What is Emergent?

International expert in environmental markets, climate finance, and impact investing. Inaugural faculty of the MSc in Sustainability Management, now adjunct professor at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Founder of Climate and Forest Capital LLC, Former Partner at Encourage Capital and Portfolio Manager of the EKO Green Carbon Fund, President of Environmental Markets at Equator LLC, and U.S. Country Director at EcoSecurities.

Jon is the Chief Operations Officer for Emergent. Previously, Jon was a Director at EY, where he conceived and set up a global non-profit unit that worked with leading impact entrepreneurs in low and middle-income countries. Earlier in his career, Jon worked for Accenture, The Prince’s Trust – a leading youth development NGO in the UK – and was an infantry officer in the British Army.

Sean joined Emergent from the UK Government, where from 2013-2022 he built up the BEIS forest, land use and carbon markets teams, overseeing $900M of new partnerships with businesses, governments and communities. This included overseeing the development and operational delivery of the world’s first multilateral Jurisdictional REDD+ agreements. As well as innovative instruments to leverage private capital into sustainable land use funds and tackle deforestation in conflict zones. Sean played a central leadership role in the international policymaking and diplomatic efforts behind the forest commitments announced at the COP26 World Leaders Summit. A biologist and environmental economist by training, Sean has spent over 15 years working at the intersection of climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in all of LEAF’s key regions – particularly Latin America where he oversaw the creation of the UK government’s forest and climate units in Colombia, Peru and Brazil.

Eric Pitt is an experienced capital markets and technology leader with a deep interest in addressing climate change.  Eric was most recently with Ceres, advocating for pro-growth, climate-aligned financial policies. Previously, Eric was a Managing Director in the fixed income markets at JP Morgan for 15 years. During the first decade of his career, Eric worked in software. He graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Physics and has an MBA from Columbia University.

Katherine is Emergent’s Chief Financial Officer. Katherine has two decades of investment and operating experience in private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, and real asset investing. Most recently, she has been a CFO of an aerospace logistics company, which she helped build from the ground up. In her prior roles, Katherine managed fund-to-fund portfolio allocations at AIG, built a $70 billion-dollar alternative investment platform and its fintech at Merrill, and was a board member at premier funds. She also developed a national real asset portfolio at a family office and deployed eco-friendly property improvements. Katherine also co-founded an impact venture fund investing in industrial technologies reducing emissions. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and, as her primary hobby, is a guest lecturer/advisor to several colleges, accelerators, funds, and startups.

Juliana leads Emergent's engagement strategy with Brazil. She has +15 yrs of experience in financing Brazil's sustainable development in areas related to forests conservation, climate, social inclusion, sanitation and public management. From 2013 to 2018, she was the head of the Amazon Fund at the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), a US$ 1.3 bn global REDD+ fund that supported initiatives and public policies for the conservation, social inclusion, and sustainable use of the Amazonian biodiversity. She holds a Masters in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida, with special certifications in Tropical Conservation and Development and in Sustainable Development Practice.

Rocio Sanz Cortes serves as Emergent's Executive Vice President, Global Origination. Rocio is an agriculture and forestry specialist. Her work focuses on nature-based solutions and climate finance. She has over 15 years of work experience advising organizations such as FAO, UN-REDD, UNDP, GCF, World Bank and Indufor. She holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a Bachelor’s degree on Agricultural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Phil has over 20 years of experience of developing marketing strategies and campaigns for businesses and organisations across a wide range of sectors from transport to food, energy, manufacturing and the public sector. Based in London, Phil joined Emergent from leading London communications agency VCCP, where he was a strategist, advising a range of clients, including Shell on marketing strategies to communicate their climate commitments to customers and stakeholders.

Edwina is Executive Vice President, Corporate Engagement, based in Washington D.C. Edwina has over 15 years of experience working with the private sector to integrate responsible business practices and build demand-led sustainability solutions through multi-stakeholder collaboration. She has worked in corporate, non-profit, and advisory roles. Immediately prior to Emergent she facilitated collaborative initiatives with BSR for consumer sector companies’ commodity supply chains, working in partnership to build collective action for supply chain transparency, sustainability performance, and financing for conservation, sustainable production, and community and worker livelihoods outcomes. She has a master’s in environment and development from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s in environmental science and international development from the University of Sussex.

Nina is the Head of Human Resources and Operations and based in New York. Nina has more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection of HR and international development. She has held business critical roles at UNICEF, Reboot, Smile Train, and, most recently, Ecogy Energy, a commercial solar energy company. In her role at Emergent, Nina owns the employee experience. Her chief responsibility is to designs policies and tools to ensure the team is engaged, productive, and growing. She holds a BA from Smith College, and a Senior Professional certificate from the Society for Human Resources Professional (SHRM-SCP).

Georgie supports Emergent in strategy and planning. She has a background in commercial consulting and within international development, primarily in leading strategy engagements and delivering economic development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. She's worked with clients from governments, donors, and philanthropic foundations through to FTSE 100 companies, and seed to series A start-ups. She's worked on high-level organizational strategy, the design and delivery of complex programs, and in building thoughtful and effective teams.

Katie is Emergent's Strategy & Policy Manager, based in Spain with a focus on strategy and policy related to carbon markets. Katie has experience in climate policy, carbon capture and clean energy. Prior to working at Emergent, Katie completed her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where she researched materials for clean energy applications. She carried out part of her doctoral work at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. Before her Ph.D., Katie did computational chemistry research at University Pablo de Olavide in Spain under a Fulbright grant and received her B.A. in Chemistry at Carleton College in Minnesota, U.S.

Paz Lozano is Senior Vice President, Origination at Emergent and is based in Oakland, California. Before joining Emergent, Paz spent eight years at EP Carbon managing the technical development of over 11 successfully validated and verified forest carbon projects under the Verified Carbon Standard and Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Standard. Paz led the successful verification of over 33 million tonnes of net emissions reductions across these projects, resulting in carbon credit revenue for the protection of over 600,000 hectares of tropical forest and the generation of positive social and biodiversity impacts across all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Paz has worked in the REDD+ sector in countries across Central America, South America, Southeast Asia, and Central Africa. She holds a degree in environmental science from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on forestry and geographic information systems.

Anwen is a Manager, Transactions at Emergent, based in the UK. Prior to joining Emergent she worked as a Geospatial Analyst at an engineering consultancy, providing data analysis and strategic insights on medium and large infrastructure projects. She holds a MA (Hons) in Geography from the University of Edinburgh and a MSc in Human Geography from Lund University, where she received a grant to conduct her thesis research on the political economy of the tourism landscape in rural Jamaica.

Sofiya was born in Tbilisi, Georgia and is currently based in New York City. Prior to joining Emergent, Sofiya was a research analyst at the Harris Poll and a business development coordinator at John Wiley & Sons, providing strategic insights to research associations and private sector clients alike. Volunteering for Rainforest Partnership’s Law & Policy Team, Sofiya enjoys researching corporate climate policies and rallying companies around the goal of net zero deforestation by 2040. She has completed a Public Policy Analysis Certificate from the London School of Economics.

Supporting Emergent’s CEO and as a member of the Marketing and Communications Team, Nina provides executive support, leads organization-wide projects, analyzes data to drive strategic decisions and manages corporate events, digital content, and marketing materials. With an academic background in Psychology and Social Sciences, Nina previously worked as a Research Assistant at Newcastle University, contributing to NIHR-and PHE-funded research projects, resulting in five publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Nina is motivated by work that has meaning and impact, that aims to build a better future.

Amybeth is Emergent’s SVP of Legal & Compliance and Corporate Secretary. She is a legal and business professional experienced in advising companies from start-ups to Fortune 500s in developing and implementing governance policies and practices aligned to business objectives and transactional risk management. Amybeth previously served in the Enforcement Division of the SEC, where she led regulatory investigations of potential violations of federal securities laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and founded and ran a successful social mission-focused capital venture in Lima, Peru.

Daisy is a marketing and communications specialist who holds an MSc in Climate Change. Before joining Emergent, Daisy worked in the Communications team at Global Canopy across the Trase, Forest 500, Natural Capital Finance Alliance and TNFD programmes. In 2020, Daisy was awarded a Distinction for an MSc in Climate Change from University College London where her thesis explored the relationship between above-ground biomass and tropical forest health in Caribbean protected areas. Before this, she spent 16 months years living in Guyana and working with the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and development after initially starting her career in marketing at L’Oreal UKI in 2013.

Dion Ward is a monitoring and fund management professional with deep experience in philanthropic giving and grant reporting for sustainable development initiatives in Latin America. Dion’s recent experience includes serving as Country Project Lead in Brazil for a USAID-funded, Amazon Indigenous Rights and Resources project, focused on bioeconomy and territorial protection to empower indigenous communities while reducing forest degradation. At WWF-Brasil, Dion designed and reported on complex, landscape-level climate-change mitigation initiatives, and supported multi-stakeholder platforms toward significant results, in alignment with the conservation objectives of key funders-- including, NICFI, BMZ, DFID, and USAID.

Kelsey Close is originally from the United States, and is currently based in Barcelona, Spain. She works as an Analyst on the Corporate Engagement team. Prior to Emergent, Kelsey worked at a tax and management consultancy firm where she supported business planning and compliance for small and medium sized enterprises. Outside of Emergent, Kelsey volunteers regularly at an animal shelter, and enjoys hikes and days at the beach.

Thor-Jürgen is a seasoned development practitioner with 25+ years’ experience in results planning and management, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, and performance measurement among an array of other thematic and functional areas. Previously, Thor-Jürgen worked in Norway’s Development Fund supporting climate resilient agriculture and sustainable forestry in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. His responsibilities as a Partner with a development consulting firm in Oslo over several years included evaluations of development interventions supported by institutional donors – including local/nested REDD+ projects, REDD+ readiness and MRV capacity development, and innovative climate finance mechanisms. Thor-Jürgen also provided real-time specialist support to Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment (NICFI) on optimal institutional, financial and partnership frameworks.

Joana is Emergent's Senior Vice President of Transactions. With more than ten years of experience and a background in Economics and Finance, Joana started her career at KPMG Portugal as a Corporate Finance advisor, where she gained extensive experience in financial modelling, negotiation and managing transactions, having participated in multiple deals across various sectors, including cross border transactions. Prior to joining Emergent, Joana worked for a private project developer, where she started managing sustainable forestry related transactions, later evolving to managing the efforts on the pre-development of several large-scale Reforestation and REDD+ projects in Latin America, including one of the largest ARR and REDD+ projects in Colombia.

Zoe Bienvenu is Director of Origination at Emergent based in Spain and focusing on jurisdictions in Asia. She has over 10 years advising multilateral organizations such as the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Interamerican Development Bank on forest and climate policy and finance, in particular REDD+, in countries across Central and South America, West and East Africa, and Southeast Asia. She holds a Master’s degree of Environmental Policy from King’s College London, a Master’s degree of Geoscience from Edinburgh University, and a double major Bachelor’s degree of History and Political Science from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Walid is Emergent's Financial Controller. He is responsible for managing the organization's revenue and expenses, grant management, contributing to grant reporting, budgeting, and maintaining a sustainable and transparent finance department. With previous roles at several educational organizations and international development organizations and NGOs, Walid possesses more than ten years of experience in non-profit finance, accounting, and operations. He brings direct knowledge of the day-to-day financial management of non-profits, including audits, compliance with federal grants, payroll, financial reporting, and budgeting. Walid earned a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics from the City College of New York.

Christopher Coman-Manu is Director of Transactions at Emergent, based in Barcelona, Spain. He has over 10 years of experience working in M&A, private equity, corporate finance, strategy consulting and consulting on climate change adaptation issues. He has worked as an entrepreneur and employee across industries including asset management, renewable energies, smart cities, telco infrastructure. He holds an MSc in Management from ESSEC Business School, France, a BSc in Life Sciences from Aix-Marseille University and is currently enrolled in a MSc in Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution at Aix-Marseille University.

Kat is Emergent’s VP of Corporate Engagement, based in Spain and focused on account management and demand generation. Prior to joining Emergent, she led partnerships for ClimateTrade. Before that, she spent 11 years primarily in NYC working in partnerships, marketing and business development across sectors at Mastercard, ESPN, Samsung Pay and the startup Polaroo. She has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania's Lauder Institute, and a BA in Government and International Studies and Spanish from the University of Notre Dame. In a past life at the start of her career, she was a sports reporter. For fun, this Iowa native enjoys running and the beach.

Pietro is a legal and business professional based in Brazil with more than 8 years of expertise in Environmental and Climate Change Law. As a corporate attorney, he possesses extensive experience in providing legal counsel to a diverse clientele, both domestic and international, including organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations Development Program. His practice has primarily focused on complex projects in the energy, infrastructure, sanitation, and forestry sectors. Pietro has actively contributed to several REDD+ projects in Brazil. He played a pivotal role in assisting an Amazonian Jurisdiction in developing and implementing Socio-Environmental Safeguards Policies. Before joining Emergent, Pietro served as in-house counsel for a multinational energy corporation, where he actively participated in high-stakes negotiations for strategic corporate contracts. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Law and a Master's degree in Environmental and Climate Change Law from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

Samantha Taylor is Emergent’s Vice President of Development and Fundraising, based in New York. ‘Sam’ has 20+ years of international marketing and development experience having worked in agency leadership, nonprofit, and corporate marketing roles. She founded Reputation Dynamics providing development and fundraising services for a diverse range of environmental, social justice and humanitarian nonprofit organizations. Formerly, Sam was the Chief Marketing Officer of GMHC, the nation’s oldest non-profit HIV/AIDS care services provider where she spearheaded a once-in-27-year rebranding initiative. Prior agency posts included, Managing Director at Bozell Worldwide and Director at Kreab Gavin Anderson specializing in the financial services sector. Sam started her career at The Press Association in London. Born in London, Sam grew up in Kenya, East Africa.

Subash is a Partnerships Analyst with Emergent, based in New York City. He has contributed significantly to local and international organizations, focusing on sustainable development, climate policy, and environmental research. His work spans the globe, from supporting Community Forest User Groups in Nepal for sustainable forest management to assisting municipalities in the Hudson Valley, New York, in developing climate-smart communities. He has also been involved in research focused on the transparency and accountability mechanisms of the Paris Agreement. Subash's educational background includes a Bachelor's in Forestry Science from the Institute of Forestry, Nepal, and an M.Sc. in Climate Science and Policy from Bard College, New York.

Craig is a Strategy Associate at Emergent, based in London. Craig joined Emergent from McKinsey’s Sustainability practice, specialising at the intersection of nature conservation, climate resilience and food security. He has worked with numerous public sector and philanthropy clients to develop their climate and nature strategies, as well partnering with start-ups to hyperscale their carbon credit business models. Craig has extensive experience with geospatial modelling and forestry data when investigating Brazilian deforestation policies for the Grantham Climate Institute, and financial markets expertise from developing climate-risk index funds for asset managers at the London Stock Exchange Group. Craig holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Warwick and an MSc in Environmental Economics & Climate Change from the London School of Economics.

Andreas is Emergent’s Finance and Accounting Analyst. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for numbers, Andreas meticulously manages the day-to-day financial transactions and activities, ensuring the smooth operation of our financial processes. Specializing in grant reporting and management, Andreas brings unique expertise to our team, ensuring compliance and maximizing opportunities for funding. A graduate of Queens College with a solid foundation in accounting, Finance, and Economics, Andreas is pursuing an MBA at Baruch College, further enriching their knowledge and skills in finance and business management. With a diverse background spanning roles as an AP and AR Accountant, as well as a Staff Accountant for both private companies and non-profits, Andreas brings a wealth of experience and insight to their role. Driven by a commitment to excellence, Andreas goes above and beyond to deliver accurate financial insights and support strategic decision-making.

Judit’s experience in office management, travel arrangement and event organization supports her in her role as Executive Assistant at Emergent. Judit has a background in the tourism industry, which allowed her to learn and connect with people from around the globe. Judit is pursuing a master's degree in corporate communications. She is from Spain and supports our teams in Barcelona, Sitges, and beyond.

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Eric Parfait Essomba leads Emergent's engagement in Africa. He has more 15 years of experience working at the intersection of environment and development with a focus on REDD+, payment for ecosystem services (PES), forest governance, land use planning, community-based development, conservation and  E&S safeguards. Eric has worked extensively on the readiness phase of REDD+ in Central Africa through engagement with the FCPF and implementation of the first PES project in the region. Prior to joining Emergent, Eric was the regional head of the safeguards unit for Africa at WWF International. He holds both an MSc in Environmental Change and International Development from the University of Sheffield and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology. He also holds specialized certifications on Social Impact Assessment from CIG and the University of Strathclyde and on Terrestrial Carbon Accounting from the University of California, San Diego.

Charlie Leech is the Director, Corporate Engagement, based in New York, USA. With over 10 years of international experience – at the intersection of financial services, news and media, and sustainability – she has expertise directing strategic partnerships, stakeholder engagement and relationship management, developing climate thought leadership and sustainability strategy. Immediately prior to joining Emergent, Charlie directed global corporate sustainability at McCann Worldgroup part of The Interpublic Group of Companies; and previously she directed client partnerships at Bloomberg, within Bloomberg Green and Bloomberg New Economy. Charlie has moderated panel discussions with senior leaders and contributed to forums on finance, sustainability, and technology at The United Nations. Charlie is completing an MBA, Sustainability Management at SUMAS, Switzerland Business School, and holds a Bachelor’s in International Relations and English Literature from the University of Reading. Charlie enjoys traveling the world through adventure and endurance pursuits, most recently completing a marathon in Antarctica.

Josh Margolis serves as Senior Commercial Advisor at Emergent. He provides advice to Emergent and its private sector clients on climate solutions that are commercially relevant, beneficial, and impactful. Josh has provided brokerage, advisory, and capacity building services to stakeholders involved in voluntary and compliance-focused emissions trading systems (ETS) in the Amazon, Australasia, Southeast Asia, Europe, Mexico, Chile, China, Korea, Japan, Canada, and the US. Before joining Emergent, Josh was with the Environmental Defense Fund where he supported efforts to launch Emergent, supported China’s efforts to roll out the carbon trading pilots and the national ETS, developed CarbonSim, and trained thousands of ETS stakeholders. Josh is also a co-inventor of a patent that provides for the neutralization and offsetting of equities. He graduated from Duke University and has lectured at and has run carbon market simulations for a dozen universities and secondary schools.

Natural resource economics and climate policy expert, widely recognized for analyzing and modelling land-use changes and policy approaches for reducing emissions through forestry, agriculture, and bioenergy activities. Chief Natural Resource Economist at EDF, with prior research and policy leadership at UDSA’s Economic Research Service, the UN Development Program and the World Bank.

Guillaume Malle is a retired banker who is active on financial, environmental and artistic matters. He is currently the Chair of the Council of Villa I Tatti, The Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, and serves on the board of the American Center of Research in Jordan. Guillaume has worked in the financial sector for over 25 years, mostly with Credit Suisse, which he joined in 1992. At Credit Suisse he served in a variety of roles, mostly focused on energy and Latin America. His last two roles were Country Head in Mexico and co-creator of the Energy Trading and Marketing Group, with direct responsibilities over marketing and structuring for the Americas and Europe.

Lorenzo Bernasconi is Head of Carbon Solutions at Lombard Odier Investment Managers. He has worked at the intersection of finance and climate for over two decades with previous roles at UBS, and the Boston Consulting Group. Prior to joining Lombard Odier, he was Managing Director for Innovative Finance at The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the first philanthropic supporters of Emergent. Lorenzo served as founding Board Chair of Emergent and in that capacity helped launch the LEAF Coalition. Lorenzo is also a Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. Lorenzo completed his undergraduate studies at the London School of Economics and PhD at Cambridge University. He was also post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.