Senior-Associates

Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville is the Diageo Professor of Organisation Studies at the Cambridge Judge Business School. Her research is focused on how people and organisations generate and navigate change around sustainability. Jennifer has published more than 50 academic journal articles, several books, and regularly contributes to publications like Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times. She teaches on change management and sustainability topics at all levels including executive education, and is active in board and senior management team advisory work.

Portia is an established leader and innovator in the sustainability field and has worked across various sectors, including financial services, mining, development, and transport. She currently works as an independent consultant. Work executed includes sustainable development, climate change, social and financial inclusion.

She is able to combine macro scientific, social and business approaches to projects. Her experience is in policy development and she is able to connect with stakeholders from varying backgrounds with the aim of problem solving and collaboration.

Tshidi has over 28 years of experience in FMCG and mining industry, spanning human resources and operating as a Chief Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Officer, serving 15 markets in Africa. She built a strong reputation for sustainability and for championing social, equity, and ‘green’ agendas, while also delivering on business objectives and priorities.

Gwen Yu is Head of Emerging Sustainability Issues at JPMorganChase, where she coordinates across the Firm to provide market and policy intelligence on key issues, including nature and biodiversity, climate adaptation and resilience and other sustainability topics. Gwen was previously Head of Nature and Biodiversity and helped set the Firm’s global approach to nature and biodiversity finance.

Spyros Kouvelis is a seasoned expert in foreign economic, environmental, and cultural affairs with a distinguished career in government and international organizations. He served as Greece’s Minister of State for Foreign Economic, Environmental, and Cultural Affairs (2009-2011), overseeing environmental and cultural diplomacy, economic, and energy policies. He was elected to the Hellenic Parliament in 2007 and re-elected in 2009. Between 2007-2009 he was Shadow Minister for Environment, Energy, and Planning.  

Matteo Mirolo is an expert in climate and energy policy, on a mission to help make aviation sustainable. At Breakthrough Energy, an organisation founded by Bill Gates to accelerate innovation in sustainable energy, he is working to scale up contrail avoidance, in an effort to significantly reduce the non-CO2 impacts of aviation. He is also Senior Policy Advisor at Arcadia eFuels, a company planning three major e-kerosene plants in Denmark, the United States and the United Kingdom.

I have worked for the last two decades in the South African policy and development fields as an economist, public finance expert and governance analyst, in recent years with a growing focus on climate finance. 

Irshaad Kathrada is the Chief Executive Officer of the Localisation Support Fund, a public benefit organisation focused on developing industrial opportunities in South Africa. Previously, Irshaad served as a special advisor to the South African government minister responsible for trade and economic matters and has nearly a decade of investment banking experience with JPMorgan in New York and London. He also founded a South African fintech company and led the finance function of a VC-backed climate tech company in the UK.

Thabani is the Managing Director of Moahi Sustainable Solutions, a boutique sustainability advisory company, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town, Chemical Engineering Faculty, Mining to Minerals Department. He has over 23 years’ experience in the Sustainability field, primarily focused on Mining. Thabani’s previous roles have included Executive Head of Sustainability at KAP, Executive Head of Safety, Health and Sustainability at ERG Africa, Head of Sustainability at Anglo American Platinum, and Sustainability Manager at AngloGold Ashanti. 

I am a landscape ecologist with over 20 years of experience in conservation science, policy, and strategic leadership. My experience focuses on human-wildlife coexistence in fragile ecosystems, across academia, government, and the private sector in Kenya, South Africa, and the UK.