Focus: Environment/Sustainability
Negusu Aklilu
Negusu Aklilu is an environmental advocate and Coordinator for Destiny Ethiopia Initiative at the Forum of Federations. As one of Ethiopia’s most influential environmental advocates, he provided strategic leadership for environmental advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns as Director of the Forum for Environment. Negusu previously served as Climate Change Advisor to the Department for Democratic Development. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Akirma: A Magazine on Environment and Development, and as Co-Editor of the Ethiopian Environment Review, which he launched in 2010. Negusu has successfully spearheaded and played key roles in national and international initiatives for conservation and sustainable use of environmental resources. He co-founded and currently co-chairs the Ethiopian Civil…
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Solangel Fernández
Solangel Fernández is an architect, urban designer, and urban economist with 15 years of experience. Throughout her career, she has been in charge of directing urban development and sustainable mobility initiatives as well as large infrastructure projects, especially during trying political times. In Peru, Solangel directed the urban planning offices at the municipalities of San Isidro and San Borja where she and her team developed innovative strategies to transform public spaces for the wellness of communities. Additionally, she has participated and coordinated metropolitan urban plans, key for the development of the country, and directed urban regeneration projects in vulnerable human settlements over the hills of Lima. Previously, she worked on…
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Cornelia Quennet-Thielen
Cornelia Quennet-Thielen is State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, responsible for more than 1,000 members of staff and an annual budget exceeding €10 billion. Before becoming State Secretary, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the Federal President of Germany (2004–2008). During this period, Cornelia acted as the president’s senior advisor on domestic policy as well as on constitutional law and mercy petitions. Prior to joining the president’s staff, Cornelia was deeply invested in environmental and sustainability policy at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety. From 1999 to 2004, she served as Deputy Director-General, with primary…
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Vicente Santiago PĂ©rez
Vicente “Vince” Santiago PĂ©rez is an avid environmental advocate and renewable energy investor currently serving as chairman of Alternergy group, a wind, solar and mini-hydro power developer. His philanthropy is dedicated to the environment and conservation. Vince has long been involved with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) starting with arranging debt-for-nature swaps. He was a founding trustee of WWF-Philippines in 1996. PĂ©rez was elected to the International Board of WWF, the governing body of the global WWF network, and currently a member of the boards of WWF-China and WWF-US. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards of the Bhutan Foundation, New Zealand Trade Enterprise, Geneva-based Pictet Clean…
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Janet Dalziell
Janet Dalziell is an experienced NGO leader and consultant, committed to working for a just and sustainable world. Until November 2019 she served on Greenpeace International's Strategy and Management Team, most recently as the International People & Culture Director. Originally from New Zealand, she has led the international Greenpeace campaign to stop climate change, has represented Greenpeace at intergovernmental negotiations, and led three expeditions to Antarctica. She was one of the key architects of a major re-design of Greenpeace's global operating model, focusing on the development of human capacity within the organization and aimed at making Greenpeace more effective in achieving just and sustainable global change to protect the environment.
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Taz Chaponda
Taz Chaponda is the CEO of Malawi Agricultural and Industrial Investment Corporation, a government initiative but private sector-led development finance institution, launched by Malawi President Peter Mutharika. Taz is a development economist with extensive experience across Sub-Saharan Africa, having worked in the major economic centers of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg. Previously, he was a public financial management specialist at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. and a partner at Genesis-Analytics – a South African economic advisory firm working in emerging markets. Prior to Genesis, Taz was the head of the South African Budget Office, responsible for the national and provincial budget framework. He was also head of infrastructure finance…
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Adrien Couton
Adrien Couton’s work focuses on bringing innovations to the global efforts and institutions supporting economic development. He is Vice President for the EMEA Region and for International development at Premise Data, a technology company leveraging big data analytics, a network of contributors in over 30 countries, and smartphone capabilities to measure economic and human development trends in real-time and guide major development players. Previously, he was a Partner and the Director of the Water Practice at Dalberg, a consulting firm specialized on global development. Earlier, he helped implement entrepreneurial solutions to water issues in both operational roles (as CEO of Naandi Water, the largest operator of community water systems in…
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Pablo Bereciartua
Pablo Bereciartua is Argentina's Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Water and is Founder and CEO of Bereco SA & Bereco Labs, Inc., a company focused on innovation, technology, and management. He is also the founder of other technology based companies such as B3 and Agro Appgrade SA. In the public sector, he has served as the director of infrastructure for the city of Buenos Aires, where he faced both enormous challenges and opportunities to apply new technologies to city and regional infrastructure. Pablo is a professor at the University of Buenos Aires and former dean at the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology, where he focused on teaching and researching…
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Alex Muñoz Wilson
Alex Muñoz Wilson is National Geographic's Pristine Seas Director for Latin America. He has been the driving force behind the creation of the seven largest fully-protected marine reserves in Latin America, covering 1.2 million square kilometers of ocean. He has also led many important ocean policy changes in Chile, including making it the first country in the world to legally protect all of its seamounts from destructive fishing; reforming Chile’s fisheries law to require science-based quotas and reduce incidental mortality of species; stopping coal-fired power plants from destroying marine habitats and fishers’ livelihoods; protecting vast areas of Patagonia from salmon farming; establishing the first regulations to reduce antibiotic use and…
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Kala Mulqueeny
Kala Mulqueeny is an Australian environmental and energy lawyer at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where she leads the law, policy, and development program relating to the environment, energy, climate change, and legal empowerment. She also leads ADB's Asia Pacific Dialogue on Clean Energy Governance and Regulation among energy policy-makers and regulators in Asia and USAID, the International Energy Agency, and World Resources Institute. She has also initiated the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Energy Regulators Network. Kala was a lawyer on the first Integrated Gas and Combined Cycle Project in China (and the developing world) and is responsible for ADB's work on the regulation of…
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