MARKETS INSTITUTE - Key Persons

Adrienne Mars

Job Titles:

Director Emeritus
Emeritus Director

Alan Seelenfreund

Job Titles:

Media
Retired Chairman of McKesson Corporation

ALAN SEELENFREUND is retired chairman of McKesson Corporation, a health care supply management company. He served McKesson as chairman and chief executive officer from 1989 to 2002, and was chief financial officer before that. Prior to joining McKesson, he was on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University, where he authored a number of research reports and lectured on business economics and financial analysis. Seelenfreund is a director of The Nature Conservancy of California. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's degree in industrial engineering from Cornell University, and a doctorate in management science from Stanford University.

Alejandro Pérez

Job Titles:

Member of the Senior Management Team
Senior Vice President, Policy and Government Affairs

Alex Roux

Job Titles:

Managing Partner of Roux Ventures LLC
Media

ALEX ROUX is a managing partner of Roux Ventures LLC and an independent app developer and founder of HALO Hunters Safety App, an app designed to help prevent accidental hunter-on-hunter shootings. Through his work with HALO, he has partnered with the International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) and other international wildlife management organizations. Previously Roux was a product marketing intern for Google Apps for Education, an associate product marketing manager for Android OS and hardware, and a product marketing manager for Android for Google. He has volunteered with Camp PALS and the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, and has a BA in government and sociology from Harvard University. He and his wife, Julia, live in New York City.

Amanda Brotman

Job Titles:

Founder and Designer of AMANDA PEARL
Media

AMANDA BROTMAN is the founder and designer of AMANDA PEARL, a New York City (NYC)-based luxury accessories company that offers sustainable, made-in-NYC jewelry and meticulously handmade-in-Italy evening bags. A Seattle native and former dancer, Brotman trained and performed for 12 years with the esteemed Pacific Northwest Ballet before moving to New York to attend Barnard College at Columbia University, where she earned a degree in art history and visual arts. Upon graduating with honors, Brotman joined renowned designer Marc Jacobs, working in the technical design and production departments, honing her understanding of materials, construction, and global manufacturing. Her current work is inspired by her Pacific Northwest roots, with nods to the shaping influences of nature, science, music, and the visual and performing arts. When not working, she can be found enjoying the beauty of nature's design and inspiring those around her to conserve it.

Amanda Paulson

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors

Aniket Shah

Job Titles:

Managing Director and Global Head of Environmental
Media

ANIKET SHAH is managing director and global head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Research at Jefferies Group LLC. In this role, Shah leads the integration of ESG and sustainability analysis within the global investment research department and engages with clients on this dynamic area of corporate and financial services. Prior to joining Jefferies, Shah held senior roles in emerging market investing and in financing sustainable development in both the public and private sectors, including at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), OppenheimerFunds, and UBS Group AG. Shah serves on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International and the UN SDSN. He is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Shah is a member of the Economic Club of New York and the Bretton Woods Committee, and is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Oxford.

Anne Keiser

Job Titles:

Media

ANNE KEISER is a freelance photographer. She was a staff photographer and photo editor at National Geographic Society. In addition, she was the photographer of Sir Edmund Hillary and the People of Everest, a book that highlights Sir Edmund's environmental and community work with Sherpas. She helped produce two children's books, To Everest and Beyond and Triumph on Everest. Keiser serves on the boards of the Choral Arts Society, the Greater Himalayas Foundation, the Smithsonian Women's Committee, the Holton- Arms School, the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, the Middle East Institute and Chorus America. She is a graduate of Middlebury College.

Anne Sidamon-Eristoff - Chairman

Job Titles:

Chairman
Emeritus Director

Barbara Durham

Job Titles:

Media
Secretary and Treasurer of the Steven H. Durham Family Charitable Foundation

BARBARA DURHAM is the secretary and treasurer of the Steven H. Durham Family Charitable Foundation. Currently a trustee of the Dallas Museum of Art, she previously served on the International Council of Advisors of the National Geographic Society and the boards of the Dallas Symphony Association, the Dallas Zoo, the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Joslyn Art Museum, and TACA, Inc. She received a BFA in art history and studio art from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Durham and her husband have three children and six grandchildren. Her interests these days include tennis, painting, conservation, and traveling the world.

Brenda S. Davis

Job Titles:

Media

BRENDA S. DAVIS retired in 2007 from Johnson & Johnson, where she was corporate compliance officer and vice president of technical resources. She had global responsibility for quality and compliance, sales and marketing compliance, environmental affairs, health and safety, operations preparedness, sterilization science, and energy management. Additionally, she was a member of the medical devices and diagnostics operating group and the public policy advisory committee of the company's board of directors. Before joining Johnson & Johnson, she was a visiting fellow at Princeton University, served in the cabinet of New Jersey Governor Thomas H. Kean, and was a senior staff member of the US Senate Committee on the Budget. She serves on the boards of The Wilderness Society (former chairman) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and chairs the WWF Northern Great Plains Advisory Committee. She was previously a trustee of The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Community Foundation of New Jersey, and chairman of the board of the New Jersey Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Dr. Davis received a BA from the University of Denver and a PhD in ecology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Brian Skerry

Job Titles:

Media

BRIAN SKERRY is a photojournalist and film producer specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998, he has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic Magazine, covering stories on every continent and in nearly every ocean habitat. In 2014, he was named as a National Geographic Society Photography Fellow, and then named a National Geographic Society Storytelling Fellow in 2017. In 2017, he was also awarded the title of Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Skerry is the author of 12 books including the acclaimed monographs Ocean Soul and SHARK. His latest book, Secrets of the Whales, was released in April 2021 by National Geographic as part of a multiplatform project he created that includes a cover story in the May 2021 issue of National Geographic Magazine and a four-part documentary film series streaming on Disney +. He is an 11-time award winner in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. In 2010, National Geographic Magazine named one of Skerry's images among their 50 Greatest Photographs of All Time. The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences awarded Skerry the 2019 NOGI Award for Arts, an award frequently referred to as the "Underwater Oscar." Skerry has had numerous solo photographer exhibits including Portraits of Planet Ocean, a two-year exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, and two separate exhibits, Ocean Soul and Secrets of the Whales, at Visa pour l'Image in Perpignan, France. Other exhibits of his work have been held in cities worldwide, including Geneva, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Shanghai. He frequently lectures on ocean exploration, storytelling, and conservation, having presented at venues such as the United Nations General Assembly, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, TED Talks, the National Press Club in Washington, DC, the Royal Geographical Society in London, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Bruce Babbitt

Job Titles:

Director Emeritus
Emeritus Director

Carey Winn Benham

Job Titles:

Media

CAREY WINN BENHAM has a long history of giving back to the community. She currently serves on the board of the Kiawah Conservancy, a land trust, located on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Currently holding and managing over 2,273 acres of valuable wildlife habitat, the conservancy implements programs to encourage and assist landowners in the protection of the island's natural environment. Benham's previous board service includes the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, the Atlanta Ballet, the Ovarian Cancer Institute, and the High Museum of Art, including chairing board committees of each organization. She is a long-time supporter of the Sierra Club, Oceana, and World Wildlife Fund. Benham is a Georgia native who attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning a BA in philosophy, and completed her graduate course work in art history at Emory University. Her professional career includes experience as an art consultant, curating art exhibitions, and acquiring, displaying, and installing corporate art collections. She later formed Encore Décor, which provided consulting services in art and design in residential and corporate settings. She and her husband, Doug, split their time between Atlanta and Kiawah Island, SC. Her interests include art collecting, painting, hiking, and golf.

Carmen Busquets

Job Titles:

Media

CARMEN BUSQUETS is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and zero-waste advocate whose career in the luxury fashion industry spans over three decades. In addition to fashion and technology, she is passionate about mind and body discipline, and empowering small artisans and business owners around the world. At 23 years old she opened the luxury fashion boutique Cabus in Venezuela, the first of its kin d in Latin America, selling to international clients via pre-orders directly from runway shows to avoid overstocking and waste. Following two wellness ventures in the early 90s, Busquets eventually made history in the e-commerce fashion space when she became the cofounding investor and largest individual private shareholder of Net-a-Porter. Her focus on sustainable luxury was further explored through CoutureLab, the e-commerce store and content platform, which she launched in 2006 to sell limited edition pieces made by a global network of entrepreneurs, artists, and artisans working across fashion, lifestyle, and different cultures. Through her investment portfolio, Busquets has been involved in a great number of luxury fashion and lifestyle success stories, including Farfetch, Business of Fashion, and Cult Beauty, an online retailer sold to The Hut Group in 2021. In her investor and board director roles, she steers businesses towards attaining profitability by focusing on responsible waste reduction practices. In recent years, Busquets has cofounded disruptive technology companies developing proprietary artificial intelligence solutions. She is currently supporting the e-commerce platform Lyst, known as the Google of fashion. An advocate of zero waste, Busquets devotes her time and efforts to create awareness, foster aid, and educate on the conservation of our planet. Supporting women and artisan communities, she serves on Nest International's board of trustees and has taken on the role of Nest International's Brand and Fashion Deputy to spearhead initiatives that promote equal opportunities in the handmade economy, while preserving centuries-old craftsmanship techniques. In 2018, she joined the board of directors of the non-profit organization Glasswing International and helped fund the launch of its New York City-based program for migrant youth. In 2021, she was the honoree at Glasswing's Annual Gala, helping to raise $1.6 million to further their urgent work. In January 2022, she joined the board of Parsons School of Design as part of her commitment to shape tomorrow's industry in a sustainable and ethical way.

Carolina Schmidt Zaldívar

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
President of COP25, Former Minister of Environment of Chile Santiago, Chile

Carter Roberts - CEO, President

Job Titles:

CEO
President
President of the Board of Directors
President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund
President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund in the United States
President and CEO of WWF

CARTER ROBERTS is president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund in the United States. WWF, the world's largest network of international conservation organizations, works across 100 countries and enjoys the support of 5 million members worldwide. Roberts leads WWF's efforts to save the world's great ecosystems and address climate change by linking science, field and policy programs with an ambitious initiative to work with markets and businesses to lighten their impact on the planet. He has worked with communities and heads of state in North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia; and has built partnerships with some of the world's largest corporations, including Walmart, Cargill and Mars to set new industry standards for resource efficiency. Roberts earned his MBA from Harvard Business School following a BA from Princeton University, and subsequently held marketing management positions for Procter & Gamble and Gillette. He went on to lead international conservation and science programs for fifteen years at The Nature Conservancy before coming to WWF in 2004. Roberts serves on the Boards of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy at Duke University and the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College and the London School of Economics. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and most recently served on the International Finance Corporation's Advisory Panel on Sustainability and Business, as well as the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative chaired by the Secretary-General of the UN. Roberts lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Jackie Prince Roberts and their three children.

CHARLES J. KATZ JR.

Job Titles:

Media

CHARLES J. KATZ JR. was executive vice president of Opsware, Inc., a software company, and senior partner at the Seattle-based law firm Perkins Coie, where he specialized in corporate finance transactions. Katz has lectured on venture capital at Stanford Law School and was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for corporate law. He currently serves on the board of advisors of the Natural Capital Project, based at Stanford University, and was on the board of advisors of Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment and the School of Earth Sciences. He is a former director of REI, the specialty outdoor retailer; the Student Conservation Association; The Nature Conservancy of Washington; the Seattle Art Museum; the Henry Art Gallery of the University of Washington; and the Seattle regional board of the Anti-Defamation League. He is currently involved in private investments and family foundation activities. Katz is an accomplished photographer whose work includes The Power of Trees and One Tree (with text by Gretchen C. Daily), Annapurna Sanctuary (published with WWF), Waymarks: Photographs from a Walk Across England, and Erratics (published by Whitman College). He received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University, a master's degree from New York University, and a law degree from the University of Texas.

Christopher B. Field

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Director Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Stanford, CA

Clara Lee Pratte

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
CEO Strongbow Strategies & Founding Member Navajo Power Flagstaff, Arizona

Conner Youngblood

Job Titles:

Media

CONNER YOUNGBLOOD was born and raised in Dallas and is currently based in Nashville. Youngblood has been a professional recording/touring musician for over 10 years. He crafts melodies through a wide range of obscure instrumental arrangements. Often centered around a specific place of natural landscape or human connection, his songs embody delicate, nuanced moments in nature and the introspection of these moments. Nature has played an important role in his inspirations and compositions. His songs such as "The Birds of Finland," "The Badlands," and "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge" were all clearly written with nature in mind, the last one being commissioned by US Fish and Wildlife in support of the refuge. Music is just one of the many ways Youngblood hopes to support and bring attention to the natural world around us.

Corey L. Norton

Job Titles:

Vice President, Supply Chain Legality

Corey is an attorney helping eliminate environmentally harmful types of illegality by drawing on decades of guiding private sector compliance with global supply chain laws. Focusing on laws targeting commodities and environmental harm, such as resource usage limitations, and illegality accelerating that harm and related atrocities such as forced labor, he engages supply chains to increase understanding of legal requirements, and builds strategies and tools for compliance efforts to succeed and avoid reputational damage. This includes developing new resources to enhance company efforts, increasing the efficiency and scale of precompetitive platforms, and promoting effective government regulation and enforcement. Corey also works with companies, foundations, and NGOs to develop tools that help prevent, detect and respond to environmental legal concerns in commodity supply chains.

Cynthia Eisenberg

Job Titles:

Media

CYNTHIA EISENBERG became involved with World Wildlife Fund over 20 years ago after a trip to Africa showcased their work. Since 2003 she has been actively engaged in WWF's Northern Great Plains restoration project (NGP), our nation's largest restoration project in the lower 48 states. Eisenberg currently serves on WWF's Northern Great Plains Advisory Committee, where she plays an integral role in helping restore large sections of the prairie to its environmental integrity as documented by Lewis and Clark 200 years ago. By restoring the vital ecosystem of this living prairie, NGP is helping to create a vibrant and sustainable future for communities and species across the region. Through their dedication to preserving the native grasslands, NGP is promoting carbon sequestration as well as water storage and filtration, contributing to a nature-based solution to climate change mitigation. Eisenberg has held board positions with several highly respected non-profit organizations that educate and inform, preserve the environment, mitigate climate change, address important global issues, and promote the accomplishments of women. She is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the recognized authority on leading boardroom practices. Eisenberg joined the Golden Gate University (GGU) Board of Trustees in 2017 and is currently an officer and member of the executive committee. As secretary and chair of the Committee on Trustees, Eisenberg is in charge of corporate governance, including developing board practices and overseeing board selection and education. Eisenberg is an active member of the Student Experience Committee, which oversees academic excellence, graduation, and job placement. Golden Gate University takes great pride in its 100-year-plus history of expanding access to higher education. In 2019, GGU was ranked as the nation's #1 Four Year College for Adult Learners by Washington Monthly for the fourth consecutive year. Eisenberg joined the International Women's Forum Northern California (IWF NorCal) in 2005. IWF is an invitation-only membership organization of more than 7,000 diverse and accomplished women from 33 nations on six continents. Their mission is to support and advance the women leaders of today and tomorrow. In 2018 and 2020, Eisenberg was elected board member of IWF NorCal. She previously completed terms as both secretary and president of the board, and served as the vice president of the Legacy Foundation. Eisenberg is actively engaged in the IWF Global Network. Her 21-year career in management consulting and public accounting includes 15 years with Arthur Andersen. During her tenure, she developed leading-edge practices and led the West Coast Health Care Tax Team. She was one of the first women at Arthur Andersen to achieve partnership. Eisenberg cofounded and is active in Community Bank Investors, a specialized investment fund. She has a master's degree in taxation and is a Certified Public Accountant (RET.).

Dame Alison Richard

Job Titles:

Media

DAME ALISON RICHARD received her undergraduate degree in anthropology at Cambridge University and her doctorate from London University. In 1972, she moved to Yale University, where she became director of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in 1991, and then served as provost. From 2003 to 2010, Richard was vice chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Her major focus of research has been the ecology and social behavior of lemurs in Madagascar, and for over 40 years she has worked to help conserve Madagascar's unique natural heritage through community-based partnerships. A former board member of WWF-US and WWF-International, she is co-trustee of the Liz Claiborne & Art Ortenberg Foundation, chairs the advisory boards of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and the Yale Peabody Museum, and is a member of the Arcadia advisory board.

Dan Sarles

Job Titles:

Executive Director
Media

DAN SARLES serves as executive director of his family's Boston-based Eaglemere Foundation. In this role since April 2013, he directs foundation priorities, manages operations, conducts due diligence, and oversees the distribution of funds. Eaglemere's primary focus is environmental conservation, with a secondary commitment to global health and development, seeking out organizations that are pragmatic, collaborative, and science-based. Under Sarles' leadership, Eaglemere has concentrated their conservation efforts on programmatic areas of restoring freshwater ecosystems, preventing deforestation, and protecting intact landscapes. Eaglemere has supported such work in diverse geographies, including Alaska, Colorado, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the United States, and in Guyana, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. Eaglemere also supports WWF's Arctic Program and Guiana Shield Project. Sarles is a trustee of Manomet, a conservation science nonprofit, and a member of advisory councils for Earthjustice, Oxfam America, Charles River Watershed Association, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and North and South Rivers Watershed Association. He also serves as administrative managing member of Sarles Family Investments, stewarding investments in venture capital, private equity, private debt, and real estate. He has career experience in market research, entrepreneurship, and operational management. Sarles received a BA in history from Princeton University, an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin, and an MS in environmental management and sustainability from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Donald Kanak

Job Titles:

Media

DON KANAK, based in Bellevue, Washington, lived and worked in Asia for over 35 years. From 2008 to 2022 he served in senior roles for Prudential plc ultimately as chairman, Prudential Insurance Growth Markets and Chair of Prudence Foundation. From 1992 to January 2006, he worked at American International Group (AIG), ultimately as executive vice chairman and chief operating officer. Early in his career Kanak worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and in consulting. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a director and senior fellow of the Program on International Financial Systems affiliated with the Harvard Law School, and a member of the National Council of WWF-US. He was also a member of the United Nations Global Environment Facility's Technical Advisory Group on its 2014-18 climate change mitigation strategy. Kanak co-chaired the steering group of the ASEAN Hub of the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership, a joint venture between the World Economic Forum and the OECD (2016-22). He chaired the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Insurance and Asset Management (2011-12). From 2016 through June 2022, he chaired the EU-ASEAN Business Council, the primary voice for European businesses within the ASEAN region. Kanak holds a JD with honors from Harvard Law School, an MLitt in management studies from University of Oxford (UK), and a BA with highest honors in economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Donald Wagoner

Job Titles:

Media

DONALD WAGONER spent nearly 20 years in Asia and Europe with Molex, an electronics connector manufacturer, and retired as vice president-finance. He now volunteers several days a week at the Conservatory Garden in New York's Central Park. Previously, Wagoner spent seven years with Peat Marwick in their New York and San Francisco offices. He was also a captain in the U.S. Army, during which time he served as a company commander in Korea, spent a tour in Vietnam, and installed communications equipment throughout Southeast Asia and the Far East. He and his wife Karen continue to make annual trips to Asia and Africa to look for tigers and leopards and have had extraordinarily good luck in sightings of big cats over many years in Nepal, India, and South Africa. Currently, Wagoner serves on the board for the Carolina Center for Public Service and on the President's Council of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He is an economics graduate of Wake Forest University, received an MBA from the University of North Carolina, and is a CPA.

Edward P. Bass

Job Titles:

Director Emeritus
Emeritus Director

Elisabeth Meeker

Job Titles:

Media

ELISABETH MEEKER retired from the position of first vice president of financial portfolio management with Smith Barney. She graduated from DePauw University with a major in biology and zoology. She currently serves on the Women's Board of the Field Museum, the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley, and WWF's Northern Great Plains Advisory Committee. She has served as a board member of The Wetlands Initiative, the Lincoln Park Zoo, DePauw University, Perspectives Charter School and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. She currently works in the Paleontology/Geology Department of the Field Museum, prepping dinosaur specimens and working on digs. She was fortunate to have worked with WWF in Bhutan and Namibia and is looking forward to doing more office and field work in additional countries.

Elizabeth B. Reilly

Job Titles:

Media

ELIZABETH B. REILLY has been associated with WWF and The Conservation Foundation (CF) since her husband became CF president in 1973 and WWF president in 1985. She is a serious student of opera and has given recitals in the United States, France, Italy, and Canada. Her other interests include energy, wellness, creating beauty, and cooking. She received a bachelor's degree in biology from Harvard College.

Elizabeth L. Littlefield

Job Titles:

TREASURER of the Board of Directors

Elizabeth Sall

Job Titles:

Founder of UrbanLabs LLC
Media

ELIZABETH SALL is the founder of UrbanLabs LLC, an urban science and research consulting firm where she collaborates on a variety of federal and locally funded applied research projects to make cities more efficient, healthy and pleasant. She is also the founder of two nascent nonprofits: researcHQ.org, which will match grassroots researchers with funding sources and real world applications, and the Open Source Planning Initiative, which supports innovation, development, and sharing in open source planning software. Sall recently completed a six-year stint as the deputy director for technology, data, and analysis at the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, where she evaluated infrastructure investments and policies using a collection of analysis tools more useful but less graphically pleasing than SimCity. In her spare time, she works as a board member of the Sall Family Foundation. She is happily exploring her new home turf in the Puget Sound region with her wife Sophie Hartshorn and their son.

Emaan Strawn

Job Titles:

Program Associate, Markets

Emily Moberg

Job Titles:

Research Lead Specialist, Scope 3 Carbon Measurement and Mitigation

Emily uses her quantitative research and modeling background to identify the cutting-edge trends and solutions around climate mitigation in agriculture and aquaculture. Robust measurement of impacts is the foundation of effective mitigation. At WWF, her work has included research on greenhouse gas impacts of commodities ranging from coffee to tuna to beef, and strategic efforts to choose appropriate measurement and accounting tools with industry groups. Emily received her PhD in biological oceanography from the Joint Program between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She has researched topics ranging from the ecological and economic impacts of climate change on fisheries to marine metacommunity studies, image processing algorithms for phytoplankton, and environmental risk analysis.

Gail Evans Eyler

Job Titles:

Vice Chair

Gerald M. Butts

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Vice Chairman Eurasia Group Ottowa, on

Ginette Hemley

Job Titles:

Member of the Senior Management Team
Senior Vice President, Wildlife Conservation

Gordon Orians

Job Titles:

Director Emeritus
Emeritus Director

Heather Wright - VP

Job Titles:

Vice President
Vice President, Markets

Heather Wright currently serves as the Vice President for the Markets Program and Institute at the World Wildlife Fund where she leads work to advance sustainable supply chain initiatives with key partners in order to leverage positive change and achieve conservation impact across critical ecosystems. Prior to WWF, Heather served as Conservation and Markets Program Officer at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation where she developed and managed strategic initiatives oriented toward deforestation free commodity supply chains and sustainable finance in order to reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions related to land use and promote forest conservation and related policy efforts. Prior to joining the Foundation, Heather was a Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) Manager at Conservation International where she led global biological assessments in critical ecosystems and developed conservation recommendations based on the results. As Program Manager at Friends of the Osa, Heather helped strengthen the new organization's focus on applied conservation and research in Costa Rica. She serves on the Advisory Committee for the Kinship Conservation Fellows and previously served as Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Alumni Board Member, on the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) Board and was an active member of the Board of Directors for the Women's Environmental Network in San Francisco. Heather received her B.S. in Biology and Minor in Scandinavian Literature from UCLA and her master's degree in Science from Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Outside of work, Heather enjoys hiking, skiing, green design and all things outdoors with her new rescue pup, Lulu.

Iris Mwanza

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Deputy Director, Women in Leadership Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Seattle, WA

Jared Diamond

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Professor, Geography University of California Los Angeles, CA

Jason Clay

Job Titles:

Member of the Senior Management Team
Executive Director, the Markets Institute at WWF / Senior Vice President, Markets
Senior Vice President, Markets Executive Director

Jeffrey Ubben

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Founder & Managing Partner Inclusive Capital Partners San Francisco, CA

Johan Bergenas

Job Titles:

Member of the Senior Management Team
Senior Vice President, Oceans

Julia Kurnik

Job Titles:

Director, Innovation Startups, Markets

As the Director, Innovation Startups at WWF, Julia works to identify and research emerging issues, trends, and tools with potential to disrupt food and agriculture systems for environmental sustainability and financial growth. This includes launching multi-stakeholder platforms, designing and piloting new business strategies and models, and facilitating their adoption. In her career, Julia has founded her own urban, soilless farming system and advised numerous young and growing companies on business strategy and growth plans. Before that, Julia spent four years in the research world at Hart Research Associates and then as the Director of Research and Policy at the National Women's Business Council where she created a new research vision to re-energize a defunct organization and partnered with the private sector to create a policy agenda focused on meeting the needs of small businesses. Prior to her time in the research world, Julia spent nearly two years on the first Obama campaign traveling across the country building large constituent and volunteer coalitions in communities as diverse as inner-city Philadelphia to rural South Carolina. For the past two years, Julia has worked as an adjunct professor at Rutgers Business School where she designed and now teaches in the Social Entrepreneurship program. Julia holds an SB from MIT, an MBA in entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MPA focused on sustainability from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Julie Miller

Job Titles:

Member of the Senior Management Team
Executive Vice President, Philanthropic Partnerships and Board Relations

Karen Garver Karl

Job Titles:

Counsel to the Law Firm Perkins Coie LLP
Media

DON KARL, of counsel to the law firm Perkins Coie LLP, has practiced business law for more than 35 years, acting as a general business advisor to private and public companies, entrepreneurs, and institutional investors across a wide range of industries, including entertainment, media, and technology. Karl is especially interested in how businesses adapt, evolve, and collaborate in an era of rapid technological change and innovation, and believes the lessons derived from the private sector are applicable to the public sector. Karl is a trustee of the Hollywood Canteen Foundation and a member of the board of directors of Conservation X Labs. He received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Michigan, a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

Karla Canavan

Job Titles:

Vice President, Commodity Trade and Finance, Markets

Karla brings 25 years of experience in agribusiness supply chains, trading, investment, wealth management, and finance. Passionate about sustainability, Karla developed her deep understanding of the food and energy value chains through her 20-year career in agribusiness giants Cargill and Bunge. She worked directly with producers and end users to determine logistics, pricing, and marketing, granting her the firsthand field experience that underpins her knowledge of product traceability, social and environmental impact, and profitability factors that are necessary to optimize the food supply chain from farm to table. She has been active in sustainability markets since 2007 developing the origination strategy for Bunge and directly managing projects which included REDD+, emission reductions, impact investing, clean energy, structured finance, sustainable agriculture, sustainable farming, renewables, waste management, conservation finance, and supply chain optimization, among others. Karla has traded derivatives, stocks, currencies, agricultural commodities, biofuels, and carbon among others. Karla's global Markets expertise has led her to be an apt trend identifier. She has a deep understanding of the value chains of grains (corn, wheat), oilseeds (soybeans, canola, sunflower), tree crops (oil palm, cocoa, coffee), biofuels and feed markets. She has managed projects and teams globally with emphasis on emerging and development markets across geographies including Latin America, Africa, South East Asia, India, and China.

Katherine Devine

Job Titles:

Director, Business Case Development, Markets

Katherine brings more than 15 years of experience working at the intersection of business and conservation. Collaborating with internal and external experts, she crafts concise, digestible business cases on a range of topics related to food production, analyzing how sustainability can lead to positive bottom-line impacts and reduced risk. She is passionate about viewing conservation challenges with an economic and financial lens to inspire corporate and government leaders to think differently and ambitiously scale solutions. Prior to WWF, Katherine spent 5 years at Grameen Foundation, where she developed and analyzed business models designed to provide digital agricultural and financial services to farmers and low-income consumers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Katherine's coffee addiction and agricultural interest began during a work stint with a coffee growers' association in the Dominican Republic, kickstarting a penchant for exploring innovative financial and business models that bridge environmental, social, and business goals.