Board members

Mel is a seasoned board chair and non-executive director with extensive international experience in financial services, including insurance, banking, and investment. His career spans large multinationals to startups, focusing on financial management, risk, and accounting. He has held senior roles at Generali Group and currently chairs the Bank of Georgia Group. Mel also serves on the boards of Barclays Private Clients Ltd and Nomos Bank and is a regular speaker at regulatory and academic events worldwide.

Barna has spent the last years as a strategist, board member and parent of Green School Bali, a unique community of changemakers, educating for a sustainable world. Prior to this he was CEO for 12 years of one of Europe’s top climate change finance firms, Vertis Environmental Finance, winning numerous awards for innovation and client service. Barna graduated in Economics from the University of California and studied corporate finance at London Business School.

Anaar is a climate risk insurance expert currently leading work on inclusive insurance at CGAP, a global partnership of leading development organizations housed at the World Bank. Before joining CGAP, Anaar led AXA Emerging Customer’s Public Private Partnerships and inclusive insurance programs for smallholder farmers. She is also a CFA® Chartholder.

Anders is a prominent Swedish politician, author, and sustainability advocate. He has served as a member of the European Parliament and held key positions in various organisations focused on environmental issues, including the Club of Rome. Anders is known for his expertise in sustainable development and circular economy, contributing to policy discussions and initiatives aimed at addressing climate change and promoting social equity. 

Fabio is the Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The Cyprus Institute. Since the ‘90, he’s been promoting open innovation models for sustainable development, through the generation of knowledge-based start-ups, technology scouting and knowledge transfer actions. Appointed among the European leaders of innovation ecosystems by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, he’s regularly engaged at an international level as visiting expert, coach, and lecturer.

Jonas is Deputy Head of the Urban Development and Climate Environmental Department at the City of Malmö (Sweden). Previously he was Senior Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme.

Marc has been CEO of Credit Agricole Immobilier, the real estate subsidiary of Europe’s largest financial institution for the last 7 years. He spent the previous two decades as a banker in France, and as the head of the group’s international retail banking division during the financial crisis. He is experienced in customer insight, public policy, financial and risk management. 

Rutger is currently the Global General Counsel and Global Director Legal, Governance and Risk at CGIAR, based in Montpellier, France. He started his career as lawyer in private practice. As one of the first lawyers globally, he started specializing in climate change in the early 00’s. He served as the first General Counsel at the Green Climate Fund and also served at the Global Fund and The Ocean Cleanup.

As an experienced disaster risk reduction expert with 25 years’ experience in climate change mitigation and adaptation, Sarah has worked on policy, legislation and practical responses to systemic risks in large international organisations that span public and private sectors. She is skilled in risk reduction, risk-informed investment, corporate climate governance, climate-resilient value chains, climate equity, ecosystem-based adaptation, climate change risk and opportunity assessment, and has lead multidisciplinary teams on large international projects across a range of sectors.

Sheela is the founder director of SPARC, an NGO based in Mumbai that aims to mobilize large numbers of the urban poor and to support and strengthen their organizations to enable them to become an important part of the city system. She is recognised, nationally and internationally, for seeking urgent attention to the issues of urban poverty, housing and infrastructure onto the radar of governments, bilateral and international agencies, foundations and other organizations.

Thomas is Director of Innovation Networks at Covestro Deutschland AG. He is a former director at Bayer Technology Services and graduated in chemistry at RWTH Aachen University.

Wiebke has extensive global experience in finance and impact investing. She has spent the last 20 years in leadership positions with the IFC/World Bank Group, working with innovation and growth driven companies and advising governments on sustainable private sector development. Wiebke’s expertise spans business transformation, risk assessment, sustainability and governance, and leading under complexity.