Focus: Environment/Sustainability
Zhao Zhong
Zhao Zhong is the founder and director of Green Camel Bell, a grass-root environmental NGO in Northwest China. At the local level, he conducts a range of programs and projects focusing on environmental education, water pollution monitoring, and community-based eco-agriculture and sustainable development. At the national level, he promotes and researches public participation in environmental decision-making and provides training and mentorship to grassroots partners. At the global level, he bridges Chinese overseas energy and forest investors and impacted communities of host countries promoting responsible green investment. From 2015-16, as a Hubert H. Humphrey fellow, Zhong completed a year of course work and professional affiliation at the University of California, Davis…
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Smita Rakesh
Smita Rakesh is a Partner at Social Alpha, an initiative to drive economic growth, social justice, and climate action through the power of entrepreneurship and market-creating innovations. As the head of Climate and Sustainability practice, she is also responsible for building and deploying a portfolio of science and technology innovations across sectors in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and ecosystem restoration for a socially and ecologically just transition. Smita has been deeply engaged with the global climate and clean energy ecosystem for the last 15 years, designing and implementing institutional programs in public, private, and development sectors. Smita is passionate about catalyzing large-scale and inclusive social change through responsible investments and…
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Ann Thomas
Ann Thomas is Senior Advisor, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF. She is an environmental engineer with over two decades of development experience, within the UN system and aid organizations in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Her passion is driving strategic policy decisions in the WASH sector – an often-overlooked investment-multiplier in emerging economies – that translate directly to improved health and economic development outcomes. Ann has served as advisor to national governments across Africa and Asia, aligning national strategies for water and sanitation with global best practice, climate change considerations, and innovative financing opportunities. Ann’s work is motivated by front line experiences in disasters and cholera outbreaks, witnessing the disproportionate…
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Ahmad "Rafay" Alam
Ahmad “Rafay” Alam is a Pakistani environmental lawyer and activist. In 2013, after over a decade of practicing corporate and constitutional law, Rafay co-founded Saleem, Alam & Co., a firm that specializes in the energy, water, natural resources, and urban infrastructure sectors. As one of Pakistan's leading environment lawyers, Rafay regularly advises the federal and provincial governments, the World Bank, ADB, IFC and a number of INGOs on issues of policy and strategy in these sectors, and he provides corporate clients strategic sustainability insights.  Familiar with how government functions in Pakistan, Rafay has served as Chairman of the Board of two public sector utilities: the Lahore Electric Supply Company…
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Mai Ichihara
Mai Ichihara graduated from Yale in 2020 with a joint degree, Master of Environmental Management and Master of Global Affairs from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. She is specializing in water resource management with a regional focus in the Asia Pacific. At Yale, she focused on understanding equitable approaches to sustainable development, and she is a strong advocate of integrating ecosystem services, local knowledge, and participatory engagement into urban and rural development interventions.
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Ralph Emmanuel François
Ralph Emmanuel François is a disaster risk resilience management and climate resilience specialist with over 10 years of experience working with communities in Haiti. In 2015, Ralph founded Cocread, a social enterprise and community incubator that creates self-sustainable communities using art and technology. As CEO of Cocread, Ralph was first-runner up at the singularity Global Impact Challenge for the Caribbean. During the course of his career in private, international, and government agencies, Ralph has contributed to key research studies and developed methodologies and toolkits in the DRR field, including the first evacuation guidelines, the disaster response experiences during the January 12, 2010 earthquake, and research on risk ecology. Ralph studied…
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Allegra da Silva
Allegra da Silva is Brown & Caldwell’s PFAS National Municipal Coordinator and Regional One Water Leader, working to improve water and wastewater treatment, expand the field of water recycling and reuse, and evaluate alternative sources of water. She works with clients to address the removal of pathogens and emerging contaminants in order to expand alternative water supplies safely for the protection of public health and benefit of the environment. Allegra has nearly two decades' experience in engineering and public health. She is working on a number of innovative research and development projects to improve water treatment and reduce energy consumption. She is serving on an industry panel to provide guidance…
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Cecilia Barja-Chamas
Cecilia Barja-Chamas is a writer of narratives that mobilize to act on behalf of the ousted and disenfranchised. She works in the public sector and civil society leading complex multi-sector, multi-year, and cross-borders sustainable programs in her home country Bolivia and throughout Latin America. Being part of a new generation that started a new era of politics in Bolivia, and later as a team member that built systemic change toward sustainable development in the Pan Amazon and the peace process in Colombia, she has deepened her understanding of the complexity and beauty of social processes towards the common good. She was a Mason Fellow at the Ash Center at Harvard…
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Tamim Saad
Tamim is a multifaceted executive with a strong focus on corporate and public finance expertise, capital market regulation, Business Strategy, and financial optimization. During his extensive and diverse positions, Tamim helped his organizations in driving transformative change in challenging environments and high uncertainty. Starting his journey in the Israeli public sphere, he joined the Special Forces as a Naval Commander while graduating from the Israeli Naval Academy as one of the first Druze pioneers. Tamim served with distinction, culminating in an honorable discharge. In 2009, after completing the prestigious Cadets for Public Service program, he entered his second phase in civil service at the Ministry of Finance and rapidly rose…
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James Irungu Mwangi
James Mwangi is Founder of Climate Action Platform – Africa (CAP-A), a not-for-profit organisation that aims to help Africa achieve broad-based economic growth through climate action leadership. Prior to founding CAP-A, James served as Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, a global collection of impact-driven businesses that work to build a more inclusive and sustainable world where all people, everywhere, can reach their fullest potential. James joined Dalberg as a founding member in 2002, started Dalberg’s first Africa office (Johannesburg) in 2007, and subsequently served as Global Managing Partner of Dalberg’s consulting business, guiding the formalization of its structure and governance as a global firm. From 2014, James has served…
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