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, she undertook additional training in sustainability business skills through the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

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Page Perry

Director

Page combines experience as an environmental attorney with deep policy expertise in environmental markets and water management across the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Page joins Pollination from the Commonwealth Government, where she led strategic policy and consultation for the development of the national biodiversity market.  Prior to this, Page managed the policy & governance team tasked with establishing the Queensland Government’s $500 million Land Restoration Fund to incentivise carbon farming projects with co-benefits in the state. Before joining the public service in Australia, Page worked as an environmental litigator in the US.

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Jaime Pérez Sanjuán

Senior Financial Analyst

Jaime Perez Sanjuan is a Senior Financial Analyst based in the London office. Prior to joining Pollination, Jaime spent several years at BNP Paribas, first leading the FP&A reporting for BNP South European branches and then within the Finance & Strategy Global team of BNP’s Primary & Credit Markets in London. Before that, Jaime started his career at EY as a Financial Risk consultant. Jaime holds a degree in Business Administration from Carlos III University of Madrid and is CIMA Part-qualified.

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Dipti Patel

Director

Dipti has experience helping clients understand the risks, opportunities and impacts resulting from sustainability issues and how to integrate sustainability into corporate-level strategic planning. Prior to joining Pollination, she was a Manager at EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice where she advised clients across a variety of sectors in designing and implementing sustainability strategies, goals and impact measurement frameworks. Dipti also worked in EY’s Financial Services Consulting practice supporting operational readiness planning and risk management processes. Dipti holds degrees in Environmental Science and Economics from North Carolina State University and a Masters of Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Juan Parra

Associate

Juan has experience advising strategic investors and private equity clients in Colombia. His practice focuses on corporate matters and cross-border transactions across different industries.

Prior to joining Pollination, Juan worked as an associate in the Bogota, Colombia office of a major international law firm that has a strong presence in Latin America. He is admitted to practice law in Colombia and received his Master of Law (with Honors) from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

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Celine Parle

Executive Director

Celine is an Executive Director in our Advisory team. Prior to Pollination, Celine worked for more than seven years at Sydney Airport where she led various functions including as Head of Strategy and Head of Fuel. Previously, Celine worked at QIC in the global infrastructure team, Morgan Stanley as an equity research analyst covering Australian Transport and Infrastructure companies and DP World in investor relations.

Celine holds a Bachelor of Business from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques and a Master of Finance from the University of Paris Dauphine. She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

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Mark Paramor

Director

Mark has 20+ years diverse management experience across the Environmental Markets, Energy and Professional Services sector in Australia, Asia, North America and Europe. Passionate about nature-based solutions to combat climate change and the intersection of technology to enable positive outcomes for the environment, Mark has agribusiness venture experience coupled with strong business development across the power and energy sectors in Australia and internationally. During Marks career, he has commercialised oceanic environmental monitoring technology out of the US, managed compliance projects for International oil & gas clients and held Director level roles. In recent years Mark has consulted to the power and utilities sector working on large scale technology and energy transition projects across Western Australia. Prior to joining Pollination, Mark led the establishment of GreenCollar in Western Australia, Australia largest carbon project developer.

 

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Annick Paradis

Executive Director

Annick has broad experience advising both public and private sector clients, including governments and philanthropies, on the challenges of climate change. She has worked with local and global organisations to improve their climate strategies, optimise their business models, integrate climate risk and sustainability at the heart of investment decision making, as well as support new climate policies. She also worked with start-ups in securing funding towards innovative climate solutions and develop go-to-market plans. Previously, Annick worked at SYSTEMIQ, a system change advisory firm in London, and at Stikeman Elliott LLP in Canada and the USA as a corporate lawyer focused on M&A and financing, where she advised global energy companies on large-scale renewable energy projects.

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Sara Oishi

Director

Sara has diverse experience across the technical, legal, and policy aspects of climate change. Prior to joining Pollination she was an Associate at Lathrop GPM, LLP working in the environmental and tort litigation practice group. Sara’s experience includes advising Fortune 500 corporations on complex environmental risk and regulatory issues. Sara also has experience in structuring financial mechanisms to support the energy transition, having spent several years with non-profit and start-up companies helping develop innovative means of financing large scale energy efficiency projects. Her experience also includes analysis of renewable fuel and energy storage technologies. Sara holds environmental engineering degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University and a law degree from Vermont Law School.

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Jessica Nutt

Associate

Jessica brings diverse experience in supply chain and procurement, project management, process improvement and operating model design and implementation. Prior to joining Pollination, Jessica was a management consultant at EY, where she worked on a variety of strategy and operations projects for federal and state government, and private sector clients. She has a particular interest in the role of global supply chains in addressing sustainability and biodiversity challenges.

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Robert Norrie

Resource Manager

Robbie has diverse experience working in HR and Risk roles in Banking, Insurance and Consulting. He is passionate about people development and experienced in working in fast paced global organisations. Prior to joining Pollination Robbie ran the Retail Banking Graduate and Intern Programs at Commonwealth Bank. Prior to joining the bank he spent four years working in Staffing for Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in both the London and Sydney offices.

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Ricardo (Rick) Nogueira

Senior Advisor

Rick is an expert on climate finance policy, blended finance and sustainable investing.  He advises major philanthropies, governments, and multilateral development banks on designing and implementing climate finance solutions. Rick is also a Board Member of Washington, DC’s Green Finance Authority, the first municipal Green Bank. Rick previously served in the Obama administration as a Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy for Climate Change where he led on climate finance matters in the lead up to the Paris Agreement and served as a Board Member on the Green Climate Fund. Prior to public service, Rick spent 10+ years in private equity fund management with a focus on emerging markets. He was the Co-founder and Managing Director of the Leaf Clean Energy Company, a $400 million publicly-listed fund targeting clean energy investments across the Americas. Earlier in his career, Rick practiced law with a focus on energy transactions and climate policy.

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Matthew Neyman

Director

Matthew has more than 15 years of experience working in corporate sustainability, corporate finance, finance advisory, project management and sustainability software development. Prior to joining Pollination, Matthew advanced Scope 3 accounting and reporting within Mars Incorporated’s corporate sustainability team. While at Mars he developed geographic information systems which mapped and calculated Mars’ entire value chain, including water, land and greenhouse gas footprints. Matthew has functional experience with lifecycle assessment datasets and their modeling and application. He holds knowledge modeling and developing sustainability sourcing strategies with a focus on impact mitigation. Matthew possesses an MBA from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management.

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Andrew Mulia

Associate

Andrew has broad experience in legal, policy advocacy and project management having worked as an M&A lawyer at Baker McKenzie Indonesia Banking Practice and as an Executive Aide to the Indonesian Government. Over the years he has solved various client problems through conducting due diligence, legal advisory, legislative drafting, digital adoption, project management and policy reform. He seeks to combine his diverse skillset to help accelerate clients, governments, and institutions globally to achieve their net zero targets in a timely and sustainable manner. Prior to Pollination, he has also worked at a boutique investment firm focusing on infrastructure financing and deal structuring for innovative renewable solutions. Andrew received his MBA from Georgetown University McDonough School of Business with a certificate in Consumer Analytics and Insights as well as an LL.B and bar license from Pelita Harapan University.

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Kate Mukho

Talent & Culture Coordinator

Kate brings diverse experience in human resources and talent management to the Talent & Culture team, with a special focus on the private tech sector. Her main expertise lies in designing and managing the full employee lifecycle, employer branding, organisational design, and change management. Having previously worked at an international hospitality consultancy and a tech outsourcing agency, more recently she held the role of Chief People Officer and board member at Belkins, where she built the People function from the ground up, supporting the firm’s growth from start-up phase to a scale-up group of four companies. Kate holds BA and MSc in International Economics from Kyiv National Economic University and takes part in volunteering activities in Ukraine.

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Sam Mostyn AO

Senior Advisor

Sam is a recognised leader in corporate Australia, renowned for championing sustainability and diversity in boardrooms for more than a decade. She is the Chair of Citi Australia, and is a Non-executive Director at Mirvac, Transurban, Climate Council and the Centre for Policy Development. Sam was appointed to the Global Business Commission on Sustainable Development in 2016, and has been a faculty member of the Cambridge Business Sustainability Program since 2012. She is the Deputy Chair of the Diversity Council of Australia; past President, Australian Council for International Development; and Advisory Board member for Climate Council and ClimateWorks Australia. She was the first woman appointed to the AFL Commission. Prior to joining the private sector, Sam was a policy advisor to former Prime Minister Paul Keating.

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John Morton

Managing Director, Head of Global Advisory

John E. Morton brings more than twenty-five years of experience in emerging markets, climate finance, and economic and environmental policy. Throughout his career, John has been at the forefront of designing and structuring some of the most innovative platforms and investment vehicles to mobilize private capital flows into climate-related sectors in fast-growing global markets. In the Biden Administration, he served as the U.S. Treasury Department’s and Secretary Yellen’s inaugural Climate Counselor, managing and coordinating an historically ambitious set of policies and priorities. During the Obama Administration, John served as the President’s White House Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change, and previously as the Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now the US DFC). Outside Government, John was Managing Director of Economic Policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts and a private equity investor with the Global Environment Fund. He began his career as a strategy consultant with Mercer and with the World Bank managing environmental infrastructure projects in the former Soviet Union. John lives in Washington DC with his wife and two children.

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Travers Morony

Associate

Travers has extensive experience providing legal and strategic advice on the financing aspects of key infrastructure and renewable energy projects. Prior to joining Pollination, Travers gained experience at various law firms including Gilbert + Tobin in Sydney and Baker McKenzie in Singapore where he specialised in advising sponsors, arrangers, lenders and borrowers on a broad range of domestic and cross-border debt financing transactions, including a number of sustainability linked and green loan transactions in the nascent Australian sustainable finance market. Travers holds Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales.

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Georgia Monaghan

Associate Director

Prior to joining Pollination, Georgia was a lawyer at Ashurst for two and a half years, working in tax, corporate transactions and strategic litigation. Georgia has worked on high profile arbitrations, NSW Supreme Court proceedings, public and private M&A and the Royal Commission into Banking. Georgia has experience in due diligence, compliance reporting and corporate governance and has policy and law reform experience from her time as a secondee to the Justice Reform Initiative. Interested in the start-up space, Georgia is a Startmate Fellow and has co-founded an ethical and sustainable fashion blog.

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Arth Mishra

Associate

With a background in Data Analytics and Economic Research, Arth has worked on a range of projects across natural capital, climate investment risk and decarbonisation strategy. Prior to joining Pollination, Arth worked with the Tech Mahindra Foundation in providing data-driven solutions for Indian social sector clients to maximise the impact of CSR programs. Arth’s research has examined the impact of climate change on patterns of conflict and the growth of enterprises in emerging markets. Arth graduated from the LSE with a First-Class Honours in Bachelor of Science in Economics, specialising in International and Development Economics. Previously an International Debate Champion, Arth has worked the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to improve access to debate education on pertinent issues including climate change and sustainability.

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Giverny McMillan

Executive Assistant & Office Manager

Giverny is an Executive Assistant & Office Manager in Pollination’s Sydney office, supporting Founder & CEO, Martijn Wilder AM, and Managing Director, Megan Flynn. She was formerly a Legal Secretary at Baker McKenzie and supported various senior lawyers in the Intellectual Property, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group and The Head of Asia-Pacific Employment Group, before working with Martijn Wilder AM, who was The Global Head of Climate Change Group. She coordinated the operations and logistics of Baker McKenzie’s Asia-Pacific Annual Meetings. Giverny was awarded the Baker McKenzie Professional Development Award in 2018.

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James McKinney

Associate Director

James is an investment professional with broad experience across public and private capital markets and strong quantitative and financial modelling skills. Prior to joining Pollination, James worked as an investment consultant in the UK, where he helped large institutional investors solve a range of investment-related challenges such as setting investment strategy, structuring derivative-based hedging strategies, fund selection and implementation. He also supported a number of his clients in integrating climate and other ESG risks into their investment decision making process. James holds a Masters degree in Physics from the University of Warwick and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

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Brydy McDonnell

Executive Officer, Pollination Foundation

Brydy is the Executive Officer of the Pollination Foundation based in the Melbourne office. Prior to joining Pollination, she acted in a range of advisory roles within the Queensland Department of Environment and Science. Delivering operational management of marine and terrestrial protected areas, she supported strategic programs including the Great Barrier Reef Field Management Program and the Minjerribah Protected Area Expansion Strategy.  Previously, Brydy worked as an Executive Assistant to various senior executives within the Queensland Government developing foundational skills in executive administration, recruitment, and office management.

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Andrew McConnell

Associate Director

Andrew is an expert in quantitative and qualitative climate and biodiversity risk modelling, with a strong background in climate finance, sustainable monetary policy, and macroeconomics. Before starting at Pollination he supported the WWF as a lead author in the development of their biodiversity risk methodology report and by making their biodiversity risk tool useable for portfolio risk analysis. Prior to this he consulted in Europe for financial institutions in building transitional and physical climate risk models. His quantitative background was acquired while working as researcher at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. There he worked doing IAM modelling with the REMIND model team before moving to the research group on climate finance and public economics. While working in this group he made several seminal contributions to the conceptualisation of sustainable monetary and macroprudential policy for central banks and won Oxford’s Sensitive Intervention Point Prize for his development of climate adjusted collateral “haircuts”. The latter of which has become a key component of the ECB and other central bank’s climate strategies.

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Kim McCarthy

Associate

Kim has extensive experience leading the design, implementation and governance of carbon offset products, in domestic and international markets. Kim was previously a member of the sustainability team at the Qantas Group, providing strategic leadership on carbon-offset project due diligence, compliance reporting and governance. Kim has experience providing services relating to sustainability assurance, sustainability strategy, climate change advisory and environmental market procurement in multidisciplinary businesses and ASX50 contexts. Kim has a Masters of Conservation Biology and Bachelor of Business Administration from Macquarie University.

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Michael Mazengarb

Associate

Michael has more than a decade of experience in climate policy, clean energy technologies and environmental market analysis, spanning roles with federal and state governments and the not-for-profit sector. Previously, Michael worked as a carbon and energy markets analyst for the Clean Energy Regulator and a data analyst for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. With a deep understanding of climate policy and energy markets, he served as a senior advisor to ACT climate and energy minister Shane Rattenbury and a policy analyst for the Investor Group on Climate Change. Before joining Pollination, Michael worked as a journalist, reporting on developments in climate change, clean energy, electric vehicles and policy. He is currently completing a Juris Doctor at the University of Technology Sydney.

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Alix Massender

Talent Acquisition Lead

Alix is a global talent acquisition professional with experience of working with senior stakeholders to build out critical talent and Talent Acquisition teams across the UK, Australia, Europe and the US. Her expertise spans varying business models and cycles across consulting engineering partnerships, blue chip corporates, and most recently, as Head of Talent for a mid-cap European private equity fund. She has a particular interest in aligning business strategy with innovative Talent Acquisition tools and technology to deliver best in class hiring outcomes for both candidates and stakeholders.

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Marisa Martin

Managing Director, Head of Pollination Law

Marisa has deep experience advising global clients on climate change law and policy, and has been internationally recognised for her work. As a former attorney with Baker McKenzie’sClimate Change Practice, Marisa specialised in advice on carbon transactions, domestic and international climate law and policy, with a focus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and nature-based climate solutions (e.g., REDD+). Marisa has also provided expert legal analysis on corporate sustainability and renewable energy, water infrastructure and biofuel projects. She was appointed Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Climate Change, Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Ecosystem Committee. She has been recognised as an ‘Emerging Lawyer’ in Environmental Law by Leading Lawyers; and an ‘Associate to Watch’ in Climate Change by Chambers. She is licensed to practice law in California and Illinois.

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Wendy Mackay

Managing Director

Wendy is an experienced strategic advisor to corporate clients, with a particular focus throughout her career on providing solutions to financial institutions across a range of strategic, organisational and operational issues. She is passionate about accelerating the transition to a decarbonised and sustainable global economy. Prior to joining Pollination, Wendy was a Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where she led their Climate, Sustainability and Social Impact work in Australia and NZ, and was a member of the Asia-Pacific leadership team. She has a deep understanding of the client perspective, having held a number of senior strategy, M&A, and capital transaction roles during her long tenure at Stockland, one of Australia’s largest diversified property companies. She has also previously worked with leading international specialist consultancies, ERM and Ramboll, where she advised corporate and government clients on environmental and sustainability issues. Wendy holds a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management, Master of Science from Lund University in Sweden, and Bachelor of Planning (University Medal) from the University of New South Wales in Australia.

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Mellisa Ma

Associate

Mellisa is a strategy specialist with experience in advising Australia’s largest companies in firm-wide strategic transformations and operating model redesigns. Prior to joining Pollination, Mellisa was a Senior Associate at Strategy&, where she with senior stakeholders across a diverse range of sectors to identify organisations’ capability gaps and strategic ways forward. Mellisa is also a social entrepreneur, co-founder of financial literacy organisation, MoneyGirl. Through MoneyGirl, Mellisa continues to bring together public sector agencies, not-for-profits and corporates to contribute to Australia’s solution to financial education for young women.

 

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Sam Lopez

Executive Assistant

Sam is an Executive Assistant & Project Coordinator in Pollination’s Chicago office. Before coordinating Pollination’s North American operations Sam managed operations and IT for Washington-DC based international development organizations, and supported senior IT executives at TransUnion in Chicago. After graduating from George Washington University with a degree in international economics Sam honed skills in event planning, advertising design, and IT management as the sole administrative employee of the most popular venue for live comedy in the American Mid-Atlantic region.

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Johannes Lohmann

Executive Director

Johannes brings a combination of global advisory and investment experience on climate, social impact, and innovation across the public, social, and private sectors. Prior to Pollination, Johannes worked as Head of Work and Financial Behaviour at the Behavioural Insights Team, advising public and private sector partners on topics such as green jobs and sustainable pensions. Previously, Johannes was the CFO of Instiglio, which creates innovative financing mechanisms for social impact. He also worked on energy and agribusiness investments for the World Bank’s investment arm, and on industrial corporate finance for Deutsche Bank in New York. Johannes has also advised climate-tech and nature start-ups such as Future Cleantech Architects and Earthacre. Johannes holds a Master in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he was a Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership.

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Elizabeth Littlefield

Senior Advisor

Elizabeth is renowned for her leadership developing innovative finance solutions in emerging markets, with a focus on climate finance and nature-based solutions. Elizabeth formerly served under U.S. President Barack Obama as President and CEO of OPIC (now renamed DFC), the U.S. government’s development finance institution. In this role, she managed OPIC’s $24 billion portfolio of financing and insurance to support private investment in more than 100 developing countries, growing OPIC’s commitments to investments in renewable resources tenfold in three years to $1.5 billion annually. She currently chairs the board of M-KOPA Solar, the leading pay-as-you-go solar company in Africa, and was formerly a Senior Counsellor at Albright Stonebridge Group. She serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF); the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University; Development Alternatives Inc; and General Atlantic’s Beyond Net Zero Fund; and previously served as the Chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation and as the founding Chair of the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance.

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Sophie Leitch

Associate

Prior to joining Pollination, Sophie was a lawyer at Allens, working in the funds, superannuation and banking sectors. Sophie has experience working on a range of transactional matters, including advising on fund formation and M&A in the insurance and superannuation sectors. Sophie also has experience advising on complex regulatory and compliance matters, such as greenwashing reviews, for a range of financial services providers, including banks, superannuation funds, insurers and reinsurers and fund managers. Prior to working in funds, Sophie worked in competition law, assisting in preparing submissions on policy and legislative reforms in response to various regulatory inquiries, including the ACCC’s inquiry into digital advertising services and the draft News Media Bargaining Code. With a background in financial services and law and policy reform, Sophie has a keen interest in how we can reframe our current financial system and regulatory controls to proactively address the climate crisis and, in particular, to recognise and respond to nature risk.

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Steven Lang

Managing Director

Steven is an experienced systems change leader with an extensive track record advising global corporates, particularly in the food and consumer goods sectors, and enabling multi-stakeholder coalitions.  Prior to joining Pollination, Steven was a Partner with Systemiq where he led some of the firm’s most significant work in the Food and Agriculture system, and in the area of regenerative business models, including the design and mobilisation of a significant multi-stakeholder action platform to scale regenerative food systems.  He has also served as an advisor to various international organisations and philanthropic foundations on financing regenerative food systems, and was a Partner with EY where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, and developed extensive experience in the areas of strategy, corporate finance, supply chain transformation, and sustainability.  Steven led much of the firm’s work in the area of Natural and Social Capital measurement and valuation, being one of the leading contributors to the Natural Capital Protocol and serving as a member of ICAEW’s Global Sustainability Committee.

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Erica Lampropoulos

Director

Erica has worked in leadership roles across renewable energy and decarbonisation projects and strategy. Erica joins Pollination from Fortescue Future Industries, where she led the development of green hydrogen projects in her role as Regional Manager Hydrogen. Her career also includes roles at Electricity Generation and Retail Corporation trading as Synergy, Herbert Smith Freehills and Knowledge Society. Erica is currently a board member of Palmerston Association and Primary Focus.

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Rebecca Lake

Associate Director

Rebecca has over a decade of experience advising governments and corporate clients on sustainability and communication strategy. Prior to joining Pollination, Rebecca consulted for the United Nations on a portfolio of agriculture, land-use, clean energy and industrial development projects throughout Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Rebecca started her career in Indonesia, where she managed stakeholder engagement for the National Action Plan for Sustainable Palm Oil, the first industry wide commitment of its kind. Inspired by her upbringing in rural Australia, and experience working at the coalface of the global environmental crisis, Rebecca is passionate about enabling an inclusive and just climate transition. She holds a Master of Business Administration, with a specialisation in finance, from UNSW’s Australian Graduate School of Management where she is recognised as a Women in Leadership Scholar. 

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Natalie Kyriacou

Director

Natalie Kyriacou OAM is a recognised environmental leader, renowned for her advocacy and expertise in sustainability at both a grassroots and corporate level. Natalie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia and the Forbes 30 Under 30 honour for her services to wildlife and environmental conservation and education in 2018. She was the United Nations Environment Programme’s ‘Young Champion of the Earth’ Finalist for her innovation in wildlife and environmental conservation, and in 2022, was recognised as one of The Australian’s ‘Top Innovators’ for environmental impact. She is the Founder and Chair of wildlife and environmental organisation, My Green World, a corporate climate and nature advisor, a Board Committee member at CARE Australia and the former Australian Director of Sri Lanka-based NGO, Dogstar Foundation. As a climate and nature advisor, Natalie previously supported the formation of PwC’s ESG business, and has experience advising corporate, government, and nonprofit clients across sustainability strategy, biodiversity and climate policy, and social impact initiatives. Natalie has co-authored a range of papers, including PwC’s national report on ‘the value of an Australian biodiversity market’ in 2022. As a public speaker and freelance writer, Natalie’s passion and expertise lie in exploring the intersection of environmental and social equity issues, enhancing biodiversity outcomes, and amplifying young and diverse voices and grassroots initiatives in climate conversations.

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Holly Kramer

Senior Advisor

Holly is a prominent Australia and New Zealand board director, with a broad range of roles on listed, unlisted and not for profit organisations.  She also speaks publicly about her many passions including sustainability, gender equity and leading businesses through purpose and culture and is currently focused on driving sustainability in the Food and Agriculture sectors.  In her current portfolio, Holly sits on the board of Australia’s leading food retailer, Woolworths Group, and is chair of the board’s Sustainability Committee.  She is a director on the board of Fonterra Group, New Zealand’s largest business and a listed dairy cooperative with sector leading sustainability credentials.  Holly is also a director of NBryo, an unlisted agri-tech start up business, a Pro Chancellor of Western Sydney University and sits on the board of indigenous scholarship group, the GO (Goodes-O’Loughlin) Foundation. Holly is also a member of Bain & Company Advisory Council. In her executive career, Holly was the CEO of apparel retailer Best & Less.  Prior to that role, she had more than 20 years’ experience in general management and marketing at Pacific Brands, Telstra and Ford Motor Company (in Australia and the US.)  Holly is also the recipient of the Sir Charles McGrath Award for a distinguished career in Marketing.

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Fabian Knoedler-Thoma

Associate

Fabian is a climate economist specialised in carbon pricing and industrial decarbonisation strategy. Prior to joining Pollination, Fabian worked as a Senior Economist for Vivid Economics, leading analysis on climate policy design, modelling and evaluation with a focus on competitiveness impacts and carbon border adjustment mechanisms. He has delivered strategic projects for clients including international energy and industrial companies, the European Commission and the World Bank, and national governments in developing and developed countries.

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Olivia Kelly

Director

With a background in law, Olivia brings deep analytical capability – helping identify and navigate climate risk and opportunity and build business and supply chain resilience. Prior to Pollination, Olivia was a lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills, advising public and private companies on contentious aspects of major corporate and financial transactions, corporate governance, regulatory compliance and risk management. Olivia advised clients in high profile contested litigation matters, including financial services regulatory matters, shareholder class actions, competition and anti-bribery and corruption proceedings. She has consulted on business and human rights issues including private sector accountability for environmental and human rights impacts in the Asia-Pacific, and identification and remedy of supply chain risks. She brings experience in policy and law reform from her experience in community legal and pro bono matters and is a current member of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights – Business & Human Rights Sub-Committee.

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Jonathan Kelly

Managing Director

Jonathan has more than 22 years’ fund management and direct investment experience, working with high growth businesses, founders and management teams to maximise long-term value creation. His experience spans growth private equity, venture capital and technology operations. In 2017, Jonathan co-founded Odyssey Private Equity, an Australian-based mid-market firm, raising A$275m from institutional investors. Prior to Odyssey, Jonathan was an executive with CHAMP Ventures, where he successfully invested across five funds totalling more an A$1 billion in committed capital. He has also served as a director of the Australian Investment Council, the peak body for private capital in Australia.​ Jonathan has worked in operational roles as an electrical engineer during his early career, including four years with Cochlear Limited where he led the development of clinical software and manufacturing test systems.

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Beth Keddie

Executive Director

Beth is an experienced strategist and innovation leader having developed and implemented transformational strategies across multiple sectors in response to disruptive change. She formerly led strategy, product and commercial venturing at Jemena and Energy Queensland’s subsidiary Yurika in response to sectoral transformation driven by renewables and digitalisation. This included the creation of new businesses, development of award-winning products and customer engagement initiatives that were progressed from pilot trials to core business. She also has entrepreneurial experience working directly in and with start ups and early-stage ventures and has successfully established partnerships to accelerate corporate innovation and product development.

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Catalina Jugravescu

Director

Catalina has broad experience as an investment strategist supporting defined benefits pension funds to achieve their financial and sustainability goals. Prior to joining Pollination, she was a Strategist within the Private Markets team at the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) where she established the climate risk framework for private investments and contributed to defining the overall USS Net Zero plans. Catalina also worked at BlackRock providing outsourced CIO services for pension funds and insurance clients across Europe.

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Rob Jesudason

Deputy Chair

Rob is a Founder, Investor, Advisor and Non-executive Director to financial services and technology companies transforming our world. He is Deputy Chair of Pollination and brings more than 27 years of experience operating and investing in the financial services and technology industries.

Rob founded Serendipity Capital in 2020 and serves as its Chief Executive Officer and Founding Partner. He is a Non-executive Director of CQC and Audit Chair of Deep Labs.

Prior to founding Serendipity Capital, Rob was President of Block One, a leading global blockchain company and the developer of the EOS.IO blockchain protocol. He was named in the top 100 Global Blockchain Leaders in 2019 and Asian FinTech Top 100 in 2016.

Prior to Block One, Rob was Group Executive, Financial Services and Chief Financial Officer of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). Prior to CBA, Rob was Head of Global Emerging Markets within the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) investment banking practice at Credit Suisse, working across APAC, CEEMEA and Latin America. The team was the #1 rated team in Bank M&A and ECM in Asia in 2010 and Rob was named as Asian FIG M&A advisor of the year in 2008.

Earlier in his career, Rob was a Managing Director in the Asian Special Situations Group at JP Morgan as well as Managing Director and Global Head of Corporate Development at Barclays PLC. He also worked for McKinsey & Co and GE Capital. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Aston University.

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JJ Jackson

Finance Director

JJ is an experienced finance professional with a broad background in financial control, investment compliance, tax and administration. JJ previously spent eight years as a controller and compliance officer for a multi-billion dollar investment firm based in California and most recently was a senior manager within the investment finance and compliance function of a large multi-national insurance corporation. JJ holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Civilisation from the University of Sydney, a Master’s degree in Taxation from San Jose State University, California, and is a Certified Public Accountant.

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Dr. Jane (Carter) Ingram

Executive Director

Carter has over 15 years of experience at the forefront of integrating nature into sustainable development across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Prior to joining Pollination, Carter was a Senior Manager in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice where she advised food/agriculture, real estate, infrastructure and tourism businesses in designing and implementing ESG goals and strategies, programs and impact measurement, with a focus on natural capital. Carter’s previous experiences include launching and leading the Ecosystem Services program and the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP) for the Wildlife Conservation Society, where she worked with governments, multi-lateral institutions, NGOs and businesses to conduct scientific analyses, develop new collaborations and implement initiatives to advance conservation and sustainable development globally. Carter completed a Post-doctoral fellowship at the Earth Institute of Columbia University and has a M.Sc. and D.Phil. from the School of Geography and the Environment of Oxford University. She has co-edited two books and written over 60 articles, reports and publications on biodiversity and ecosystem services, climate change, poverty reduction and economic development. Carter is currently an Adjunct Associated Professor in the School for Foreign Service at Georgetown University and serves on the SNAPP Science Advisory Council, the Technical Advisory Council for the UNDP Equator Initiative, the International Working Group for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and has been co-leading a USG working group on Natural Capital Accounting in the United States.

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Jane Hutchinson

Co-CEO, Pollination Foundation

Jane is a leader in nature conservation with over 20 years experience as an Executive and Non-Executive Director of multiple and varied conservation organisations including Accounting for Nature, The Nature Conservancy Australia Program, Australian Land Conservation Alliance, Midlands Conservation Fund and Tasmanian Land Conservancy. Jane is currently Chair of the Executive Council of the Protected Areas Learning and Research Collaboration (PAC) and is a member of the Australia Committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (ACIUCN).  Jane received a Barbara Thomas Fellowship in 2014, Harvard Club of Australia Fellowship in 2017 and was awarded Tasmanian Australian of the Year 2016 for her contribution to nature conservation.

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The Rt Hon Nick Hurd

Senior Advisor

Nick was a UK Member of Parliament for fourteen years before standing down in 2019. During that time he served three different Prime Ministers as a Government Minister over more than 8 years. He is a lifelong member of the Privy Council. Nick has a long involvement in climate change policymaking. He was the UK Minister for Climate Change & Industry with responsibility for UK carbon budgets; representing the UK in international climate change negotiations, and overseeing the UK’s international climate change budget. As International Development Minister at DFID, he led the Africa strategy and thematic responsibilities included climate change and access to clean energy. As a backbencher he served on the Environment Audit Committee and was Chair of the All Party Environment Group. As Minister for Civil Society Nick led the Government work that established the UK as a world leader in developing the Impact Investment market. He is Chair of the Access Social Investment Foundation and a Global Ambassador for the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG). Before politics, Nick had almost ten years investment banking experience in the UK and Brazil.

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Prof. Lesley Hughes

Chief Climate Officer

Professor Lesley Hughes is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity & Development) at Macquarie University. Her research has mainly focused on the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems. She is a former federal Climate Commissioner and former Lead Author in the IPCC’s 4th and 5th Assessment Report. She is a founding Councillor with the Climate Council of Australia, a Director for WWF Australia, and a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists.

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Deia Housen

Associate Director

Prior to joining Pollination, Deia Housen worked at BlackRock in the strategy and solutions teams, covering their largest wealth and institutional clients in the Netherlands, Nordics and FraBeLux region, working closely with senior executives. She completed a summer internship at Bloomberg in sales and analytics and also worked on an Open Banking project with Kearney (Netherlands). She earned a dual Master of Science degree at Bocconi University (CEMS) in International Management and completed her Bachelor of Science at Bocconi University in Economics and Management. She speaks Dutch, English, Italian and French. She volunteers in London for a food kitchen, cooking and serving surplus food to the local communities once per month, and supports refugees, from direct aid to integration into society.

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Samim Hoshmand

Associate

With a background of nature conservation and climate change, Samim has over 12 years of experience in various capacities with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations Industrial Development Programme (UNIDO), International Federation of Red Cross Society (IFRC) and Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs). He was also the National Ozone Officer implementing Montreal Protocol and Vienna Convention for over 5 years. In May 2019 he has appointed a senior role as Director of Climate Change for Afghanistan, supervising over 40 staff and experts. In this role, he helped with securing over $22 million from the Green Climate Fund for Afghanistan. He also instructed climate change and environment laws at Kabul Education University. Samim was the founder and chairman of the Board for Environment Watch Afghanistan Society (EWA). He published several papers on nature conservation and climate change and authored a book in Farsi called “Towards Green Future” which he dedicated to Afghanistan’s natural beauty. Samim represented Afghanistan at various COPs and global meetings and actively negotiated and participated in media advocacy campaigns encouraging green development.

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Laura Honey

Sponsorship & Events Manager

Laura is a Sponsorship and Events Specialist based in the Sydney office. With experience in event management and professional services, Laura works with clients and internal stakeholders to provide proactive and strategic events and marketing support. She holds a Bachelor of Business (Public Relations), and joins Pollination from global law firm, Baker McKenzie, where she coordinated 245 successful events and supported the Director of Business Development, Marketing & Communications in a range of strategic business development and marketing initiatives. 

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Deniz Harut

Executive Director

Deniz Harut is a global leader in sustainable finance, unlocking public and private funds and raising capital for the most pressing issues challenging our world today, particularly in the areas of the climate crisis and gender equality. Deniz has over sixteen years’ experience in emerging markets, international development finance and impact investing, advising governments, companies, investors and sovereigns for significant societal benefit. She provides thought leadership on a broad set of ESG topics, strategic advice and transaction support to bring product expertise to advance sustainability solutions for clients. Since 2017, has helped mobilize over $5 billion of blended finance investment into emerging markets. During the Ebola crisis in West Africa, Deniz successfully raised funds for Sierra Leone supporting financial inclusion & economic growth. Deniz has extensive experience at board level in the environmental, social and arts and culture sectors, Founder-Director of Veggie Option sustainable living platform, and a Cordon Bleu Certified Chef.

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Tara Grewal

Compliance Manager

Tara has extensive experience in regulatory compliance for the alternative asset management industry. Prior to joining Pollination, Tara worked as a Senior Manager at Deloitte, with a focus on regulatory assurance for investment managers and private equity firms. In her early career, Tara spent time as a paralegal before joining the regulatory hosting firm Mirabella in the compliance team where she worked with a wide variety of hedge funds, private equity firms and investment advisers, before joining Blackstone in the firm’s EMEA legal and compliance team. Tara has an undergraduate degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Durham University and completed the Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course at the University of Law. More recently, Tara has obtained a postgraduate diploma in Financial Services Law, Regulation and Compliance. 

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Angela Greer

Financial Controller

Angela is an experienced finance professional, focused on financial control and reporting along with tax and regulatory compliance.  Angela spent many years with AllianceBernstein Australia in a number of finance roles, including working as part of the Australian leadership team and overseeing a number of projects.  Angela then moved to Crestone Wealth Management to build and develop core finance and reporting functions before joining PayPal in the Controllership team for PayPal Australia, looking after the full range of statutory reporting and tax, including support for regulatory initiatives.  Angela holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is a Chartered Accountant.

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Joanne Gray

Executive Director, Head of Strategic Partnerships

Joanne Gray is a leading business journalist and editor. Most recently Joanne was managing editor of The Australian Financial Review with responsibility for finance, growth and talent. Prior to this she was a reporter and editor for the Financial Review in Australia and the US, focusing on business, economics and politics. She was formerly managing editor of Asiamoney in Hong Kong and Bloomberg News Bureau Chief in Switzerland. Joanne holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney and an MBA from Melbourne Business School and is a non-executive director of Great Walks of Australia.

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Rob Grant

Managing Director, Head of Projects

For 25 years, Rob has been personally and professionally passionate about advocating for and delivering climate change abatement and clean energy policy, regulation, projects investments, businesses and industries. His professional career includes roles as Director Energy at Fortescue Metals Group responsible for the company’s energy and green hydrogen businesses, Chair of the Clean Energy Investor Group, Senior Vice President Clean Power and Vice President Capital for SNC-Lavalin in Asia Pacific and for 18 years until July 2014 helped position Pacific Hydro as Australia’s most successful and dynamic international clean energy utility. Rob holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and has completed an MBA and Master of Applied Finance at Melbourne and Macquarie Universities.

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Simon Gottlieb

Associate

Simon has extensive experience providing financial and strategic advice to clients from both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Pollination, Simon was a Senior Consultant at EY Sydney in the Valuation, Modelling and Economics practice where he developed financial models to support clients in the context of a transaction process, investment opportunity or reform. He studied a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economic (with First Class Honours) at the Australian National University.

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Ariadne Gorring

Co-CEO, POLLINATION FOUNDATION

Ariadne is passionate about Indigenous-led cultural conservation, working with the Kimberley Land Council (KLC) for over 20 years on native title and cultural and natural resource management. Ariadne worked with 14 Native Title groups to register the West Kimberley on the National Heritage List. She led the registration of the North Kimberley Savanna Carbon Projects – the first in Australia to be registered on native title lands. She has engaged with national and international networks to promote best practice models of Indigenous led conservation. She was a Committee Member, World Indigenous Network Conference in Darwin; and Presenter at World Parks Congress, Sydney, and United Nations Climate Change Conference, Paris. She’s an Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity Melbourne University; and recipient of The Nature Conservancy’s Barbara Thomas Fellowship in Conservation Financing.

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Erin Gianferrara

Director

Erin is an Environmental Economist with over ten years’ experience. Her work focuses on natural capital valuation, nature risk analysis, and biodiversity impact assessments to inform investment decisions. Erin’s recent projects include supporting the Kenyan Government to develop an environmental markets-based funding mechanism to support biodiversity, forest conservation and sustainable livelihoods, and supporting a leading global asset manager to integrate nature impacts and dependencies into investment screening criteria with an aim to increase the biodiversity value of their forest portfolio. Erin’s current projects include developing corporate biodiversity strategies as well as supporting private equity firms to develop climate and nature investment strategies including tech-based and nature-based carbon credit generation and procurement.

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Natalia Gaviria

Assistant Accountant

Natalia is an Assistant Accountant based in the Sydney office. Prior to joining Pollination, Natalia was the Finance Manager of a group of 15 businesses around Sydney across industries including retail, recruitment and farming. Natalia is experienced in accounts management, accounts payable and receivable, budgeting and forecasting as well as payroll and taxation. Earlier in her career, Natalia has also performed roles in marketing, tax accountancy and business consultancy.

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Elaine Garrod

Creative Services

Elaine has worked for over 20 years as a graphic designer of pitches, proposals and PowerPoint presentations for major corporations in London. She has worked for Williams Lea at two investment banks before moving to direct employment on the ‘Create’ team at KPMG. She has also been self-employed as a designer and document specialist and worked for Intelligent Office at an international law firm. Elaine is a passionate environmental campaigner and, since 2013 has been an active member of Friends of the Earth in her hometown of Croydon.

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Kirsty Galloway-McLean

Executive Director, Pollination Foundation

Kirsty is a leader in global environmental governance and knowledge management, including 15 years with the UN working on sustainable development and information sharing. She is passionate about making policies practical, information accessible, and the power of people-led nature conservation. Kirsty previously led the climate change and communications department of the Traditional Knowledge Initiative at Japan’s United Nations University, and she set up the first globally distributed information exchange system under international law for the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal. She ran the cross-disciplinary research Centre for the Mind at the Australian National University, was an advisor on risk assessment and intellectual property for the Australian government, and established BioChimera, a Melbourne-based consulting firm that specialises in assisting international environmental agencies and philanthropic foundations working with Indigenous peoples. Kirsty has authored four books on climate change and Indigenous peoples, edited several scientific and technical journals, and written numerous articles on climate change adaptation, mitigation, REDD+, safeguards, access and benefit-sharing, Indigenous livelihoods, and traditional knowledge.

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Philip Furlong

Design Team Manager

Phil is an experienced design and brand specialist and joins the team as a Design Manager, based in Sydney. He has spent the last ten years leading design, brand & content teams within a leading financial services B Corp & WME certified brand house across education, health & emergency services. As the Design Manager, he was instrumental in building the organisation’s design capabilities across brand, social, lifecycle, acquisition & operational areas supporting business asset growth from $1 billion to $9 billion. He played key roles in the development of 5 new brand propositions & launches, including a new digital bank, as well as creation of the corporate master brand. As part of the Marketing leadership team, he worked closely with Digital Services, Corporate Affairs, CSR, Sponsorship & Sales to deliver to the organisation’s strategic plan. He also has significant experience in financial services risk & compliance requirements. Across his career, he has held senior design & creative management positions with multiple advertising agencies, including DDB & STW group as design & studio lead for Audi, Foxtel, Vodafone, NRMA and Fidelity International.

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Patricia Frederighi

Executive Director

Patricia has deep legal experience in climate change law and policy, advising governments and companies on forestry and renewable energy projects, as well as on the development of frameworks related to environmental services and REDD+. She was an Associate in Baker McKenzie’s Global Climate Change Group – conducting assessments to identify environmental risks and opportunities in business transactions, assisting clients with the international and Brazilian local aspects of climate change policy, as well as providing strategic advice on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and REDD+ projects. Patricia is a former member of the Safeguard Chamber created by the Brazilian Environmental Ministry to develop a REDD+ National System. She has an extensive academic background on forestry carbon, including a Msc. in Environmental Management and Economics at the University of Gothenburg, participation in a Visiting Scholar & Research Fellow Program at Columbia University Law School, and a Graduate Certificate Course at Michigan State University. In 2018, Patricia conducted a volunteer work at Kasigau REDD+ Project, in Kenya, with Earthwatch Institute and Wildlife Works.

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Isabelle Franklin

Associate

Prior to joining Pollination, Isabelle worked as a policy adviser at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for four years, advising the Prime Minister across a variety of policy areas including climate policy, innovation and science policy and infrastructure policy. Isabelle is the Vice-Chair and Board Director of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, the Chair of the Young Women’s Council of Australia, a Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum and on the Institute of Public Administration Australia’s Future Leaders Committee. Isabelle is also a coordinator with Foundations for Tomorrow, and works with CARE Australia to analyse the impacts of climate change on gender and with Jasiri Australia to encourage young women to engage with the policy development process. Isabelle holds a Bachelor of Science (Neuroscience) and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the Australian National University and has been admitted to practice as a lawyer to the New South Wales Supreme Court. Isabelle is currently completing a Master of Public Policy, specialising in climate policy, at the Crawford School.

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Megan Flynn

Managing Director, Chief Growth & Impact Officer

Megan has been at the forefront of corporate sustainability strategy, climate law, carbon markets, and sustainability consumer trends for over 15 years. She formerly led sustainability at the Qantas Group, growing its commercial carbon offset program to be the largest of any airline in the world and negotiating on behalf of the aviation industry under its United Nations governing body. Prior to this she was an Associate in the Global Environmental Markets team at Baker McKenzie. She is a Non-executive Director of Carbon Markets Institute and Melbourne University’s Sustainable Society Institute. She is a Research Partner of Harvard University’s Sustainability Transparency Accountability Research (STAR) Lab and a graduate of the Harvard Social Leadership Program.

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Luke Fletcher

Director

With a background in both the energy industry and climate-change research, Luke has extensive experience advising companies and large institutional investors on ESG integration and climate-related risks and opportunities. Having worked as a senior ESG analyst in the investor research team at CDP, Luke developed methodology frameworks under TCFD and was lead author on a number of CDP’s award winning sector research reports. Prior to this, Luke worked in the oil & gas industry as a Petroleum Engineer at BP across assets in Angola and an offshore rotation in the North Sea. Luke holds an MSci from Cambridge in Natural Sciences, specialising in Materials Science & Metallurgy. He was named among the top 10 SRI analysts in Extel IRRI 2019.

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Shane Flatman

Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer

Shane has over 20 years of experience working in global financial institutions across roles including finance, risk, strategy, and technology.  Prior to joining Pollination, Shane was COO at OneVentures, where he oversaw all finance, administration, and compliance processes. Whilst there he developed and implemented their Responsible Investment Policy (ESG) across the investment portfolio, developed secondary transactions for fund assets and restructured the OneVentures corporate group.  Shane was previously the COO for BlackRock in Australia, overseeing the operational, product, risk and finance aspects of the Australian business.  He has also held roles at Westpac, Citadel Investment Group, and Lehman Brothers across Tokyo, New York, Chicago and Sydney.  Shane is a Chartered Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Australia.  He has also completed executive education in disruptive strategy and sustainable business strategy with Harvard University.

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Veda FitzSimons

Associate Director

Veda has strong environmental markets expertise and advises a range of corporates and governments across climate and nature matters.  With a particular focus on nature risk and natural capital, Veda has advised a range of APAC government entities on early policy positioning regarding voluntary biodiversity credit markets. Veda contributed to the development of Pollination’s proprietary nature risk assessment methodology and has conducted pilot TNFD-aligned nature risk assessments for ASX-listed entities and nature strategy work. With strong carbon markets expertise, Veda provides legal and policy advice regarding the operationalisation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and has a particular focus on opportunities across blue carbon methodologies and mechanisms to support their economic viability. Prior to joining Pollination Veda was a lawyer at Ashurst, with experience in the Environment & Planning team.

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Rita Eid

FP&A Manager

Rita is an experienced finance professional with a diverse background in management accounting and reporting, budgeting and forecasting and financial modelling. In her previous roles, Rita has demonstrated strong skills in finance business partnering, providing financial information tools analysis and insights to executives helping them make more informed decisions and driving business strategy. As Finance Business Partner at a global investment manager, Rita has built exceptional experience in reporting to multilevel stakeholders in Equity Research delivering financial insights to asset managers.

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Lauren Drake

Executive Director

Lauren has global experience in environmental markets and has deep experience in climate law, policy and finance, with a particular focus on carbon markets and nature-based solutions. As an Executive Director at Pollination and previously, a climate change lawyer at Baker McKenzie’s Global Climate Change practice, Lauren provides expert advice to clients in strategy, risk and governance, as well as law and policy, thereby unlocking new value and helping companies and governments to build organisational resilience to the climate change challenge.

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Anna Draganova

Director

Anna has 12 years experience providing strategic advice to financial services institutions in the risk and compliance space. Prior to joining Pollination, Anna was a Director at EY’s Financial Services Risk Management practice where she led the delivery of large-scale climate and credit risk transformation projects for banking clients in the UK and EMEIA. Anna was also part of EY’s Sustainable Finance leadership team tasked with the design and roll-out of strategic advisory services to financial institutions in the ESG space. Prior to joining EY’s London based Credit Risk team, she worked in the M&A teams in Belgium and Bulgaria where she focused on corporate finance, business valuations and financial due diligence for financial institutions and corporate clients.

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Jasper Dix

Associate

Prior to joining Pollination, Jasper was developing financial models and debt-equity instruments that capitalise on blockchain technology to raise capital for a major shipping company. A scientist by training, with a particular interest in thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and cosmology, he also spent one year teaching Physics at The Perse School, a leading independent school in Cambridge. With a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Oriel College, Oxford University, Jasper also completed the summer internship program at Pollination in 2021.

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Sarah Denman

Associate Director

Sarah has deep experience advising companies, governments and civil society on regulatory and environmental issues. Prior to joining Pollination, Sarah was an environment lawyer at environmental law NGO ClientEarth, leading advocacy with Members of Parliament, Government, industry and civil society to secure environmental protections in UK legislation and the EU/UK trade agreement. She previously spent several years at Allen & Overy in London as a regulatory lawyer in the international capital markets department and was seconded to Hong Kong and Goldman Sachs. Sarah holds a Law with French Law LLB from University College London and a Diploma in French law from the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II). She also sits on the Law Society of England and Wales Climate Change Working Group, which advises the legal profession on climate change.

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Charlotte Davison

Executive Assistant

Charlotte is an Executive Assistant in Pollination’s London office, supporting two Managing Directors, Gavin Templeton, and Dr. Helen Crowley. Previously working in the finance industry and FMCG, Charlotte has extensive experience supporting high-net-worth individuals, private equity, and start-up firms. Her strengths lay within operations and administrative support.

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Rohit Das

Executive Director

Rohit has extensive international experience in the green finance, climate adaptation, energy, water, and environmental sectors. He has worked for public and private sector organisations for over 12 years. Rohit joins Pollination from the UK Environment Agency, where he led the development and implementation of new and innovative financial mechanisms to support private-sector participation in climate adaptation and nature recovery. Before joining the UK Environment Agency, Rohit worked for the economics and advisory practice of Atkins Limited where he led and delivered several commissions for major development banks and worked on projects across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

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James Daniel

Associate

James is an experienced advisor to private, public and non-profit clients on high-stakes investments, acquisitions and other transactions. He previously worked as a lawyer at Allens with a personal focus on the role of technology in addressing climate change. This included advising early stage climate tech companies on capital raisings, use of data and commercial contracting. During this time James also worked extensively in the health sector including on the negotiation of AstraZeneca’s supply of its COVID-19 vaccine to the Australian and New Zealand Governments. James was the Pro Bono Coordinator for the Allens Sydney office for two years and responsible for building and maintaining strategic partnerships with pro bono clients. James holds degrees in Laws and Arts (majoring in Psychology and Philosophy) from the University of Sydney. 

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Dr. Helen Crowley

Managing Director

Helen is a recognised nature and biodiversity expert, delivering pioneering and impact led climate and nature focused solutions for our clients. Formerly the Head of Sustainable Sourcing Innovation at the French company Kering, Helen advised luxury brands on best practices in sustainability. Prior to this, Helen worked with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) for over a decade on conservation strategy. Early in her career, she worked as a senior consultant to companies on building out environmental health and safety programs to encompass broader sustainability issues. In October 2019, Helen took a year-long sabbatical as a Fellow and Senior Advisor for Resilient Supply Chains at Conservation International, developing new approaches for business to address climate and biodiversity challenges. Helen has a PhD in Zoology from the Australian National University and is on the Boards of non-profit organizations including Textile Exchange, Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature US. She is also on the advisory boards of the GEF Planet Gold Program and Alante Capital. Helen contributes to the business and biodiversity work of the World Economic Forum as an advisor and member of the Global Futures Council.

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Gemma Cranston

Executive Director

Gemma has deep experience working on nature with business, government, financiers, and researchers. She has a strong track record of leading the development and deployment of company engagements to identify strategic and commercially relevant approaches to protect and restore nature. She is accustomed to working in an international environment and collaborating cross-functionally with key senior stakeholders in a wide-range of business sectors including fashion, food and beverage, retail, and water sectors. Gemma joins Pollination from the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) where she was Director, Business and Nature, spearheading their thought-leadership on what business leadership looks like in the face of the nature crisis.

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Matthew Cranford

Director

Matthew is a Director in our Washington D.C. office. Prior to joining Pollination, Matthew held various roles at the U.S. Department of the Treasury over the past 9 years, including, most recently, Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Sustainable Finance, where he lead strategy for Treasury’s international engagement on sustainable finance and climate-related financial risks, including at the FSB, G20, G7, OECD, and Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. He holds a PhD in Environmental Policy & Development from LSE, a MSc in Environmental Technology, Environmental Economics & Policy Specialization from Imperial College London and a BSc in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Virginia​.

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Jordan Cook

Associate

Jordan has significant experience in infrastructure and agricultural funds management spanning transactions, capital management, investor relations, and governance. Prior to joining Pollination, Jordan was an analyst in Macquarie Asset Management’s Infrastructure and Real Assets division, working primarily within an agricultural fund that raised and deployed equity at scale on behalf of institutional investors. With a background in natural asset investments, Jordan has a particular interest in the role that nature can play in responding to the climate crisis.

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Maggie Comstock

Director

Maggie is a Director in our Washington D.C. office. Prior to joining Pollination, Maggie served as the Senior Director of Climate Policy and Carbon Markets at Conservation International, where she led the institution’s work to support nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation within national and global policy frameworks. During her time at Conservation International, she also worked on Climate and Biodiversity Finance Policy.  Prior to joining Conservation International, Maggie worked as a Policy Analyst at the U.S. Green Building Council focusing on international green building policy, sustainable cities and global market development. Maggie holds a master’s degree in Environment, Society and Development from the University of Cambridge, where she researched international carbon markets and their implications for developing countries.

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The Hon Greg Combet AM

Senior Advisor

Greg served as Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Minister for Defence Personnel, Science and Materiel amongst other roles between 2007 and 2013.Following two terms in Parliament, Greg has focussed his career on the superannuation industry and advisory roles. He is Chair of IFM Investors; Chair of Industry Super Australia; Chair of Industry Super Holdings; a member of the Invest Victoria Advisory Board; and consults to governments, unions and corporations. He has previously been a Director of ME Bank and AustralianSuperGreg has been a member of the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission, been Chair of the Independent Expert Panel on Interim Emissions Reduction Targets for the Victorian Government; and is a senior advisor to McKinsey and Company. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006.

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Phil Cohn

Executive Director, Head of Carbon Investments

Phil has over 15 years’ experience in renewable energy, electricity markets, carbon markets and innovation. He combines technical knowledge with strong commercial and strategy skills to deliver complex projects in environmental and energy markets. He has diverse experience building start-ups and early-stage ventures, as well as advising at board and senior management level across a variety of public and private sector organisations. Prior to joining Pollination, Phil was Chief Operating Officer at a clean energy start-up where he led corporate development and led extensive engagements with ASX200 clients, energy buyers and retailers. Phil was formerly an Investment Director at the Australian Renewable Energy Agency where he led the Agency’s distributed energy, demand response and grid integration investment priorities. In this role Phil developed expert knowledge in clean technology trends, barriers and opportunities and he developed an extensive network among project sponsors and developers. Prior to this Phil founded RAMP Carbon which provided project development, trading and advisory services to blue chip clients in the Australian and European carbon markets.

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Christie Clarke

Executive Director

For nearly a decade Christie Clarke has advised major global organisations on climate change and sustainability. In her former role at CDP – the global leader in environmental disclosure for investors, companies, cities, states and regions – Christie worked as an ESG analyst in the investor team. In this role she advised large institutional investors including State Street and NBIM on ESG integration, specifically focusing on climate risks and opportunities. She has also worked at Forum for the Future, where she supported leading corporates such as Unilever and 3M in the development of cutting-edge sustainability strategies. Prior, she was a sustainability consultant at KPMG, advising a range of large global companies from Mirvac to Macquarie Bank on sustainability reporting, strategy and leadership.

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Penelope Choussat

Associate

Penelope has diverse experience accelerating the transition in strategy consulting and communication. Prior to joining Pollination, Penelope was a sustainability and energy consultant working on behaviour change projects. Before that she was the communication officer at The Shift Project, a post-carbon think tank, where she participated in translating technical reports into tangible low carbon pathways and solutions. Her role was then to share those and engage with the relevant political and economic decision makers to help them in the decarbonisation of their sector. Penelope also worked for Loop, a global reuse platform and helped them to scale their circular economy solution.

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Marisa Chiarella

Head of Business Development

Marisa is an experienced business development and marketing professional. Prior to joining Pollination, Marisa spent 16 years managing Baker McKenzie’s global climate law and finance practice. During this time she assisted 60+ lawyers across globe to secure market-leading work across international climate law and carbon markets; manage a diverse group of key clients across multiple industries and jurisdictions; as well as to build and maintain a profile as the world’s leading climate law practice. Marisa’s previous roles include digital marketing for the then Shop Direct Group in the United Kingdom and prior to that in marketing and communications at Deloitte Australia. Marisa has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Technology, Sydney.

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Jinxi Chen

Associate Director

Jinxi has diverse experience across environmental sustainability, research techniques, quantitative analysis and financial metrics. Prior to joining Pollination, Jinxi worked at CDP as an investor research analyst, where she conducted in-depth analysis of companies’ climate risks and opportunities and co-authored sector research reports on capital goods, steel, and shipping. Jinxi completed a Master in Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Chicago, where she worked at the Argonne National Laboratory as a part-time research aide in the Energy System Division. She also interned with the Climate Institute in Washington D.C., UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Cargill Investments. Jinxi holds a BA in Geography from the University of Cambridge.

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Mila Cerecina

Executive Director

Mila brings over 15 years’ global experience delivering executive strategic advice on climate, human rights and social impact, international development, and impact measurement. Prior to Pollination, Mila had an impact-driven career in the United States and globally, culminating at the Open Society Foundations, where she served as chief staffer to the global management committee, and co-led the development of the philanthropy’s new climate justice strategy. Prior to this she worked at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she partnered long-term with emerging country governments in Africa and Asia to support them to achieve positive justice reform efforts, iterating solutions to achieve institutional buy-in and practical measurement within existing management settings. Mila holds a Master in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney.

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Oscar Castellas-Cartwright

Associate

Oscar Castellas-Cartwright is an Associate in the Melbourne office. Prior to joining Pollination, Oscar was a Senior Analyst in Deloitte Melbourne’s Sustainability and Change advisory practice, supporting their clients with decarbonisation solutions, climate risk advice, and ESG strategic development. He also has experience in carbon market research and analysis through the completion of an internship with the Carbon Market Institute. Oscar holds a Bachelor of Business, specialising in Economics and Finance at Monash University.

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Diana Callebaut

Managing Director, Global Head of Investments

Diana has over 20 years global  investment and asset management, corporate finance, business leadership and management experience, including building and reshaping investment platforms. She was most recently Head of Real Assets and Private Markets at the $110bn NSW Government Sovereign Investment Manager (TCorp) responsible for business and investment strategy development and implementation, and as a member of the Investment Leadership Team responsible for oversight and implementation of the investment model.  Other roles include the Head of Infrastructure at the $65bn Cbus industry superannuation fund, Director at KPMG advisory and Credit Suisse investment bank. Diana has lived or worked in Africa, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Japan, Australia and Europe.  She has lead transactions and asset management activities across multiple asset classes and sectors and held non-executive director appointments on Boards. Qualifications include Masters of Business Administration (Cambridge University), Chartered Financial Analyst, Honours Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management (First Class, University of Cape Town), Bachelor of Business (University of Technology, Sydney) and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In 2019 Diana also won the Money Management and Super Review Investment Professional of the Year award.

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Joanna Butcher

Business Development & Client Manager

Joanna is an experienced business development and marketing professional, having spent nine years working in legal services in Sydney and Dublin. Prior to joining Pollination, Joanna was a Client Relationship Manager at King & Wood Mallesons. In this role, Joanna was a member of the business development team for the projects, infrastructure, energy and resources practice group and led the business development for the firm’s energy sector. Joanna’s previous roles include leading the business development for KPMG Law Australia; Clients & Markets Manager for the major projects and construction practice at Clayton Utz, and prior to that in marketing at the Maples Group in Dublin.

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Sage Bucher-Melcer

Associate Director

Sage’s professional expertise lies in defining materiality for nature and biodiversity across global socio-economic systems. With experience developing public and private sector solutions, she has worked to create scalable products that support the conventional engagement of financial markets in natural assets. Previously, she worked with organisations like Swiss Re and WTW to develop nature-based parametric insurance covers that build climate resiliency while accounting for natural asset value through risk mitigation. She also worked with the Insurance Bureau of Canada to understand how the Canadian government could internalise physical climate risk and invest in green infrastructure. Before that, Sage also conducted advisory work for clients such as ERM and Vanguard.

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Daniel Buchanan

Group Operations Manager

Daniel has supported the governance and growth of leading public, private and government organisations for more than two decades. Daniel’s experience includes senior administration roles including Executive Manager at Covata Limited and Executive Assistant to the CEO and CFO at Hills Limited. He also has extensive experience in HR, board management, shareholder liaison and event management.

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Sam Bruce

Director

Sam brings considerable experience in clean energy, working across technology strategy and investment, as well as project finance for utility scale assets.  Prior to joining Pollination, Sam worked at Fortescue Future Industries, focusing on identifying and investing in solutions for a range of renewable energy technologies and their underlying supply chains. Sam also spent 5 years with CSIRO Futures, the strategic advisory arm of Australia’s national science agency, where he led a number of national strategies including Australia’s National Hydrogen Roadmap and Critical Energy Minerals Roadmap.  Before joining CSIRO, Sam worked at Ernst & Young where he provided commercial and financial advice relating to the deployment of large-scale infrastructure assets. 

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Melanie Brock AM

Senior Advisor

Melanie is one of Japan’s most respected APAC specialists having lived and worked in Japan for the last 25 years. She uniquely combines practical commercial business leadership and language skills to consistently deliver on business, regulatory and partnership outcomes for Japanese and foreign corporations both on global and domestic levels. With a depth of experience working with government, Melanie boasts excellent networks in Japan’s corporate, political and government sectors. She has previously led nationwide marketing campaigns, successful bilateral free trade agreement and regional Japan corporate social responsibility activities.

 

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Emily Briggs

Executive Director

Emily has deep international experience of green finance, climate and decarbonisation policy, having worked across the public, private and third sector for over 15 years. Emily joins Pollination from the UK Government, where she led UK nature finance policy and oversaw development of a natural environment fund to kick-start a green recovery from Covid-19.  Prior to this, Emily led the UK Government’s work on emissions trading, including the development of carbon pricing options for post EU Exit. Before joining the UK Government, Emily worked on sustainable consumption and production across Asia-Pacific at the United Nations Environment Programme and held engineering and commercial roles at BP Australia.

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Caspar Bossom

Associate Director

Caspar has diverse experience across several aspects of climate change, having worked in Defence, as a climate risk advisor to the extractives sector, and in a start-up accelerating finance into nature-based solutions. Prior to Pollination, Caspar worked for ERM, supporting clients in the extractives sector to quantify physical and transition climate risk, in line with TCFD reporting standards. He has experience in climate finance, having been Growth Manager at Treeconomy, a climate impact start-up, accelerating finance in nature-based solutions. Prior, Caspar worked in defence for six years, leading multiple projects in the UK, Middle East, and Africa. It was here he identified climate change as significant emerging risk to global socio-economic security, driving him to undertake a Masters in Climate Change, Management and Finance at Imperial College, London. Caspar also holds a BA in Environment & Business from the University of Leeds.

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Nikola Bonney

Head of Talent & Culture

Nikola has extensive experience in senior HR leadership roles, with expertise in HR strategyorganisational development, project and change management, in fast-paced and complex organisations across diverse industries, including aviation, health, banking and financial services.  Prior to joining Pollination, Nikola was the Head of HR Advisory and Services at Rabobank, for the region Australia and New Zealand, one of the world’s largest rural banks. Nikola is a certified professional member of Australian HR Institute (AHRI) and a PROSCI Change Management Practitioner.

 

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Suzanne Blake

Marketing Director

Suzanne has 18 years’ marketing, PR and corporate communications experience from working with cross-sector brands; with public figures and business leaders; and within global sustainability, communications and branding agencies. She has led Corporate Communications, PR and Marketing for publishers including Macmillan Publishing Group and Phaidon; directed marketing and business development at SalterBaxter, a leading sustainability consultancy; and was responsible for global marketing at FutureBrand, overseeing 20+ regions. She most recently led sales, marketing and communications at Zedify, a UK based zero emissions start-up in the fast-moving last mile logistics sector. She has a proven track record of building strong brands to drive growth and producing impactful integrated campaigns. She’s a graduate of The University of Edinburgh and holds a MA in History.

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Jake Billhorn

Associate

Jake has diverse experience advising organisations on natural capital investment strategy, financial modeling & due diligence, and the adoption of sustainable land use practices. He is passionate about helping clients develop ideas, projects, and business that are financially and environmentally sustainable. Before joining Pollination, Jake worked with World Resources Institute helping to develop natural capital projects in the US and Latin America. He also worked with the timber investment firm Resource Management Service on payment-for-ecosystem-services projects in Brazil. Previously, he worked with the valuation firm Stout on their Commercial Litigation and Forensic Services team. Jake received his MBA and Master of Environmental Management from Yale University as well as bachelor’s degrees in Zoology and Finance from Michigan State University.

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Brendan Baker

Director

Brendan has a diverse background, spanning research and development and strategy within the mining industry, to ESG and climate consulting in the financial industry. Prior to Pollination Brendan held both Senior Associate and Vice President roles in ESG research and climate consulting for MSCI’s ESG business, supporting Asia Pacific institutional investors with their climate and ESG ambitions and challenges. Before MSCI Brendan spent several years at CDP in London, managing a suite of technical and strategic projects within the Investment team. As a research scientist, Brendan worked with Alcoa World Alumina’s global R&D team for several years, across a range of process efficiency projects implemented throughout Alcoa’s global refinery network. Brendan holds a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Nanotechnology from Curtin University in Western Australia, and a Master’s in Environment and Resource Management from Vrije University in Amsterdam, majoring in climate policy.

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Alex Bai

Associate Director

Alex is an attorney with a background in energy policy and litigation. Before joining Pollination, Alex was a Staff Attorney at the Illinois Commerce Commission, specializing in regulatory actions against retail electric and gas suppliers in Illinois. Alex was previously a Legal and Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Commission for two years, advising her on a variety of energy matters at the state and federal levels. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Alex worked at American Airlines and Nielsen as a marketing data analyst. He received his Juris Doctor from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

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Olivia Back

Associate

Prior to joining Pollination, Olivia was a lawyer at a leading national law firm, working in the environment and planning space with public and private sector clients. Olivia has experience in P&E Court litigation, working on major infrastructure projects, advising on regulatory compliance and incident management, conducting due diligence enquiries relating to acquisitions and disposals of assets, waste advisory work and providing advice on ESG strategies and their implementation. An interest area of Olivia’s is greenwashing claims, directors duties and climate change litigation. In 2019, Olivia was the tipstaff to the Honourable Justice Julie Ward, President of the NSW Court of Appeal (and formerly the Chief Judge of the Equity Division of the NSW Supreme Court). Olivia holds degrees in Laws and Arts from the University of Queensland, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law.

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Cassandra Austen

Director

Cassandra Austen specialises in sustainable finance and nature based solutions. Prior to joining Pollination, she held the role of Senior Economist at Vivid Economics in London, managing international projects including net zero strategy for financials, blended finance policy, regenerative agriculture and natural capital investments. She also has experience in carbon markets and climate risk disclosures. Prior to her work in the sustainability sector, Cassandra gained six years of experience in financial markets in London and Sydney. Cassandra holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney.

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Matt Aubusson

Executive Director

Matt Aubusson is an Executive Director in the Sydney-based Advisory team. Prior to joining Pollination, Matt was Head of Data Commercialisation & Value Optimisation for QANTAS Loyalty, where he enabled, built and led innovative ecosystem businesses with B2B and B2C propositions. While working at the Qantas Group, he also collaborated closely with Future Planet & Qantas’ sustainability division to help them understand consumer needs and attitudes towards sustainability and carbon offsetting. In a career spanning 20 years, Matt has worked across a variety of industries including loyalty, data, marketing, ecommerce, technology and professional services. Within these, he has developed deep expertise in strategy, commercial, data & analytics, and technology, and enjoys working on problems that lie at the intersection of these domains. In doing so, he has built and led large, multi-disciplinary teams to unlock emerging opportunities, develop market-leading capabilities and solve complex problems.

Matt chairs the advisory board of IKG Industries, a vertically integrated industrial hemp start-up, and holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM, UNSW).

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Nuvan Aranwela

Managing Director, Head of Growth

For over 15 years, Nuvan’s career has spanned technology-led start-ups and ventures across a variety of industries, including data, loyalty and marketing, sourcing, financial services and insurance, e-commerce and sustainability. Consequently, he has developed ideas, secured investment, built capability and run early stage to mature operations. Having worked across strategy, commercial, marketing, operations and technology, he enjoys bringing together ideas with operational detail in a commercial context. He was co-CEO and is now Strategy Adviser of fintech Six Park, which aims to build a path to financial well-being for all Australians. He is also Strategy Adviser to Landmarks ID, a start-up in the geolocation data and insights space; and a Board Member of Earthwatch Australia. Prior to that, he was Head of Innovation for Qantas Loyalty, a role he was appointed to following the acquisition by Qantas Group of Wishlist Holdings, a loyalty services business for which he was Chief Strategy and Technology Officer. Nuvan holds a PhD in Plant Biomechanics.

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Nick Anstett

Managing Director

Nick has deep experience advising financial institutions, corporates, and non-profits on upstream investment policy, global co-investment partnerships, and downstream de-risking measures to mobilize private climate finance. He has advised on climate finance initiatives across clean energy, distributed renewables, sustainable transportation, water, waste, adaptation, resilience, and nature-based solutions. Prior to Pollination, Nick managed the sustainability practice at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy and geopolitical risk consultancy, where he advised on major sustainability initiatives, critical ESG issues, and catalytic public-private partnerships in emerging and frontier markets.

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Harriet Ampt

Marketing and Communications Manager

Harriet joins the Marketing team as a Marketing and Communications Manager, based in Sydney. Harriet is a strategic communicator specialising in environmental sciences. She has spent the last five years in the public sector, working for the Biodiversity Conservation Trust – a new private land conservation statutory body within the NSW Government. As the Media and Communications Manager, Harriet was instrumental in building the organisations strategic media, digital, social and engagement profile. During her years in NSW Government, Harriet worked closely with the media teams of three state environment ministers. Harriet has also worked as a freelance communicator, utilising her skills in science writing and digital production, a university tutor and research assistant. With a background in ecology and science communication, Harriet’s core professional focus is to give the planet a louder voice to fight climate change and the growing extinction crisis.

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John Ambler

Associate Director

John brings expertise in carbon markets, nature-based solutions, and net zero transitions. Prior to Pollination he worked for Clean Air Action Corporation, a carbon project developer. In this role he was responsible for the full lifecycle of carbon removal projects from operations and strategy to leading multiple validations and verifications. John started his career working at a community-based nonprofit, managing conservation efforts along the Andros Barrier Reef.

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Anne Alonzo

Senior Advisor

Anne is a recognized global food and agriculture leader and has forged a highly successful and diverse career in the public, not-for-profit and corporate sectors. She was formerly Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer for Corteva Agriscience where she had responsibility for setting strategy and leading the External Affairs function. Anne previously served as President and CEO of the American Egg Board (AEB), the marketing arm of the U.S. egg industry. Prior to joining the AEB, Anne was appointed by the White House to serve as Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, the federal marketing agency for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Anne has also served as Vice President, Global Public Policy, Corporate Affairs at Kraft Foods, Senior Vice President at the National Foreign Trade Council, a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy, Mexico as well as senior regional counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Chicago, IL. Anne has been recognized for her leadership supporting and mentoring Latinos across the U.S. and was honoured with the Chicago United’s People of Color Award, Latino Leader’s “Maestro” Award and LATINO Brava (courage award). Anne holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctorate from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago Kent College of Law.

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Mitchell Alderson

Associate Director

Mitchell is strategy specialist with a focus on quantitative and financial modelling. Prior to joining Pollination, Mitchell was a Senior Associate at Strategy& where he specialised in large strategic transformations across both the public and private domain. Through this experience, he has developed a deep understanding of commercial drivers advising across a range of industries including transport, energy, resources, finance and government. Mitchell has bachelor degrees in Commerce and Engineering with first class honours from the University of Sydney.

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Sehr Afridi

Associate

Sehr has an in-depth knowledge of the impact of the social and philanthropic space in the region of Pakistan and the UAE. Prior to joining Pollination, Sehr was assisting the Institute of Regional Studies in Pakistan with research and first-hand delegations with the United Nations and their office on drugs and crime. She was also a part of Why Impact Consulting, with a focus on human-centred design, and bridging the gap between maximizing prosperity and protecting the environment, in particular through MetAmazonia the largest Amazon Rainforest preservation project to date. In the UAE Sehr has continued her efforts in contributing to the social welfare of students coming from abroad to NYU Abu Dhabi, volunteering at Autistic centres, and currently plays an active roll within the community for crisis management within the region.

 

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Brer Adams

Managing Director

Brer has deep experience in investments and advisory in infrastructure, renewable energy, carbon and clean technology sectors. Prior to joining Pollination, he co-founded a developer of renewable energy and energy storage projects, worked for G20 Global Infrastructure Hub and spent 8 years with Macquarie Group in advisory and principal investments in environmental services and clean technology sectors.

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William Acworth

Executive Director

William combines deep technical knowledge of climate economics with strong stakeholder engagement to advance climate solutions across the globe. Prior to joining Pollination, William led adelphi consult’s Carbon Markets and Pricing team where he oversaw projects in climate policy design, implementation and evaluation for clients including the World Bank, European Commission, national governments, development banks and multi-national companies. As Head of the Secretariat of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP), William led ICAP’s technical work program, global capacity building efforts and moderated exchange of experience on carbon markets between senior policymakers from across 40 governments.  While with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the German Institute for Economic Research he advised government and industry on market-based instruments for climate mitigation particularly for the power and emission intensive industrial sectors.

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